| The Larger Energy Implications of Hydrogen Autos By Richard T. StuebiAlthough much of the ink these days about innovative vehicles relates to plug-in hybrids, work continues to explore the potential for hydrogen-based fuel cells to play a key role in the transportation sector -- particularly in light of the recent decision by Congress to reauthorize funding for hydrogen autos.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Nordic American Tanker: A Ship that Won't Sink David Zanoni submits:Back in April 2009, I became interested in Nordic American Tanker Shipping LTD. (NAT) due to their potential to ship and store crude oil on their tankers. One main factor that caught my eye was their dividend that previously yielded over 10%. That was a factor that didn't last, however, since they lowered the divy to .40 a share. Although I was disappointed that the hefty dividend of over $1 per share wouldn't last, I knew in the back of my mind that it was eventually going to be lowered. The reason why I wasn't alarmed by the lowering of the dividend was because I knew this small cap company of 1.13 billion in market cap was just realigning its funds for growth. By keeping more of their cash, NAT will be better positioned to add more tankers to their fleet and maintain the existing ones.With zero debt and 88 million in cash on their balance sheet, NAT is in a good position to benefit from the contango in the oil market. In the current environment, the oil futures prices are continually higher than the spot price (or closest available expiration month). Therefore, investors who are able to buy the physical crude at the current spot price of $71 and store it until Jan 2011's price of $83 can make a nice 17% profit by buying the crude now and storing it for a year. NAT will benefit from this situation as investors look to tankers to store the oil inventory. The increased demand for tanker storage will result in higher storage prices and higher revenue for the tanker companies. So, those of us who cannot afford to take delivery of the physical crude would still be able to benefit by buying a tanker company such as Nordic.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Earnings Preview: Harley-Davidson Inc. Zacks.com submits: Harley-Davidson Inc. (HOG) announced that it will release its first quarter results for 2010 before the market opens on April 20, 2010. The motorcycle maker had disappointed in the fourth quarter of 2009 by reporting a loss of $147.2 million or 63 cents per share compared to an income of $91.9 million or 40 cents in the comparable period a year ago. The loss is also pronounced compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 34 cents per share. This was driven by lower shipments due to the difficult economy and the restructuring actions that resulted in huge charges of $167.1 million.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
GM Wants More Sub-Prime Buyers Kid Dynamite submits: Last week I linked to a story about how GM (MTLQQ.PK) wanted to get back into the financing business. Yesterday's AP headline had me tilting my head and raising my eyebrows in surprise:"GM Wants More Subprime Buyers" GM's top North American executive Mark Reuss, under pressure to quickly sell more cars and boost GM's value as it gets ready to sell stock to the public, said a shortage of subprime lending is holding back sales in the U.S.But the automaker's main lender, Ally Financial Inc., has little appetite for risky loans, having spent the last few years cleaning up its own financial mess caused mainly by its failing mortgage lending business. Both companies are majority-owned by the U.S. government.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Spirit AeroSystems: Set to Take Flight, Albeit Possibly With a Bumpy Ascent Scott Wachsler submits: At Wax Ink there are four investment metrics we pay attention to. Our Price to Buy Target, our Price to First Sell Target, our Price to Close Target, and our Risk Adjusted Buy Target. We pay attention to these metrics because unlike most other investment sites, we think actually determining a value for the stock we want to purchase is important.So based on our analysis of a company's financial information, we determine what to us is a Reasonable Value for the stock, based on a 5-year hold. And miracle of miracles, we do that before we purchase a stock.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |