Microsoft Is Too Expensive For This Moment In Time [View article]
Microsoft is a tough company to evaluate, so all points of view are certainly welcome. By the way, all "moments" are "in time," which is why, of course, they are "moments."
Frontier Communications Has A Serious Revenue Problem [View article]
Thank you for your well-argued article on Frontier. I don't see the chances for a turn-around as very good, certainly not with Frontier's current management. As such, I have to wonder why Standard & Poor's--certainly not a stupid lot of analysts--has just reaffirmed its "buy" (4-star) rating on this incredibly "challenged" company. I can't see a rating of better than "hold" (3-star). I myself would prefer my chances at a blackjack table.
The Bull Case For This Tobacco Company [View article]
As sovereign states and their governments around the world increasingly regulate (control) the lives, including, especially, the health care, of their subjects (euphemistically called "citizens" in the Untied States), they will escalate their already strong efforts to minimize the sale and consumption of tobacco products.
Similarly, employers paying some or all of the health-care costs of their employees will increase their already intensifying efforts to achieve a "tobacco-free" workforce.
The long-term outlook for tobacco is cloudy at best. Marijuana might prove to be a better long-term investment, especially in the United States, where the case or argument for getting "high" makes more sense with each passing day of the Obama administration.
One jaded analyst recently said that this arguably moribund company is run--actually, just kept alive--pretty much for the benefit of management's daunting salaries and generous perquisites, not much more, certainly not for the average shareholder, who has watched his investment fall by half to three-quarters, and his dividend collapse from $1 to $0.75, and then to $0.40. Right now, it seems hard to counter this reading. Frontier Communications seems to be dying, inch by inch, quarter by quarter. Of course, I hope I'm wrong. I remember the once peerless A++ rated (by Value Line, for "financial security") Citizens Utilities, the proud and healthy forebear of the now sickly Frontier Communications.
The IRS has been authorized by a judge to serve Wells Fargo (WFC) with a John Doe summons as the tax agency seeks data on U.S. citizens with accounts at FirstCaribbean International Bank. Based in Barbados, FCIB has a correspondent account with Wells - common for foreign banks who don't have offices in the States - and Wells is the IRS' way to the account info. [View news story]
Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) lowered headcount by 5.4K in Q1, in large part thanks to contract cancellations related company's review of managed services deals (first announced in July). ALU's Managed Services sales fell 4% Y/Y in Q1, whereas its Networks & Platforms services sales rose 33% to €293M. The struggling telecom equipment vendor has been looking to cut jobs, but the French government hasn't been pleased. [View news story]
Other things equal, the French government is the biggest obstacle to ANY KIND of business innovation or success in France.
GE Capital (GE +2.5%) cuts off lending to gun shops in response to public backlash since the Sandy Hook shootings. Though the company isn't the first financial firm to back away from involvement with the gun industry, the development puts the spotlight back on sellers such as Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS -0.4%), Wal-Mart (WMT -1.2%), and Cabela's (CAB +0.9%) which could see more foot traffic. It's also of interest to gun manufacturers Smith & Wesson (SWHC +0.8%) and Sturn Ruger (RGR -0.8%) - wallowing around with relatively low P-E ratios with future demand tough to forecast. [View news story]
And pressure cookers are being pulled off the shelves, kids with NRA, Second-Amendment t-shirts are being expelled, airline passengers referring to sandwiches called "the bomb" (from, I guess, the "explosion" of flavors) are being detained by the authorities. Ah, America, what have you become?
Yes, if you lived in a vacuum without time. Dividends, however, are paid over time, and they reward you for the time that has past and left you older (a price or cost, including opportunity cost or what you could have done with the same money had you not invested it in the Bank of America).
Pepco Holdings - A Utility Stock To Avoid [View article]
Thank you, Mr. Wolfe, for a well-argued and insightful article on Pepco. I purchased my first shares in 1989 for $19 each. The quarterly dividend was $0.365, later to rise to $0.415 (as you note) before collapsing to $0.25. Among so many others, one serious problem Roger Conrad (editor of the Utility Forecaster) points out is Pepco's lack of investment in infrastructure, without which the basis for commensurate rate increases just isn't there. That and the dilution you so well document do not augur well for Pepco's future. On the plus side, of course, is the company's very attractive and unique stock certificate: it features an especially good likeness of our first president, George Washington.
JPMorgan And Wells Fargo Post Solid First Quarters [View article]
I like this story's take on JP Morgan and Wells Fargo much better than the one The Wall Street Journal had a couple days ago. The Journal's headline included words to the effect that JPM's and WF's first-quarter results showed that the banking industry was still "struggling."
Microsoft Is Too Expensive For This Moment In Time [View article]
Frontier Communications Has A Serious Revenue Problem [View article]
The Bull Case For This Tobacco Company [View article]
Similarly, employers paying some or all of the health-care costs of their employees will increase their already intensifying efforts to achieve a "tobacco-free" workforce.
The long-term outlook for tobacco is cloudy at best. Marijuana might prove to be a better long-term investment, especially in the United States, where the case or argument for getting "high" makes more sense with each passing day of the Obama administration.
Frontier Communications' CEO Discusses Q1 2013 Results - Earnings Call Transcript [View article]
The IRS has been authorized by a judge to serve Wells Fargo (WFC) with a John Doe summons as the tax agency seeks data on U.S. citizens with accounts at FirstCaribbean International Bank. Based in Barbados, FCIB has a correspondent account with Wells - common for foreign banks who don't have offices in the States - and Wells is the IRS' way to the account info. [View news story]
Wisconsin Energy: 70-Plus Years Of Reliable Dividend Payments [View article]
Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) lowered headcount by 5.4K in Q1, in large part thanks to contract cancellations related company's review of managed services deals (first announced in July). ALU's Managed Services sales fell 4% Y/Y in Q1, whereas its Networks & Platforms services sales rose 33% to €293M. The struggling telecom equipment vendor has been looking to cut jobs, but the French government hasn't been pleased. [View news story]
GE Capital (GE +2.5%) cuts off lending to gun shops in response to public backlash since the Sandy Hook shootings. Though the company isn't the first financial firm to back away from involvement with the gun industry, the development puts the spotlight back on sellers such as Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS -0.4%), Wal-Mart (WMT -1.2%), and Cabela's (CAB +0.9%) which could see more foot traffic. It's also of interest to gun manufacturers Smith & Wesson (SWHC +0.8%) and Sturn Ruger (RGR -0.8%) - wallowing around with relatively low P-E ratios with future demand tough to forecast. [View news story]
A Tale Of 2 Bank Stocks [View article]
Pepco Holdings - A Utility Stock To Avoid [View article]
JPMorgan And Wells Fargo Post Solid First Quarters [View article]
Bank Of America's Earnings Miss And Other Reasons To Look For Greener Pastures [View article]
Coca-Cola: Take Profits As Shares Approach All-Time Highs [View article]
DirecTV: One Of My Favorite Long-Term Buys [View article]
AT&T: 14% Return Year To Date, Now What? [View article]