I grew up (and still live) in the Deep South. I’ve also been managing money for the very wealthy for nearly two decades. One of the first things I learned about wealth in this region is that a lot of it was created by forestry and timber many generations ago.  #-ad_banner-#The seemingly bottomless bowl of money that was created when someone’s great- great-grandfather managed to buy timberland when it was a dime an acre never ceases to amaze me.  So when I discovered a stock that could help investors grow their wealth like an Alabama timber baron, I… Read More

I grew up (and still live) in the Deep South. I’ve also been managing money for the very wealthy for nearly two decades. One of the first things I learned about wealth in this region is that a lot of it was created by forestry and timber many generations ago.  #-ad_banner-#The seemingly bottomless bowl of money that was created when someone’s great- great-grandfather managed to buy timberland when it was a dime an acre never ceases to amaze me.  So when I discovered a stock that could help investors grow their wealth like an Alabama timber baron, I paid attention. CatchMark Timber Trust (NYSE: CTT) is a pure-play timber REIT (real estate investment trust) that owns, harvests and manages timber. The company currently owns interests in about 320,400 acres of timberland located in Alabama, Georgia, and Texas.  CatchMark went public in January of this year and recently conducted a secondary offering using the proceeds to extinguish debt and purchase additional acreage which has increased by 36% since year end 2013. CTT data by YCharts Since its debut, CatchMark shares have chugged sideways… Read More

Nearly six years after the financial crisis, I think it’s safe to say investors generally still don’t trust the big investment banks, like Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and others.  #-ad_banner-#Yet they’re probably still the ones you hear and read about most, if only because they’re the industry heavyweights and get the lion’s share of media attention. That’s a shame. Because it likely causes many investors to overlook smaller rivals with equal or better investment potential but not the stigma the industry “leaders” still have for their major role… Read More

Nearly six years after the financial crisis, I think it’s safe to say investors generally still don’t trust the big investment banks, like Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and others.  #-ad_banner-#Yet they’re probably still the ones you hear and read about most, if only because they’re the industry heavyweights and get the lion’s share of media attention. That’s a shame. Because it likely causes many investors to overlook smaller rivals with equal or better investment potential but not the stigma the industry “leaders” still have for their major role in the near-collapse of the financial system. One smaller rival has clearly been a far better investment, completely blowing away Goldman, Morgan Stanley, and the capital markets industry as a whole for many years now. During the past decade, this firm’s stock has delivered annual total returns of 12.8%, compared with 7.3% for Goldman and a skimpy 1.9% for the industry. Anyone who owned Morgan Stanley during that time lost nearly 1% a year. One distinguishing characteristic of this smaller rival is a thoroughly conservative approach to business — the firm’s calling card since its inception about five decades ago. Read More

With crude oil plummeting $7 since June and trading under $100 a barrel this week, it seems to be a bad time to look at energy stocks. However, when everyone was running away, the sector lost only 3%, and various indices landed on respective rising trendlines.  #-ad_banner-#In other words, energy stocks were relatively resilient, and that is a bullish sign. It now appears that United States Oil (NYSE: USO) is in the midst of a powerful upside reversal pattern called an island reversal. USO gapped down Tuesday, but closed near its highs for the day. Read More

With crude oil plummeting $7 since June and trading under $100 a barrel this week, it seems to be a bad time to look at energy stocks. However, when everyone was running away, the sector lost only 3%, and various indices landed on respective rising trendlines.  #-ad_banner-#In other words, energy stocks were relatively resilient, and that is a bullish sign. It now appears that United States Oil (NYSE: USO) is in the midst of a powerful upside reversal pattern called an island reversal. USO gapped down Tuesday, but closed near its highs for the day. On Wednesday, it gapped back up, leaving Tuesday’s trading isolated from the rest of the pattern, similar to an island surrounded by water. Of the stocks in this sector, I like the bullish prospects of integrated oil and gas company Chevron (NYSE: CVX). Not only does it offer a technical reversal of its own, but it also has a cushion of safety provided by a 3.3% dividend yield.   The stock peaked in mid-June at $133.57, and in the next few weeks, eased lower to $128.03. Considering its price level, that decline was rather modest, and CVX respected… Read More

My 3-year-old son is obsessed with big, loud trucks — and garbage trucks are his absolute favorite. #-ad_banner-#So you can imagine the excitement every Friday morning when the garbage truck stops in front of our house. At the first clang of the trash can, he sprints to the window. Intensely engaged, he curiously demands a step-by-step explanation of the entire garbage collection process. His enthusiasm for garbage trucks sent me looking into investment-worthy waste stocks. While they’re not the most glamorous, they can make great investments. Because clean cities are a necessity, their business is non-discretionary. As a… Read More

My 3-year-old son is obsessed with big, loud trucks — and garbage trucks are his absolute favorite. #-ad_banner-#So you can imagine the excitement every Friday morning when the garbage truck stops in front of our house. At the first clang of the trash can, he sprints to the window. Intensely engaged, he curiously demands a step-by-step explanation of the entire garbage collection process. His enthusiasm for garbage trucks sent me looking into investment-worthy waste stocks. While they’re not the most glamorous, they can make great investments. Because clean cities are a necessity, their business is non-discretionary. As a result, many waste collection stocks show steady growth, despite economic turbulence. Within in the waste industry, my favorite is North America’s largest garbage collection company, Waste Management (NYSE: WM). (As my colleague Marshall Hargrave recently noted, it’s also Bill Gates’ favorite stock in that industry.)   WM’s 3.4% forward annual dividend yield tops 90% of the stocks listed on the S&P 500 Index. Over the past 10 years, dividends have doubled, while payouts have increased 11 straight years. Despite its name, the company’s business isn’t limited to trash. It’s also a top green energy producer. In fact, Waste Management… Read More

I am a recent convert to the clean-energy revolution. #-ad_banner-#As I write this, solar panels are generating roughly five times the amount of energy my home is consuming (with two air-conditioning units blasting). Fast-forward a decade into the future, and more advanced solar panels and better battery technologies might just help make solar an obvious choice for almost any homeowner. But clean energy technologies obviously have drawbacks. As we’ve seen over the past five years, a wide set of variables have led to sales booms and profit busts, as industry capacity and pricing for both wind and solar fight to… Read More

I am a recent convert to the clean-energy revolution. #-ad_banner-#As I write this, solar panels are generating roughly five times the amount of energy my home is consuming (with two air-conditioning units blasting). Fast-forward a decade into the future, and more advanced solar panels and better battery technologies might just help make solar an obvious choice for almost any homeowner. But clean energy technologies obviously have drawbacks. As we’ve seen over the past five years, a wide set of variables have led to sales booms and profit busts, as industry capacity and pricing for both wind and solar fight to compete with low-cost natural gas. Right now, solar stocks are in favor. Tomorrow: Who knows? That’s why a more grounded investment in clean energy may be the wiser approach, focusing on companies that stand to prosper, regardless of the zigs and zags of clean-energy pricing and profits. And my favorite business model for such an approach remains Abengoa (Nasdaq: ABGB), which I profiled back in December. As a quick primer, this Spanish company, which only began trading in the U.S. last year, builds out the massive infrastructure to support new clean-energy production facilities, desalination plants, and energy-efficient electricity networks. Though… Read More

If you hadn’t noticed, the major refining stocks have been taking it on the chin lately. But is this another buying opportunity from Mr. Market — or a sign of things to come?  #-ad_banner-#Well, it might be a bit of both.  The key issue is that a slight change in the export law could put serious pressure on refiners. (My colleague Chuck Marvin touched on this in a recent column.) However, the market is treating refiner stocks as though this law has already been changed — but it hasn’t.  The reward of owning the top refiners might well… Read More

If you hadn’t noticed, the major refining stocks have been taking it on the chin lately. But is this another buying opportunity from Mr. Market — or a sign of things to come?  #-ad_banner-#Well, it might be a bit of both.  The key issue is that a slight change in the export law could put serious pressure on refiners. (My colleague Chuck Marvin touched on this in a recent column.) However, the market is treating refiner stocks as though this law has already been changed — but it hasn’t.  The reward of owning the top refiners might well outweigh the risk. Many of these refiners still offer solid dividend yields and are compelling from a valuation standpoint.  For instance, consider a few of the nation’s top refiners: Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO), Marathon Petroleum (NYSE: MPC), and Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX). Share prices of all three are in the red over the last month, while the S&P 500 Index is in the black:   VLO data by YCharts Shares of all the refiners crumbled the other week when two companies, Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE: PXD) and Enterprise Products… Read More

For the past couple of years, investors and analysts alike have been fixated on energy production in the midsection of the United States. Technological advances have made oil and gas extraction through fracking cheap and efficient. #-ad_banner-#Apparently, everyone has forgotten about drilling for oil at the bottom of the ocean. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think that no one drills in deep water anymore, based on the stock prices of some of the better-known offshore drilling companies. These are exactly the types of investing opportunities I look for as a contrarian/value investor; the forgotten, unloved, and ignored. One… Read More

For the past couple of years, investors and analysts alike have been fixated on energy production in the midsection of the United States. Technological advances have made oil and gas extraction through fracking cheap and efficient. #-ad_banner-#Apparently, everyone has forgotten about drilling for oil at the bottom of the ocean. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think that no one drills in deep water anymore, based on the stock prices of some of the better-known offshore drilling companies. These are exactly the types of investing opportunities I look for as a contrarian/value investor; the forgotten, unloved, and ignored. One reason investors have shunned these stocks is the Deepwater Horizon incident of 2010. Billed as the worst marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry, the disaster claimed 11 lives, cost BP (NYSE: BP) and other parties involved over $40 billion, and made an environmental impact that will be felt for decades to come… Like I said, a great contrarian investment opportunity. One of my favorite offshore drilling stocks is Noble Corp. (NYSE: NE). Noble’s stock is off nearly 50% since its pre-financial crisis peak. Why? All offshore drilling isn’t in the Gulf of Mexico. Oil… Read More

Proven reserves are one of the first things investors look at when valuing oil and gas companies.  #-ad_banner-#Proven reserves are defined as the quantity of energy sources estimated with reasonable certainty to be recoverable from established or known reservoirs under existing operating conditions. In other words, it’s the amount of oil and gas that a company has the means to extract.  As long as the company has the capital, the expertise and the resources to get that oil and gas out of the ground, it’s a gold mine for investors. Even better, when a company increases its proven… Read More

Proven reserves are one of the first things investors look at when valuing oil and gas companies.  #-ad_banner-#Proven reserves are defined as the quantity of energy sources estimated with reasonable certainty to be recoverable from established or known reservoirs under existing operating conditions. In other words, it’s the amount of oil and gas that a company has the means to extract.  As long as the company has the capital, the expertise and the resources to get that oil and gas out of the ground, it’s a gold mine for investors. Even better, when a company increases its proven reserves, it becomes a lot more valuable. One oil and gas company that recently doubled the proven reserves of its key project is Pengrowth Energy (NYSE: PGH), which explores for oil and gas in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia. StreetAuthority first brought PGH to investors’ attention in May 2011. Over the past few years, Pengrowth has been selling off non-core assets to raise money to fund its crown jewel: its Lindbergh thermal oil project. Last year, Pengrowth sold more than $1 billion in assets to fund the first phase of the Lindbergh project, which… Read More

The most recent Federal Reserve meeting stirred up a good bit of speculation among precious metal investors.  #-ad_banner-#While the understanding was that the central bank was on a trajectory of curtailing its bond-buying program and eventually allowing interest rates to rise, Fed Chairman Janet Yellen’s comments caused some uncertainty. Yellen indicated the Fed would likely keep rates at the current target rate between zero and 0.25% for an extended period of time after the end of the central bank’s bond-buying program. This caused precious metal prices to spike, along with share prices for precious metal miners,… Read More

The most recent Federal Reserve meeting stirred up a good bit of speculation among precious metal investors.  #-ad_banner-#While the understanding was that the central bank was on a trajectory of curtailing its bond-buying program and eventually allowing interest rates to rise, Fed Chairman Janet Yellen’s comments caused some uncertainty. Yellen indicated the Fed would likely keep rates at the current target rate between zero and 0.25% for an extended period of time after the end of the central bank’s bond-buying program. This caused precious metal prices to spike, along with share prices for precious metal miners, as continued low interest rates will be more likely to spark inflation. Since Yellen’s statement, other members of the Fed have spoken up, sending mixed messages to the market. In particular, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said the Fed could raise rates in the first quarter of 2015. With so many different opinions on what the Fed will do, investor uncertainty is rising. This is great news for us as option sellers, because with more uncertainty comes higher option premiums. Today, we will use a put-selling strategy to benefit from the rally in gold stocks, generating an attractive level… Read More

If you haven’t heard, America is up to its ears in domestically produced crude oil and natural gas liquids — thanks to the shale boom. #-ad_banner-#This is good news for supporters of American energy independence. Oil imports have fallen 24.6% since 2006, from a high of 10.1 million barrels a day to 7.6 million barrels a day last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. At that pace, the U.S. could become a net oil exporter by 2020. Unfortunately for upstream oil and gas producers, there aren’t many buyers for all the new crude oil and natural gas liquids… Read More

If you haven’t heard, America is up to its ears in domestically produced crude oil and natural gas liquids — thanks to the shale boom. #-ad_banner-#This is good news for supporters of American energy independence. Oil imports have fallen 24.6% since 2006, from a high of 10.1 million barrels a day to 7.6 million barrels a day last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. At that pace, the U.S. could become a net oil exporter by 2020. Unfortunately for upstream oil and gas producers, there aren’t many buyers for all the new crude oil and natural gas liquids (NGLs) coming out of the ground. The entrenched Gulf of Mexico refineries were engineered decades ago to process heavy, high-sulfur crude oil from Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Alaska’s North Slope, and the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. These refineries cannot process much of the light, low-sulfur stuff now coming from U.S. shale reservoirs. Today, there is a glut of crude oil and other liquid hydrocarbons at tank farms in Texas, Oklahoma and other major supply hubs. One type of liquid hydrocarbons with which U.S. inventories are particularly oversupplied is gas condensate. Condensate is an oil-like substance that morphs from a gas into… Read More