Yesterday, amidst massive political and public opinion pressure, AIG revealed the counterparties they had paid out money to since receiving bailout money from the US government (AIG Press Release). The payouts are as follows: $22.4 billion for collateral postings under…
Three or four years ago I remember having many conversations with my Mom about how tough it was to invest for income. The only place you could get any yield was the bond market but yields were still weak and…
Interesting idea from Breaking Views in Friday’s Telegraph: “Google Needs To Grow Up And Pay A Dividend”. Personally, I’d love to see that. Last year net income was $6.2 billion and free cash flow $5.6 billion. They also had $15.8…
General Electric, in the single digits, is starting to trade like Citi and B of A (GE Chart).
Defense stocks have been getting crushed on the fear that Obama is going to cut back on defense spending. This has created some terrific opportunities. Take a look at this table of five of the largest US defense contractors: Company Market…
I don’t normally buy deep value, preferring instead an approach more like growth at a reasonable price, but three stocks with a real margin of safety have really caught my attention of late. (1) Pfizer (PFE). The giant drug maker has…
Our financial performance is increasingly being challenged by some of the most difficult economic conditions our Company has faced in its 84-year history. It is our expectation that the economic environment will remain extremely challenging through 2009, if not beyond. …
One of the arguments that really annoys me these days is when somebody claims that even after the 50% decline in the major indexes stocks aren’t cheap. The argument usually posits some estimate of 2009 S&P earnings, puts a multiple…
The big story today is discussions between government officials and Citigroup executives about the government taking up to a 40% stake in Citi. According to a front page article in today’s Wall Street Journal, the government would convert some of…
On Thursday, Coinstar (CSTR), operator of Coinstar kiosks that convert your spare change into cash for a fee and located at many popular retail locations, reported what appears to be an excellent 4th quarter (CSTR Earnings Release). I wonder if people…