Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook (FB) and Rich Kinder, CEO of Kinder Morgan (KMI) would appear to have little in common (though they are both billionaires). However, they share one thing in common in that both recently made transactions in their own stock. FB has ‘A’ and ‘B’ shares, whose rights are identical other than […]
We’ve written before about the benefits of being the General Partner (GP) in a Master Limited Partnership (MLP) rather than a Limited Partner (LP). MLPs are a great asset class; the more stable, midstream businesses that invest in energy infrastructure operate a toll-type of business model with fairly predictable cashflows. Their 5-6% distribution yields are […]
Aubrey McLendon is the former CEO of Chesapeake Energy (CHK). He’s a swing-for-the-fences kind of CEO; he almost bankrupted himself with leveraged holdings of his company’s stock when it plunged in 2008. In 2011 Forbes named him America’s most reckless billionaire. He famously negotiated a sweetheart deal allowing him to personally invest in individual wells […]
The Economist turned its critical eye at quantitative hedge funds recently, noting the poor performance of such “black box” strategies since the 2008 Financial Crisis. The article’s headline (“Computer Says No”) is a wry reference to a British sitcom called Little Britain, a humorous touch that will have been missed by many U.S. readers. Quant […]
You had to watch 60 Minutes on CBS to know what an octocopter is, but after watching Jeff Bezos discuss Amazon and some of their plans I just love Amazon as a customer! I buy things from them probably every other day. My recent orders include: New battery for my Samsung Galaxy smartphone Toner cartridge […]
A year ago Corvex, a hedge fund run by Keith Meister, published a detailed analysis of why ADT was a cheap security. ADT is the largest market leader in home security monitoring in North America. They were spun out from Tyco earlier in 2012. Meister identified an underleveraged balance sheet supporting a business model with […]
So says the Wall Street Journal in an article this morning announcing that Investors See End To Bond Rally. Of course the real problem with fixed income is not just the eventual tapering of asset purchases by the Fed, maybe sometime next year under Janet Yellen or maybe beyond that. It’s that yields don’t provide […]
This weekend’s Economist discussed Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs). Their Leader article primarily focuses on the different forms of corporate structure that are developing both to minimize corporate taxes as well as in response to legislation such as Sarbanes-Oxley which raised the cost of compliance (disproportionately for smaller firms) for many traditional corporations. It’s interesting to […]
Saturday’s New York Times ran a thoughtful piece that should send a shudder through any holder of long term bonds. While maintaining low inflation is typically in the DNA of every good central banker, some are starting to question the orthodoxy of a relatively inflexible approach to changes in the price level. While high inflation […]
The equity market has had a great run, currently up around 24% for the year (S&P500). Tempting as it is to assess the risk of a reversal as high, we tend to avoid market calls like that. But two stocks that recently reported earnings provide an interesting contrast. Netflix (NFLX) last night reported quarterly revenues […]
