| Newly-Public RailAmerica Simply Has Too Much Debt Bill Simpson submits: Bill Simpson wrote an analysis of RailAmerica (RA) to TradingIPOs subscribers on October 7. In their debut Wednesday, October 14, shares traded for less than $14, well below initial expectations of $16 to $18 per share. The text of Mr. Simpson's original writeup follows:Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Q4 2009 Earnings Call Transcript Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL)Q4 2009 Earnings Call TranscriptJanuary 28, 2010 10:00 am ETComplete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Boeing Flies Higher With Global Growth Invest With An Edge submits: By Brandon Clay Boeing (BA) is on the short list of great American companies. I remember seeing mockups of the new 777s in Everett, Washington in 2006 inside the largest building by volume in the world. Boeing’s heritage as the premier US-based airplane manufacturer is impressive.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
BDI Weakens, But Other Shipping Measures Are Strong Mark J. Perry submits: I have had some repeated requests from some loyal CD readers to get an update on the Baltic Dry Index (you can always go here on your own any time you need your "BDI fix"), which has been in decline for the last month after reaching a YTD high in late May (see chart above). Dennis Gartman addressed this recent decline in the BDI in his newsletter on July 8, where he quoted Julian Jessop, Chief Economist of Capital Economics:The BDI is a composite measure of the cost of hiring a ship to transport dry bulk commodities such as grains, coal and metal ores. It is therefore understandable that the near -50% fall in the index since late May is attracting plenty of attention. However, there are two reasons to be wary of making big calls on commodities (or anything else) on the basis of the BDI. For a start, fluctuations in the index could be driven by changes in the supply of shipping as well as in the underlying demand for commodities transported by sea. For example, a fall in the BDI could reflect an increase in the number of ships available to carry dry commodities (either new-builds or conversions from other uses, such as tankers. Similarly, the BDI might be distorted by temporary port closures, changes in the cost of fuel and insurance, and many other factors.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Motorcar Parts of America Is Cheap, But Is It Quality? Steve Alexander submits:Business SummaryMotorcar Parts of America (MPAA) remanufactures vehicle alternators and starters ("cores") for the auto repair market, focusing primarily on the "do-it-yourself" (DIY) segment. MPAA sells over 90% of its remanufactured units through auto parts retail chains such as AutoZone (AZO) and Pep Boys (PBY), where they are sold under private labels. The remainder of sales come from professional installation warehouses, sold under the brand names Quality-Built, Talon, Xtreme, and Reliance. MPAA takes used, non-working cores that are turned in by customers for a credit, dis-assembles them for parts, and then re-assembles a new, working core using those parts and new ones. 96% of remanufactured cores in 2010 were replaced by used cores, and MPAA can usually produce 100 remanufactured cores from 120 used ones. Unusable leftover parts are sold to scrap yards.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |