Tag Archives: Investing

China has a Great Wall. But there is no Wall Street.

Fake_Bull

When stocks on the Shanghai Securities Exchange, the SSE, “corrected” on August 24, 2015, stocks in US and other markets followed. But nothing has fundamentally changed. None of the “Fundamentals” on any publicly traded U.S. or European companies have significantly changed (other than the Market Capitalization and Price Earnings ratios, which are, of course, functions of the stock price). Earnings per Share, EPS, the existence or lack thereof of what Warren Buffett calls a “moat,” debt to asset ratios, return on income, other financial ratios, were and remain unaffected by day to day fluctuations of stock price.

Charging Bull, by Arturo Di Monica

Stocks that were fundamentally bad investments on Friday, August 21, 2015 were likely to have been bad investments on Tuesday. August 25, 2015. Stocks that were good investments on Friday, August 21, 2015, were fundamentally somewhat better investments on Tuesday. August 25, 2015.

Dancing on the Charging Bull

The SSE Composite is not the S&P 500, or even the Dow. While there are frequent scandals involving insider trading and other financial improprieties, they are the exception and there are regulations designed to keep them that way. China, on the other hand …

The Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite index, the SSE Composite, looks kind of like the S&P 500. However, there are key differences between the indices.

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Announcing the Popular Logistics Virtual Portfolio in Information Technology

Hot on the heels of the December 21, 2012 launch of the Popular Logistics Virtual Portfolio in Sustainable Energy, here, up 22.36%, I am announcing the launch of the Popular Logistics Virtual Portfolio in Information Technology. Roughly $1.0 million in Apple, Google, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, and Oracle.(Their investor relations pages are Apple, Google, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, and Oracle.)

Tech Virtual Portfolio
Item	Stock	Price	Shares	Total
1	Apple	$446	2,242	$1,000,000
2	Google	$795	1,258	$1,000,000
3	HP	$17	59,559	$1,000,000
4	IBM	$198	5,051	$1,000,000
5	Intel	$20	50,000	$1,000,000
6	Microsoft	$27	37,037	$1,000,000
7	Oracle	$24	41,667	$1,000,000
	total			$7,000,000
Table 1. Acquisitions, Start of Business, 2/22/13

Generally speaking, here’s what I expect:

Apple, IBM: I expect to significantly outperform the Dow Jones and S&P 500.
Google: I expect to perform in line with the Dow Jones and S&P.
HP: An investment in HP is speculative. Whitman may turn the company around. The stock might wildly outperform the Dow & the S&P. As Gerstner might say, however, it’s hard to teach an elephant to dance. The stock may plummet.
Intel, Oracle, I don’t know enough to have an expectation.
Microsoft may become a leading indicator of the economy. Thus, if the S&P does well, Microsoft may do better.

These are in table 2, below

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HP: What Next After Autonomy?

The adult in the cartoon is not Carly Fiorina, Mark Hurd, Leo Apotheker formerly of HP, or John Lynch, formerly of HP & Autonomy. While the three ex-CEOs were paid a total of $80 Million after being fired (here), they did NOT create shareholder value. Under their guidance, the company lost 77.92% of its peak value; the shareholders lost $81.54 Billion between Dec. 31, 1999 (here) and the close of trading, Nov. 23, 2012.

While Autonomy’s $10 Billion valuation may have been John Lynch’s fraud – the FBI and it’s counterparts in London are investigating (here) – HP’s acquisition of Autonomy was Leo Apotheker’s error, and has become Meg Whitman’s problem. I’m sure that if Whitman is unsuccessful, or the Board fires her before she can be successful, she will be well taken care of, as were Fiorina, Hurd, and Apotheker. Meanwhile Bill Hewlett & Dave Packard – who created value for the shareholders and other stakeholders – must be turning over in their graves.

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Facebook IPO: The Sound of Bubbles Popping

Soap Bubble, by Irfan Mirza

Facebook went public on Friday, May 18, 2012. Trading for FB opened at $42.025 per share, giving the company a market capitalization of $72.76 Billion. However, Facebook closed it’s first day as a publicly traded stock down 9.3% at $38.105 per share. On it’s second day, Monday, May 21, it opened at $36.53 per share and closed at $34.03 per share, dropping another 6.8%, and 19% from the opening price. It’s sliding is raising eyebrows in the financial media (Business Week, Chicago Tribune, Reuters).

Bubble Pop, by Richard Heeks

But the question may be less “Why is Facebook’s stock price dropping?” or “Who’s to blame?” than “What should be it’s price?“

GMO‘s Jeremy Grantham talks about “Reversion to the Mean.” The mean, however, for a stock with 2 days of history is not statistically meaningful. So I compared it to Apple, Google, IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle, pulling data off of the Internet at Finance.Google.Com after the close of trading on Monday, May 21, 2012.

(Image Links: Soap Bubble & Bubble Pop)

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