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Investment Research Since 1978

Can Reuse Save the Mega Brands, and the World?

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Some of the world's biggest branded consumer products and food companies, including Procter & Gamble, Nestle, PepsiCo and Unilever are planning to begin trial sales of their products using reusable packaging. The recycling company, TerraCycle, will handle deliveries and pickups of the products and their packaging. Saabira Chaudhuri reports for The Wall Street Journal: Refillables once dominated industries such as beer and soft drinks but lost out to convenient, affordable single-use containers. In 1947, refillables made up 100% of soft-drink containers by volume and 86% of beer … [Read more...]

Will the First Self-Driving Cars also be Planes?

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Every old sci-fi cartoon and film seems to be filled with flying cars, whisking characters quickly and efficiently beyond any ground-level impediments directly to their destination. While such vehicles have always seemed just out of reach, that hasn't stopped entrepreneurs and big corporations from pursuing the idea of "flying cars." Now, Boeing, the pioneering aerospace mega-corporation, is building something that could come close to delivering on the promise of the flying car. Bloomberg's Anurag Kotoky and Julie Johnsson report: A Boeing Co. flying car designed to whisk passengers … [Read more...]

To Those Who Don’t Think Politics Matter in Investing

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 In Davos, Ray Dalio explains that the income tax increases being discussed in the United States could soon play a role in market expectations for the future. Bloomberg reports: Discussing the outlook for a slowing world economy, Dalio said that next year will see “the beginning of thinking about politics and how that might affect economic policy beyond. Something like the talk of the 70 percent income tax, for example, will play a bigger role.” He didn’t mention Ocasio-Cortez by name. “There’s an element, yeah, where people are going to have to start paying their fair share,” … [Read more...]

Grantham’s GMO says U.S. Stock Bubble is Busting

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Jeremy Grantham’s firm, GMO, says the bubble in U.S. stocks is busting. Grantham is an expert in financial bubbles and widely known for identifying in advance the dangers of the dotcom and housing bubbles. In a recent piece written by one of Grantham’s associates, a new model of bubbles suggests we may be at the beginning of the end of inflated U.S. stock valuations. Bloomberg has the story. The size and duration of the moves in stock prices in the final three months of 2018 toward their long-term average valuation is consistent with the moves linked with the bursting of the technology … [Read more...]

Is a Shaky Outlook for Aluminum a Shaky Outlook for the Global Economy?

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Alcoa CEO Roy Harvey has sounded the alarm bell on global aluminum demand. Aluminum is widely considered an indicator of global economic health. The FT's Ed Crooks reports: Global demand for aluminium is likely to grow this year at its slowest pace since the global recession of 2009, according to Alcoa of the US, in the latest sign of a worldwide economic slowdown. Roy Harvey, Alcoa’s chief executive, said in a presentation to analysts that the company expected worldwide demand to grow by 3-4 per cent this year, which would be the slowest rate since the world market shrank during the … [Read more...]

Is Indexing Hurting Competition?

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Researchers working for the NBER have made an interesting case that high levels of common ownership in companies could be anti-competitive. This trend is exacerbated by high levels of indexing, as a greater percentage of publicly traded shares are owned by the same index funds. Bloomberg reports: The rise of indexing mutual funds and other diversified investors is increasing the temptation for public companies to act in the interests of their rivals, a trio of professors say. Their study, “Common Ownership in America: 1980-2017,” is the latest entry in a growing body of research looking … [Read more...]

Electric Volvos about to Go Wireless?

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Volvo has purchased a portion of Momentum Dynamics, a company building wireless charging stations for battery powered vehicles. Volvo is trying to gain an edge in what has become a worldwide race among the largest car companies to gain an advantage in the electric powered vehicle market. Kate Beioley reports for the FT that Volvo isn't alone in exploring wireless charging technology. She writes: The Volvo Group Venture Capital AB, a subsidiary of the Volvo Group, said it was investing in the Philadelphia-based company which develops high-power wireless charging systems for trucks, buses and … [Read more...]

New Deal Creates World’s Largest Gold Miner

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Newmont Mining Corp. is buying Goldcorp Inc. to form the world's largest gold miner, report Bloomberg's Thomas Biesheuvel and Elena Mazneva. This deal and the recent acquisition of Randgold by Barrick will be followed by numerous smaller deals in response as both giants sell certain assets. Bloomberg reports: The deal will create a company that runs mines in the Americas, Australia and Ghana and exceeds Barrick-Randgold in scale, producing about 7.9 million ounces of gold a year. It also rivals Barrick’s purchase of Placer Dome Inc. as the gold-industry’s biggest takeover. That deal had a … [Read more...]

Truckers Reap the Rewards of Online Shopping Boom

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With online shopping becoming more prolific for an array of different categories the trucking industry is reaping the rewards. You can now order everything from a couch to an outdoor kitchen and get it delivered and assembled. Bloomberg has the story. Wielding a cordless drill, Osborne hooked up all three appliances in about 45 minutes and sped off for the next home. Meanwhile, across the urban sprawl of North Texas, a colleague navigated a sofa bed down a tight hallway while another driver unpacked and assembled a patio table. The array of cargo would have been rare just a few years ago, … [Read more...]

Home Health Devices are Hot

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Home health care devices are hot. This year's consumer electronics show is packed with home health devices including a wrist band that checks your blood pressure and an band to track a baby's heart beat in-utero. “A lot of these companies are moving full steam ahead in terms of collecting data and using it to help the personalization of the customer,” said Anshel Sag, an analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy. “I just got an email about a bladder monitor.” Helping to drive this shift in the market are both the improvement in sensor accuracy, which increases a company’s likelihood of … [Read more...]