Two things happened you should know about: food got cheap and work got easy. Sounds simple when put like that, but it was enough to change the world. Consider a personal example… On my family’s farm in Kansas, my grandfather’s wheat crop was considered… Read More

Editor’s Note: This story replaces an earlier article we published about the new banking reserve requirements. The original article was based on inaccurate information, which led to mistaken conclusions about the effect of the new regulations on earnings at the major banks. Wall Street cheered… Read More

Super-investor Warren Buffett has made a big bet on Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), adding more than 17.4 million shares to the portfolio of his holding company, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B). His stake in J&J is worth about $2.4 billion at current prices. The move can be seen as a classic Buffett “value” play: J&J shares, at about $58, are well off their 52-week high of $66.20 and are down nearly -10% for the year. The company has annual revenue of more than $60 billion and consistently earns returns on… Read More

Super-investor Warren Buffett has made a big bet on Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), adding more than 17.4 million shares to the portfolio of his holding company, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B). His stake in J&J is worth about $2.4 billion at current prices. The move can be seen as a classic Buffett “value” play: J&J shares, at about $58, are well off their 52-week high of $66.20 and are down nearly -10% for the year. The company has annual revenue of more than $60 billion and consistently earns returns on shareholder equity of between 25% and 30%. It has posted an increase in earnings for at least the past 10 years, and 2010 profit forecasts imply a +188.3% increase in net earnings since 2000. (Earnings have surprised to the upside for the past five years, according to Bloomberg.) The J&J stake wasn’t the only health-care bet made by the 79-year-old Buffett, whom Forbes lists as the second-richest man in the United States, with an estimated net worth of $40 billion, second only to… Read More

ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) is a $300 billion company trading at nearly 12 times earnings. Has this super major oil company reached a peak valuation — or should these shares be an immediate addition to your portfolio? My take: ExxonMobil is a buy. I have five reasons for it. 1. Easy oil is gone. In the early days of the oil business, oil lurked, somewhat reliably, in certain geological formations. Wildcatters sought to capitalize on this untapped wealth. And while the… Read More

ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) is a $300 billion company trading at nearly 12 times earnings. Has this super major oil company reached a peak valuation — or should these shares be an immediate addition to your portfolio? My take: ExxonMobil is a buy. I have five reasons for it. 1. Easy oil is gone. In the early days of the oil business, oil lurked, somewhat reliably, in certain geological formations. Wildcatters sought to capitalize on this untapped wealth. And while the oil business was never really “easy,” it seemed like there was an unlimited supply. But that was not the case, and as many of the United States’ largest fields have been tapped. Finding major new fields is becoming harder and harder. Most onshore oil reserves are government-controlled. That’s great news for Exxon. As a capable cost manager and with a reputation for delivering results on time, it’s the go-to oil company to help nations develop their petroleum reserves. In the next two years alone, Exxon will start major projects in Qatar, Canada, Russia and throughout Africa, with… Read More

Warren Buffett and his geeky, bridge-playing sidekick Bill Gates have talked 40 billionaires, including some of the business world’s marquee names, into giving half their fortunes to charity.   It’s an interesting scenario: If the avuncular Buffett showed up at your house and asked you to donate half… Read More

Pharmacies, labs, billing agencies and insurers all say business is down from the same period a year ago. Recent earnings reports show Americans are seeking less medical care. The reason is twofold. The most obvious is that unemployment remains high, at… Read More

What a roller coaster. On Friday the markets drop about -3%. As of the close today, most of that has been made back. I know investors are wondering what they should do.  In most cases, I think the answer is “nothing.” As Warren Buffett said, “I buy on the assumption… Read More

If you read my article from late last week, you know about my family farm in Kansas. And you’ll also remember that I work out of the StreetAuthority offices in Austin, Texas. So what do those two places have to do with today’s investment idea? One word:… Read More

With the market oscillating between down and flat for the year, an old friend of mine, Tom, asked the other day why I was so chipper about the market. He had just received his 401(k) statement and was very disappointed. “I’m up,” I told him. “I’m way… Read More

I apologize for the brevity of today’s article, but I have a long drive ahead of me. Most of you probably think I’m just a research fanatic that locks himself in the office for hours on end… well, you’re right. But fact is, I grew up on… Read More