Analysis Topic: Companies Analysis
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Monday, January 08, 2007
Ethanol Explosion! How to Invest and Profit from Ethanol / Companies / Investing
By: Money_and_Markets
Suddenly and silently, the world's demand for ethanol is about to explode, creating a global business that could make early investors wealthy. It's about time! Ever since I first met Elisabeth and began visiting her family's sugar cane farm in Brazil, we've been talking about a future in which millions of cars would run on ethanol.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
The year of the deal - Mergers & Acquisitions Boom time / Companies / Analysis & Strategy
By: Den_Denning
2006 was clearly the year of the deal. The Australian mining sector alone saw A$145 billion in deals. According to Friday's Australian, investment banking firms did nearly 3,000 buyouts or mergers in 2006, with the top ten firms doing nearly $166 billion in deals.So what's next? Has all the low-hanging fruit been picked? You'd think all the obvious deals have been done by now. With the cost of capital low, any under-valued firms with reliable cash flow have already been targeted. There are only so many firms where you can cut costs, find synergies, or operate more efficiently so that you generate a 15-20% return on your investment in a few years. Now that the big fish have been taken, it's time to look for littler fish.
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Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Plastic Logic - Plastic chips and electronics - the Next Tek Revolution / Companies / Investing
By: Sarah_Jones
A British firm, Plastic Logic has announced that it will build the world's first factory to manufacture plastic electronic circuits.
The firm aims to have the factory operational by early 2008. The factory will produce large sheets of flexible plastic upon which circuits will be printed, much as circuits are printed upon silicon wafers today. These can then be used in a whole host of flexible devices focusing on flexible display units already on the market and being produced by the likes of Panasonic and Sony. I.e. flexible plastic books that can literally hold a thousand books.
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Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Five ways to invest in China for 2007 - Exchange traded funds (ETF's), Mutual funds, Chinease companies.. / Companies / Investing
By: Money_and_Markets
Last year was a happy one for domestic stock market investors. All the major U.S. indices were up in 2006. But 2007 might not be a repeat.
Reason: The U.S. economy has been slowing rapidly. In the last week, the stream of discouraging news has just kept coming. Four examples:
The Commerce Department said gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2% in the third quarter, down from 2.6% in the second quarter.
The Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators rose by just 0.1% in November. Over the past six months, the index is up a meager 0.2%. According to Ken Goldstein, one of the group's economists, 'The slower economy of the second half of 2006 might continue into the first half of 2007.'
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Stock picks for 2007 - The Shares and funds to invest in for growth during 2007 / Companies / Investing
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The theme for 2007 is to diversify into high growth economies, which includes both emerging and developed economies. The UK and USA are expected to slow during 2007 and better growth is likely to be found outside these countries, as was the case for much of 2006.
These are our stock picks for 2007 and beyond, the aim being to provide long-term sustainable growth rather than short-term speculative holdings, and as always do your own research before entering into any investment decisions. Also, we intend on focusing more on managed investment trusts rather than individual stocks so as to reduce the risk and this further enhance the long-term aspect of our selections.
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Tuesday, December 26, 2006
American companies missing the boat when investing in China ! / Companies / Analysis & Strategy
By: Money_and_Markets
The six Chinese office workers in front of me all ordered the same thing — a Chinese specialty called hot pot, a simmering fondue-like pot of aromatic and spicy stock that contains leafy vegetables, mushrooms, dumplings, meat, and/or seafood. It looked absolutely delicious and smelled even better. 'I want one of those,' I said to the cashier who couldn't speak a lick of English.
My host at the Zhang Jiang Hi-Tech Industrial Park cafeteria on the outskirts of Shanghai gently interrupted me. 'I suggest you make a different selection, Mr. Sagami,' he quietly warned. 'That is dog hot pot.'
'Dog? Dog as in woof woof? ' I asked.
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Friday, December 22, 2006
Shell sells controlling block of shares in Sakhalin-2 to Gazprom for $7.5 billion / Companies / Strategic News
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Russia's state controlled gas monopoly Gazprom has purchased 50 percent plus one share in Sakhalin Energy , the project operator of Sakhalin-2 oil and gas venture in the Far East, for $7.45 billion, in a deal that consolidates Putins control over Russia's energy resources.The agreement was announced at the Kremlin, in a meeting between President Putin, and executives from Gazprom, Royal Dutch Shell as well as top executives from Japanese shareholders, comes after months of mounting pressure from the Russian regulators.Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Russians file $10 billion lawsuit against Royal Dutch Shell for environmental damages on Sakhalin-2 project / Companies / Strategic News
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Russia's Environment agency Rosprirodnadzor, today said it was to file lawsuits against foreign oil companies developing the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas fields during early 2007. The agency estimated initial costs of the damage at $10 billions but could rise as high as $50 billion. Intense pressure from the Russian government is forcing Royal Dutch Shell to give up control of the lucrative $30 billion Sakhalin-2 project to state gas monopoly Gazprom as an attempt to elevate the pressure and get the project moving forward. Shell holds a controlling 55 percent stake in Sakhalin Energy. Japan's Mitsui and Mitsubishi own 25 percent and 20 percent.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
How to profit from and protect against a falling US dollar ? / Companies / Analysis & Strategy
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The declining dollar is expected to bring earnings boosts to many US multinationals with large over seas exposure / export earnings as a % of total revenues. The declining dollar results in an increase in profit margins and competitiveness against the host countries products & services. Manufacturers such as Intel, Coca Cola and IBM. Producers such as Exxon Mobil and Service companies such as Macdonald's all receive more than 50% of their revenues from overseas interests.
Monday, December 04, 2006
Pfizer shares plunge after new heart drug Torcetrapib fails clinical trials / Companies / Strategic News
By: Phillipa_Green
Pfizer shares fell by nearly 12 per cent after the worlds largest drug manufacturer, announced it was halting trails of its heart medicine Torcetrapib , after it revealed deaths and cardiovascular problems among people taking the drug during the clinical trials. The stock was also downgraded by several market analysts on concern that Pfizer's revenue growth will now weaken.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Google passes $500, Is it time to sell ? / Companies / Google
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Google passes $500 on the back of a wave of speculative interest, is this the start of another run up in google or are we near a potential slump in the google share price ?
Since google floated some 2 years ago at $85, it has had strong run higher to the current price of $505, up 600% since IPO, and up over 50% on the 330 lows seen barely 3 months ago. Now we look at where google actually stands and probability that it can achieve an even higher price or if Google has run ahead of its fundamentals.
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Sunday, November 05, 2006
Canada's surprise change in income trust tax laws / Companies / Canadian Stock Market
By: Shahla_Walayat
Canada's "Conservative" government recently announced a surprise change in the tax laws that could have come straight from the Kremlin's playbook. The tax change regards a new plan to tax Canada's income trusts. Not only does it come out of the blue, it breaks a pledge made by Canada's Conservative government not to change the trust taxation rules.
Trusts, unlike corporations, pay little or no corporate tax because they were set up to take advantage of a loophole in tax rules. The supposedly offsetting factor is that owners of trust units pay higher tax on income from the trust because a break for corporate dividends doesn't apply. With trusts paying no corporate income tax to Canada or to their province of residence, foreigners paid 15-per-cent withholding tax on investment income going out of Canada.
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Friday, November 03, 2006
Google Advertising revenues to pass UK Commercial TV Stations - Channel 4 / Companies / Google
By: Phillipa_Green
Google will earn more advertising revenue in the UK this year than Channel 4. Who's chief executive warned the TV industry that they had underestimated the threat from the internet. Andy Duncan said some traditional broadcasters had been slow to recognise the challenge posed by the internet and multi-channel TV, which cut into the audience and ad revenues of terrestrial broadcasters.
'This, reinforces that significant structural change has been going on and will continue to go on,' Duncan said.
Some broadcasters have been very slow to realise this. The industry as a whole is frankly rather backward looking and is perhaps underestimating the scale of change that is going on and the pace of change. Duncan said Channel 4, which is publicly owned but funded by advertising, had had an “incredibly good year”, increasing its audience share by 10% and boosting its share of the ad market. This made the comparison to the search engine all the more striking, he said.
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Monday, October 30, 2006
Global Warming and Profiting from Investing in Carbon Trading / Companies / Analysis & Strategy
By: Sarah_Jones
The Kyoto pact has spurred billions of euros in greenhouse trade between companies in Europe and through a program that allows rich countries to pick up credits for investing in clean projects in developing countries.The first phase of the pact requires about 35 developed countries to cut emissions of 5% from 1990 levels by 2008 to 2012.
But carbon dioxide-belching oil refineries and power plants, beyond some in Europe, mostly have yet to join in. That's mainly because President George W Bush withdrew US – the top polluter – from the international agreement, and as rapidly developing countries like China, India and Brazil oppose emissions limits because they have only recently industrialised.
But this is likely to change as the economic impact of global warming starts hitting and the carbon trading market could be transformed from a $10 billion a year market to a $1 trillion market. Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Metals and Mining Sector Consolidation likely as Russia's SUAL targets Anglo American / Companies / Strategic News
By: Shahla_Walayat
With rumours of Russia's metals giant seeking to takeover South Africa's Anglo American, this on the back of a merger between russian minerals giants RUSAL and SUAL, creating a $25-30 billion company supplying one-eighth of the world's aluminum and 16 percent of its alumna.
The new russian giant is headed by Brian Gilbertson, former chief executive of BHP Billiton who wants to create a similar diversified company to BHP Billinton, which he was instrumental in creating in 2001. It may end up being called Anglo American Russian. Brian Gilbertson, former chief executive of BHP Billiton, reportedly wants to cobble together the global mining company Anglo American with Russian Aluminum.
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Friday, October 20, 2006
India's takeover of British Steel as Corus backs Tata's takeover bid / Companies / Strategic News
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Reports say that Corus, UK based steel giant, has backed Tata's $9 billion take over bid. According to the Financial Times , the board of Corus, the Anglo-Dutch steel maker, has recommended 5.1 billion pound takeover bid to the shareholders.
And the report says that Corus will make a statement about this, possibly as soon as Friday. The move will end the chances of any potential counter-bidders for the world's eighth biggest steel maker. Novolipetsk and Severstal, two Russian steel companies, and CSN, a Brazilian steel maker, are thought by some steel industry observers to be interested in making a counter bid.
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Monday, October 09, 2006
Google buys You Tube for $1.65 billion / Companies / Google
By: Shahla_Walayat
Google is buying the YouTube for $1.65 billion dollars in stock.The deal that unites the most popular Internet search engine with one of the Web's rising stars is by far Google's most expensive in its eight-year history. But the price tag catapults Google into a front-running role with Internet video.
You Tube started in Feb 2005, and in just over 18 months has captured about 50% of the online video market, compared to Google's 11%. Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, October 02, 2006
Online Gambling Companies hit by Fundamentalist Law !!! / Companies / Strategic News
By: Sarah_Jones
Today online gambling stocks took a big tumble ! As the senate passed a law on Friday effectively banning online gambling sites. PartyGaming alone saw over £2 billion slashed from its market value as its shares more than halved, crashing 60p to 46p. It was by far the biggest faller in the FTSE 100 index. There were equally large losses in the rest of the sector. Sportingbet, which also said it has abandoned its planned merger with rival firm World Gaming, saw its shares collapse by 63%, from 118.25p to 68p. Shares in 888 tumbled by 34% to 97p. Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, September 25, 2006
Class Action suit hits Tobacco Companies / Companies / Corporate News
By: Shahla_Walayat
In a big blow to Tobacco companies, a federal judge on Monday granted class action status to tens of millions of "light cigarette" smokers for a potential $200 billion lawsuit against cigarette makers.
U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein in Brooklyn made the ruling on a 2004 lawsuit that alleges Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard Tobacco Co. and other defendants duped smokers, and responded to consumers' mounting health concerns with a campaign of deception designed to preserve revenue.
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Friday, September 22, 2006
Hedge Fund loses billions betting on Natural Gas Futures / Companies / Natural Gas
By: Shahla_Walayat
The financial media is buzzing about the reports of "enormous losses" suffered by Amaranth Advisors, a Connecticut hedge fund that reported it had lost in excess of $4 billion in the collapse of natural gas prices during 2006.
Specifically, the fund claims that its losses were due to bets that the spread between the March and April 2007 natural gas contracts would widen. That spread, in fact, did not widen but instead grew tighter as natural gas prices fell. While the fund allegedly lost money on a number of natural gas–related bets, The New York Times is reporting that the spread bet was the most costly.
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