Notes from Yesterday

  1. The Broad Market Portfolio made 30 basis points yesterday, amid a rally in some cyclicals. Names that worked for me included Tsakos Energy Navigation [TNP], Royal Bank of Scotland [RBSPF], and Lafarge SA [LR]. Industrias Bachoco SA lagged, but after yesterday’s great performance, who can complain? Energy names did okay, but less well than the commodity; this may be part of a correction for the recent energy equity outperformance.

  2. I think Cramer has it wrong on railroad mergers. The great demand in rail is for traffic to go East-West, not North-South. If the antitrust authorities allowed it, it would make sense for Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern to merge, as well as Burlington Northern and CSX. That would offer far more value than what he proposes.

long RBSPF ABN BCS IBA TNP LR

3 thoughts on “Notes from Yesterday

  1. nice blog David…and speaking of railroads, what do you think about CNI? I recall that you were long it once upon a time.

    long CNI

  2. I agree that it would make more sense for an east -west road to merge, BUT where is the savings? If NS and CSX came together they would have an enormous operational savings !! The rails are all planning huge expansions and billions could be saved if a synergy took place. Oh yes, the question of anti-trust; well, how about the prospect of some re-regulation to silence the shippers?

  3. aliens8mycow, thanks for the kind words. If I were buying a railroad, I would likely buy CNI or NSC… they seem well run and cheaper.

    john, a very good point… I don’t expect any significant rail mergers to be approved, even under the Bush administration. The Canadians have railraoads that go coast-to-coast, and that’s a real advantage. I guess I was considering a different set of cost advantages.

    Thanks for posting, both of you.

Comments are closed.

Theme: Overlay by Kaira