EUROPE’S ENERGY CRISIS IS KEEPING ENERGY PRICES AND INFLATION HIGH
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The Power of the MLP GP
Yesterday was Williams Companies’ (WMB) Analyst Day. The company gave a strong presentation across each of their divisions. It highlighted the many opportunities to build new infrastructure in response to the shale developments, especially in the Marcellus. WMB’s dividend yield is 3.3% but such is the earning power of the assets they control that management […]
The Problems with Reported Inflation
The CFA’s bi-monthly magazine includes an article on the gradual mis-reporting of inflation that’s taken place over the years (“Double, Double Toil and Trouble”). Criticism of how the government calculates inflation is not new, and I included a chapter on this in my latest book Bonds Are Not Forever. For a start, it’s hard to […]
67th CFA Institute Annual Conference
Earlier this week I was at the 67th CFA Institute Annual Conference in Seattle. It enjoyed a record attendance of over 1,800 and I have to say was one of the better organized events I’ve been at, situated in the cavernous Washington State Convention Center. One thing I particularly liked was that the networking doesn’t […]
ADT and the Ham Sandwich Test
The ham sandwich test, credit for which goes to Warren Buffett, asks whether a company you’re invested in has such a great business with such high barriers to entry that it could be run by a ham sandwich. I’m increasingly beginning to think that ADT will be subject to this test, and we’ll see how […]
The Weakness in Berkshire's Succession Plan
The shareholder vote on Coke’s (KO) compensation plan last week was disappointing in several ways. The plan itself is overly generous to management, contemplating as it does up to 500 million of share issuance to executives depending on certain performance targets. KO’s proxy statement revealed that it could transfer up to 14.2% of the company, […]