With the budget and debt ceiling crises temporarily averted, perhaps a future economic priority will be to promote economic growth; one way to do that may be via tax reform. How to proceed depends as always on the view of the observer and whether the glasses are worn by capital, labor or government interests.
Having benefited enormously via the leveraging of capital since the beginning of my career and having shared a decreasing percentage of my income thanks to Presidents Reagan and Bush 43 via lower government taxes, I now find my intellectual leanings shifting to the plight of labor. I often tell my wife Sue it�� probably a Kennedy-esque type of phenomenon. Having gotten rich at the expense of labor, the guilt sets in and I begin to feel sorry for the less well-off, writing very public Investment Outlooks that ��is��the success that provided me the soapbox in the first place. If your immediate reaction is to nod up and down, then give yourself some points in this intellectual t锚te-�-t锚te. Still, I would ask the Scrooge McDucks of the world who so vehemently criticize what they consider to be counterproductive, even crippling taxation of the wealthy in the midst of historically high corporate profits and personal income, to consider this: Instead of approaching the tax reform argument from the standpoint of what an enormous percentage of the overall income taxes the top 1% pay, consider how much of the national income you��e been privileged to make. In the United States, the share of total pre-tax income accruing to the top 1% has more than doubled from 10% in the 1970s to 20% today. Admit that you, and I and others in the magnificent ��%��grew up in a gilded age of credit, where those who borrowed money or charged fees on expanding financial assets had a much better chance of making it to the big tent than those who used their hands for a living. Yes I know many of you money people worked hard as did I, and you survived and prospered where others did not. A fair economic syst! em should always allow for an opportunity to succeed. Congratulations. Smoke that cigar, enjoy that Chateau Lafite 1989. But (mostly you guys) acknowledge your good fortune at having been born in the ��0s, ��0s or ��0s, entering the male-dominated workforce 25 years later, and having had the privilege of riding a credit wave and a credit boom for the past three decades. You did not, as President Obama averred, ��uild that,��you did not create that wave. You rode it. And now it�� time to kick out and share some of your good fortune by paying higher taxes or reforming them to favor economic growth and labor, as opposed to corporate profits and individual gazillions. You��l still be able to attend those charity galas and demonstrate your benevolence and philanthropic character to your admiring public. You��l just have to write a little bit smaller check. Scrooge McDuck would complain but then he�� swimming in it, and can afford to duck paddle to a shallower end for a while. If you��e in the privileged 1%, you should be paddling right alongside and willing to support higher taxes on carried interest, and certainly capital gains readjusted to existing marginal income tax rates. Stanley Druckenmiller and Warren Buffett have recently advocated similar proposals. The era of taxing ��apital��at lower rates than ��abor��should now end.
Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy Right Now: Medbox Inc (MDBX)
Medbox Inc. (Medbox) offers a machine that dispenses medication to individuals based on biometric identification (fingerprint sample). The machine allows pharmacies, hospitals, doctors' offices, and alternative medicine clinics to manage employee possession of sensitive drugs. The system also allows these clinics to demonstrate that the user visiting the machine is a registered patient and that the patient has a valid and unexpired authorization from a physician to possess and use the medicine dispensed. The Company has national and international presence with offices in Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, London and Tokyo.
Medbox, through its subsidiaries, offers consulting services to the alternative medicine industry, as well as to the mini self-storage market. The Company provides consulting services primarily to individuals and groups seeking to establish new clinics and facilities, often in jurisdictions that have recently passed legislation concerning the availability of alternative medicines, as well as existing jurisdictions, nationwide.
Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy Right Now: ReachLocal Inc.(RLOC)
ReachLocal, Inc. provides a suite of online marketing and reporting solutions to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) primarily in the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, India, the Netherlands, Germany, and Japan. The company?s products include ReachSearch, a search engine marketing product; ReachDisplay, a display advertising and remarketing product; ReachCast, a solution that builds and optimizes Web presence for the purpose of driving online search discovery, powering reputation management, and managing social media marketing; and remarketing and retargeting products. It also provides a suite of digital marketing solutions comprising TotalTrack, TotalLiveChat, TotalVideoNow, and TotalBannerNow to address specific marketing needs, such as lead optimization, online analytics, and digital creative solutions. The company serves clients in various industry verticals, such as home repair and improvement, automobile sales and repair, medical and health services, legal services, and retail and personal services. It delivers its solutions through a combination of its proprietary ReachLocal Platform and direct sales force of Internet marketing consultants, as well as through select third-party agencies and resellers. ReachLocal, Inc. was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Woodland Hills, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jeremy Bowman]
What: Shares of ReachLocal (NASDAQ: RLOC ) were moving the wrong way today, falling as much as 19% after providing disappointing guidance in its quarterly report.
Hot Companies To Buy For 2014: Argo Group International Holdings Ltd.(AGII)
Argo Group International Holdings, Ltd. underwrites specialty insurance and reinsurance products in the property and casualty market worldwide. The company?s Excess and Surplus Lines segment underwrites casualty, property, transportation, and binding authority for commercial enterprises, including restaurants, contractors, day care centers, apartment complexes, condominium associations, manufacturers, and distributors; and offers policies for medical facilities within the social services, miscellaneous healthcare, and long term care markets, as well as for lawyers, miscellaneous professions, employment practices, and real estate related accounts. This segment also provides package policies for environmental consultants and contractors, storage tanks, dry cleaners pollution liability, as well as other environmental related liability exposures; and coverage for architects and engineers, accountants, and insurance agents. Its Commercial Specialty segment offers property casu alty and surety coverages; and underwrites business coverage for small commercial businesses comprising office, retail operations, light manufacturing, services, and restaurants. This segment also provides general and automobile liability, automobile physical damage, property, inland marine, crime, public official?s and educator?s legal liability, employment practices, law enforcement liability, environmental and lawyers professional liability, student accident, police and firefighters accident, workers compensation, inmate medical, and tax interruption coverages. In addition, the company?s International Specialty segment covers claims arising from catastrophic events, such as hurricanes, windstorms, hailstorms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, fires, industrial explosions, freezes, riots, floods, and other man-made or natural disasters. Further, its Syndicate 1200 segment underwrites property and non-U.S. liability insurance. The company was founded in 1986 and is based in Pembroke, Bermuda.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By CRWE]
Argo Group International Holdings, Ltd. (Nasdaq:AGII), an international underwriter of specialty insurance and reinsurance products, reported that its board of directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of 12 cents per share on the company’s common stock.
Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy Right Now: Mallett(MAE.L)
Mallett plc operates as an antiques dealer primarily in the United Kingdom and the United States. The company involves in restoration and dealing in antique furniture and works of art; and designing and manufacturing contemporary furniture and works of art. Its products include furniture products, such as cabinet furniture, fire wares, mirrors, seating, and tables and desks; pictures comprising oil and watercolor paints, as well as oriental and photography products; lightings, which consists of candlesticks, chandeliers, lamps, lanterns, and wall lights; modern products, such as coffee tables, lighting, and two tier tables; and textiles comprising needlework, and rugs and carpets. The company also offers various other objects, including ceramic, clocks and scientific, glass, ivory and tortoiseshell, and metalware products. It sells its products to private individuals and museums. The company was founded in 1865 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.
Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy Right Now: Petrominerales Ltd (PMG.TO)
Petrominerales Ltd., an oil and gas company, engages in the exploration, development, and production of crude oil in Colombia and Peru. It holds 100% interest in various exploration blocks located in Deep Llanos, Central Llanos, Llanos Heavy Oil, and Middle Magdalena basins in Columbia. The company also has incremental production contracts in Putomayo and Upper Magdelena Basins of Colombia, as well as holds interests in exploration blocks located in Ucayali and Titicaca basins in Peru. Petrominerales Ltd. was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.
Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy Right Now: USEC Inc (USU)
USEC Inc. (USEC) is a global energy company, is a supplier of low enriched uranium (LEU) for commercial nuclear power plants. The Company operates in two segments: the low enriched uranium (LEU) segment with two components, separative work units (SWU) and uranium, and the contract services segment. The LEU segment is its primary business focus and includes sales of the SWU component of LEU, sales of both SWU and uranium components of LEU, and sales of uranium. The contract services segment includes work performed for Department of Energy (DOE) and its contractors at Portsmouth and Paducah, as well as nuclear energy services and technologies provided by NAC International Inc. (NAC). The Company supply LEU to both domestic and international utilities for use in about 150 nuclear reactors worldwide. The Company enriches uranium at the Paducah gaseous diffusion plant (GDP) that it leases from the United States DOE.
The Company is deploying advanced uranium enrichment technology, known as the American Centrifuge. USEC provide transportation and storage systems for spent nuclear fuel and provide nuclear and energy consulting services. It also performs contract work for DOE and its contractors at the Paducah and Portsmouth sites.
Low Enriched Uranium
The majority of the Company's customers are domestic and international utilities that operate nuclear power plants. During the year ended December 31, 2011, LEU segment�� international sales constituting 23% of revenue. Its agreements with electric utilities are primarily long-term, fixed-commitment contracts under which the Company's customers are obligated to purchase a specified quantity of SWU from the Company or long-term requirements contracts under which its customers are obligated to purchase a percentage of their SWU requirements from the Company.
Contract Services
The Company performs and earns revenue from contracts work through its subsidiary NAC and from contract work for DOE and DOE! contractors at the Paducah GDP and the site of the former Portsmouth GDP in Piketon, Ohio. NAC provides nuclear energy services and technologies, specializing in design, fabrication and implementation of spent nuclear fuel technologies including the high capacity MAGNASTOR system; nuclear materials transportation, and nuclear fuel cycle consulting services.
The Company competes with Urenco, Areva, State Atomic Energy Corporation and GE Hitachi Global Laser Enrichment (GLE).
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Paul Ausick]
Stocks on the Move: Chegg Inc. (NYSE: CHGG) is down 21.8% at $9.77 after the company�� IPO today. USEC Inc. (NYSE: USU) is up 57.2% at $XX after the U.S. left duties in place on imports of French low-enriched uranium. James River Coal Co. (NASDAQ: JRCC) is up 19.5% at $1.41.
- [By Roberto Pedone]
Usec (USU) is a global energy company, which is a supplier of low enriched uranium for commercial nuclear power plants. This stock closed up 8.3% at $13.75 in Monday's trading session.
Monday's Volume: 1.57 million
Three-Month Average Volume: 651,161
Volume % Change: 227%From a technical perspective, USU bounced sharply higher here right off its 200-day moving average of $11.77 and back above its 50-day moving average of $13.36 with heavy upside volume. This stock has been downtrending badly for the last month, with shares moving lower from its high of $22.73 to its recent low of $12.12. During that move, shares of USU have been making mostly lower highs and lower lows, which is bearish technical price action. That said, the downside volatility might be over in the short-term for USU, since the stock has now started to bounce off key moving averages with volume.
Traders should now look for long-biased trades in USU as long as it's trending above Monday's low of $12.12 and then once it sustains a move or close above Monday's intraday high of $14.66 with volume that hits near or above 651,161 shares. If we get that move soon, then USU will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $17 to $19.
- [By John Udovich]
Since the start of the week, small cap nuclear fuel stock USEC Inc (NYSE: USU) more than doubled for investors, something that has not happened for investors in uranium stocks like Uranium Resources, Inc (NASDAQ: URRE), Denison Mines Corp (NYSEMKT: DNN), Ur-Energy Inc. (NYSEMKT: URG) and Uranerz Energy Corp (NYSEMKT: URZ). To recap: USEC Inc closed at the $6 level on Friday, but then it surged to the $15 level on Monday only to open at the $10 level on Tuesday when it ultimately closed at $12.46. So what in the world is going on with USEC Inc and is it time to revisit nuclear fuel and uranium stocks?
Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy Right Now: Ishares Silver Trust (SLV)
iShares Silver Trust (the Trust) owns silver transferred to the Trust in exchange for shares issued by the Trust (Shares). Each Share represents a fractional undivided beneficial interest in the net assets of the Trust. The assets of the Trust consist primarily of silver held by the Trust�� custodian on behalf of the Trust. The sponsor of the Trust is iShares Delaware Trust Sponsor LLC (the Sponsor). The trustee of the Trust is The Bank of New York Mellon (the Trustee) and the custodian of the Trust is JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A., London branch (the Custodian).
The activities of the Trust are limited to issuing Baskets of Shares in exchange for the silver deposited with the Custodian as consideration, selling silver as necessary to cover the Sponsor�� fee, Trust expenses not assumed by the Sponsor and other liabilities and delivering silver in exchange for Baskets of Shares surrendered for redemption. Each deposit of silver for the creation of Baskets of Shares and each surrender of Baskets of Shares for the purpose of withdrawing Trust property (including if the trust agreement terminates) must be accompanied by a payment to the Trustee of a fee.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Doug Ehrman]
Silver ETFs: While there are several ETFs that track the performance of the silver commodity, the iShares Silver Trust (NYSEMKT: SLV ) is the largest and most liquid. The advantage of investing in SLV is that you get the same performance that's available from the futures market at much smaller denominations. The forces that drive the commodity markets are different from those that drive stocks, meaning that silver companies are often at the mercy of both sets of drivers. Investing for beginners is often best kept as simple as possible, and ETF investments tend to be very straightforward. For these reasons, an allocation to SLV is a great way to get started.
- [By Caroline Bennett]
But what goes up must come down
This isn't the first time Bitcoin has reached spectacular highs only to bottom out at disastrous lows. In 2011, fellow Fool contributor Mike Pienciak followed the currency as it turned into a 3,000-bagger (no typo) that made the 30% and 100% returns of fellow currencies SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEMKT: GLD ) and iShares Silver Trust (NYSEMKT: SLV ) look like chump change. Then, two months later, Bitcoin crashed to a mere $2 a share. - [By Dan Caplinger]
One of the primary worries that would-be Bitcoin users have about digital currency is that its existence relies on computer networks beyond their control. By contrast, existing currency and commodity ETFs can in many cases point to actual physical assets. SPDR Gold Trust (NYSEMKT: GLD ) and iShares Silver Trust (NYSEMKT: SLV ) , for instance, publish lists of physical bullion bars to support the underlying value of their shares. Currency ETFs CurrencyShares Canadian Dollar (NYSEMKT: FXC ) and CurrencyShares Japanese Yen (NYSEMKT: FXY ) usually turn to short-term investments denominated in their respective currencies.�
- [By Todd Shriber, ETF Professor]
Big losers (down at least 5%): Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX), Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDXJ), Market Vectors Indonesia ETF (NYSE: IDX), iShares Silver Trust (NYSE: SLV), Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE: SIL) and the Direxion Daily Latin America Bull 3X Shares (NYSE: LBJ).
Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy Right Now: J. W. Mays Inc.(MAYS)
J.W. Mays, Inc. owns and operates commercial real estate properties in the United States. Its properties are located in Brooklyn, Jamaica, Levittown, Massapequa, and Fishkill, New York, as well as in Circleville, Ohio. The company was founded in 1924 and is based in Brooklyn, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Geoff Gannon] is trading around book value your next step is to figure out how book value is calculated.
The reason a company trading below book value is interesting has to do with accounting. In the U.S., you don�� mark up the book value of land and many other potentially valuable assets just because you have evidence ��like an appraisal, comparable sale, etc. ��that the market value is now higher than your original cost.
So, there will be situations where knowing how a company accounts for its assets and knowing the stock trades for less than book value can help direct you to companies selling for less than they are worth.
DreamWorks is a movie studio. So it is using a rather subjective estimate of the ultimate revenue a movie will produce. It is then amortizing the cost of the movie as revenue comes in to the company in proportion to the percentage of revenue this represents relative to expected total revenue the movie will produce.
For very old movies, it�� actually a little different. And for flops it�� different. DreamWorks can write off flops. And it can�� expect the ultimate revenue for a movie to be higher to the extent such revenue comes more than 10 years after the film�� release.
In other words, DreamWorks has to fully amortize a movie within 10 years and disregard the value an 11-year-old movie might have.
This is explained in a note to the company�� 10-K. It is very important for Ben Graham-type investors to read all these notes carefully ��but especially the notes on depreciation and amortization:
Once a film, television special/series or live performance is released, capitalized productions costs are amortized and participations and residual costs are accrued on an individual title basis in the proportion that the revenue during the period for each title (��urrent Revenue�� bears to the estimated remaining total revenue to be recognized from all sources for each title (��ltimate Revenue��. The amo
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