Paul Price

Energize Your Returns with BP

BP (BP): Q3 earnings of $4.67B vs. consensus of $3.25B. Sees 2009 costs down by $4B vs. a previous $3B. Total production +6.9%.

Shares +5% premarket to $58.55

Energize Your Returns with BP

BP's 'giant' oil find. BP (BP) announced this morning a 'giant' oil discovery in a very deep well drilled in U.S. waters in the Gulf of Mexico, but said an appraisal is necessary to determine the exact size and commerciality of the find. BP is already the largest individual producer in the area. Shares +3.6% premarket

Energize Your Returns with BP

Check out my own site..

BeatingBuffett.com to see my entire history of postings all in one place.

Energize Your Returns with BP

claudio.Jan,

My non-IRA account (where I do exactly what i describe here) is now up 72.75% YTD and my non-levered IRA (where i can only buy shares and sell covered calls) is up 29.15% YTD.

Both accounts were down > 20% in early March.

Energize Your Returns with BP

dcsohl,

You are correct. The final break-even would be $40.105 after dividends. I failed to adjust properly on this example.

BP could drop by 18.9% from the starting price without causing a loss.

Thanks for the heads up.

Energize Your Returns with BP

As with all insurance, having more than you need costs you money.

I have no problem with your strategy if you feel BP won't hold above $40,60 (the net cost from the $50 puts in my example). Really, though, if you don't believe BP will be at least that high, you should be looking at a different underlying stock.

Deep Value Opportunities Becoming Scarce

Court Upholds Landmark Racketeering Suit Against Tobacco

By BRENT KENDALL
WASHINGTON -- A federal appeals court Friday upheld major points of a landmark ruling that said the tobacco industry violated federal racketeering laws in a scheme to deceive the public about the dangers of smoking.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected, however, the Justice Department's request for additional penalties against cigarette makers, including a proposal that the tobacco industry fund a $10 billion national smoking-cessation campaign.

Defendants in the case included Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris subsidiary, Reynolds American Inc., British American Tobacco PLC and Lorillard Inc.

Murray Garnick, an Altria senior vice president, said the company disagreed with the ruling and would appeal. Altria could first ask for a review of the case by the entire D.C. appeals court.

Spokesmen for the other companies could not immediately be reached for a comment.

In a unanimous 92-page ruling, the court said Friday there was ample evidence to conclude the tobacco industry intentionally deceived the public about the harmful and addictive effects of cigarette smoking.

The court affirmed most of the remedies imposed against tobacco companies in 2006 by U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler following a nine-month trial, including a ban on promoting brands as "light" or "low tar." Judge Kessler's ruling also required the industry to make corrective public statements about the health effects and addictiveness of smoking.

"[T]he court's conclusions are not supported by the law or the evidence presented at trial, and we believe the exceptional importance of these issues justifies further review," Altria's Mr. Garnick said.

The case dates back to 1999, when the Clinton administration filed a federal racketeering lawsuit against nine tobacco companies and two trade associations, alleging they had engaged in a 50-year conspiracy to deceive the public about the dangers of smoking.

The court on Friday said the tobacco companies "knew about the negative health consequences of smoking, the addictiveness and manipulation of nicotine, the harmfulness of secondhand smoke, and the concept of smoker compensation, which makes light cigarettes no less harmful than regular cigarettes and possibly more."

The court further said the government had adequately proved that the tobacco industry was likely to commit future racketeering violations unless restrictions were imposed. But it also affirmed an earlier ruling that the government could not force the industry to forfeit as much as $280 billion in profits.

Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said the ruling was a "tremendous victory for public health," but that the court's refusal to allow additional remedies was disappointing. "It means that there's much more that needs to be done to counter decades of wrongful behavior by the tobacco industry," he said.

A Justice Department spokesman said government lawyers were reviewing the decision.

40 Best Stocks to Retire On - Fortune

Only companies that don't kill their customers were eligible.