Not so fast, Chevron. Last month, Chevron (NYSE: CVX) unveiled plans to acquire Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC) for $33 billion in cash and stock. Anadarko execs signed on the dotted line, agreeing to a $1 billion breakup fee should the deal be scuttled for any reason. That was a mistake, particularly knowing there was another interested suitor. A few days ago, a Gulfstream corporate jet owned by Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) touched down in Omaha, Nebraska, home of Warren Buffett. It could have been a mere coincidence — but it wasn’t. Behind the scenes, Buffett was orchestrating a financial package… Read More

Not so fast, Chevron. Last month, Chevron (NYSE: CVX) unveiled plans to acquire Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC) for $33 billion in cash and stock. Anadarko execs signed on the dotted line, agreeing to a $1 billion breakup fee should the deal be scuttled for any reason. That was a mistake, particularly knowing there was another interested suitor. A few days ago, a Gulfstream corporate jet owned by Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) touched down in Omaha, Nebraska, home of Warren Buffett. It could have been a mere coincidence — but it wasn’t. Behind the scenes, Buffett was orchestrating a financial package to help Occidental outbid Chevron for Anadarko. Occidental, one of the portfolio holdings in my High-Yield Investing premium newsletter, has since come forward with an offer of $76 per share, or $38 billion. That’s not only more generous than Chevron’s $65 bid, but it also has a higher cash component (50% versus 25%). While Anadarko has rebuffed previous advances from Occidental, in part because of concerns that OXY shareholders might balk, it has no choice but to seriously consider this offer. So how does Warren Buffett fit in? Well, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) has agreed to bankroll $10 billion toward the cost. Read More

Last week, I read a paper called “How the Wealth Was Won: Factor Shares as Market Fundamentals.” For a slightly wonky student of the markets like me, this paper is the equivalent of a horror movie.  It’s a rather technical paper, and I won’t bore you with all the details. But for those who’d like to really dive in to all the math and details, the paper can be found here. This paper explained why the profit margin contraction I wrote about last week is a long-term problem for investors. Data in the paper confirmed my view… Read More

Last week, I read a paper called “How the Wealth Was Won: Factor Shares as Market Fundamentals.” For a slightly wonky student of the markets like me, this paper is the equivalent of a horror movie.  It’s a rather technical paper, and I won’t bore you with all the details. But for those who’d like to really dive in to all the math and details, the paper can be found here. This paper explained why the profit margin contraction I wrote about last week is a long-term problem for investors. Data in the paper confirmed my view that the future for investors is much different than what investors have come to believe is normal based on their experience of the past few decades.  —Recommended Link— [Free Webinar] The Secret to Making $125,000 In a Year On May 9th at 1 p.m. investing legend Jim Fink is going to share four ways to tap the market for gains of 114%, 211%, 246% and 433%. Sometimes in as little as 36 hours. His new system is so powerful, we’re promising anyone who uses it will have the opportunity to make $125,000 in the next… Read More

It may just be the most interesting large company you’ve never heard of… But it’s firing on all cylinders, which is why we just recently added it to the Maximum Profit portfolio.  On the surface, it looks like a normal internet and media company. But it’s much, much more than that… In fact, South Africa’s Naspers (OTC: NPSNY) is about as unique a company as you’ll ever come across. It’s a venture capital-like firm that owns a portfolio of some of the top internet companies across the globe.  Many of the companies it owns are firms that you’ve likely never… Read More

It may just be the most interesting large company you’ve never heard of… But it’s firing on all cylinders, which is why we just recently added it to the Maximum Profit portfolio.  On the surface, it looks like a normal internet and media company. But it’s much, much more than that… In fact, South Africa’s Naspers (OTC: NPSNY) is about as unique a company as you’ll ever come across. It’s a venture capital-like firm that owns a portfolio of some of the top internet companies across the globe.  Many of the companies it owns are firms that you’ve likely never heard of, with one notable exception: Chinese tech giant Tencent (OTC: TCEHY).  For those who may be unaware, Tencent is one of the internet giants of China, and the company has its hands in everything from social media to gaming to payments to artificial intelligence and more. In fact, it’s the sixth-largest internet-focused company in the world in terms of revenue. Naspers first invested in Tencent in 2001 and is the company’s largest shareholder, controlling over 31% of shares outstanding. That position alone is worth more than $146 billion. #-ad_banner-#But get this… Naspers’ market cap is only $110 billion. That’s… Read More

One tried-and-true way to make a portfolio safer is to move into cash. This is especially true for the markets you might feel are overpriced, overbought, or otherwise ready for a pause, as well as in any market run wild.  Most of the time, however, a move to more cash should not mean selling everything. As tempting as it can be to declare a market top, in reality it’s next-to-impossible to say for sure which direction the market is headed at any given moment. Cash-rich companies might be one possible answer here: more often than not, a company that generates… Read More

One tried-and-true way to make a portfolio safer is to move into cash. This is especially true for the markets you might feel are overpriced, overbought, or otherwise ready for a pause, as well as in any market run wild.  Most of the time, however, a move to more cash should not mean selling everything. As tempting as it can be to declare a market top, in reality it’s next-to-impossible to say for sure which direction the market is headed at any given moment. Cash-rich companies might be one possible answer here: more often than not, a company that generates a lot of cash is a safer investment than one that loses cash. With this in mind, I decided to screen for tech companies that generate significant amounts of cash. Typically, this can be found in relatively mature, larger-sized companies. And since we’re restricting this search to the tech sector, we’re likely to still have some innovative companies on our hands that may yet still have a lot of upside. —Recommended Link— The Secret To Making 18x More Than Buy-And-Hold Investors Jim Fink has come up with a system that turns small stock movements… Read More