EUROPE’S ENERGY CRISIS IS KEEPING ENERGY PRICES HIGH
America leads the world in oil and gas production. We believe midstream energy infrastructure offers predictable cash flows to investors.
The Principal Agent Problem in Private Equity
Peter Morris has written an interesting article noting the principal-agent problem as it relates to investors in private equity. Peter spent 25 years working in financial services and is the author of a report written for the Center for the Study of Financial Innovation (CSFI) called Private Equity, Public Loss? Peter and others have pointed […]
Why Comstock Resources Has Fallen Too Far
In sorting through the wreckage of the past quarter’s bear market, I’ve spent some time reviewing Comstock Resources (CRK). We own CRK – we liked it at $30 a share truth be told, although we did have the good sense to lighten up the position at those heady levels. CRK is a natural gas E&P name […]
How UBS mismanaged its way to a profit
The good news from UBS today is that they expect to post a modest profit for the third quarter. This is in spite of losing $2.3 billion through the unauthorized trading of Kweku Adoboli. On top of that, the woefully inadequate risk oversight that Mr. Adoboli so painfully exposed has forced UBS to hasten the […]
The Sorry Math of Bonds
The equity risk premium (as defined as the earnings yield on stocks minus the yield on the ten year treasury note) is wide for good reason. 2012 consensus earnings for the S&P 500 of $105, which implies an earnings yield of 9.3% (September 30 S&P 500 at 1131) and a spread over the 1.90% yield on […]
The Credit Risk in Bank of America
Many perverse things are happening in financial markets beyond the easily visible carnage in equity markets. Take Bank of America (BAC) for example. Credit insurance for one year through a credit default swap (CDS) costs 4.35% (according to Bloomberg). One year LIBOR is 0.85%. How does Bank of America function in today’s money markets, where […]