footchester

Water as an Asset Class: PICO Holdings

PICO was one of those stocks that I discovered after screening stocks using the screen utilities from several different sources (Yahoo, Fidelity, etc.) PICO kept showing up as a great long term investment, except for one problem, I had missed the boat. It was trading in the 40s and showed no sign of heading back down. I added PICO to that list of great stocks that I had discovered too late.

Even a nasty recession (depression?) has its silver lining; and the opportunity to grab PICO for $21/sh was my pick for making the best of a bad situation. I truly believe that the coming "water crisis" will make recent concerns over fossil fuels seem almost laughable. Water may be the most abundant resource on earth, but it is also the most in demand. And unlike, say gold, a million gallongs of water can be ruined by one clown with a bottle of concentrated pesticide or other bad stuff.

I can't guarantee that PICO is the correct way to play the coming water 'crisis' but buying a company that actually owns water, and land with water rights seems like a potentially great investment. Time will tell.

Gigamedia Reports Reasonable Earnings

Along with HOGS, AOB, CFSG and others, GIGM represents what I believe to be a test of patience. Fans of "Mad Money" and similar shows see no big move after earnings and dump their shares in search of the next big thing. The patient investor sees a stable of companies with no debt, near vertical growth and steadily improving margins. These are not the 'hot' Chinese stocks that climbed up to triple digit PE ratios last year only to be knocked down hard. These are small cap companies with balance sheets that Fortune 500 companies only dream of. As share prices remain stagnant and growth continues to accelerate, we are beginning to see "real" companies with P/E/G ratios falling below 0.20.

I have never felt more confident about a portfolio of "non-performing" stocks.

Cresud: Buying Into Argentina Agriculture

I recently doubled up when the price came back down. No one has mentioned that current earnings are less important than usual here. This is primarily a land play; they have tens of thousands of acres of the world's finest land on their books at insanely undervalued prices. The real money will be made when China's first trillionaire offers to buy them out at a hefty premium to then -current market prices.

Eight Wind Energy Related Stocks

I've owned CPTC for over one year now, and my opinion of it changes from day to day. (either headed to bankruptcy..again; or a perfect combo of wind turbines and the advanced cable to bring the power back to populated areas). After having owned it for a while, and read through its twisted history, I'd rate it as extremely risky, with a chance for almost as remarkable return, if all goes well and they get lucky.
In the turbine biz, theyare up against everyone from the better known companies like Gamesa and Vestas to the mega-corps liike GE and BP. and in the cable biz, 3M is a direct competitor with almost unlimited resources. So, no matter how much the 'synergy' of wind turbines and advanced transmission cable almost writes the 'perfect story' - this is no sure thing. But I'm not selling anytime soon.