Please don’t call gold an investment, but rather an insurance policy: a look at premium paid vs. coverage received
Financial HippieNot an investment... Any time someone is trying to pitch gold to you as an "investment", he is probably trying to sell you commemorative coins for 2x the intrinsic value. Gold doesn't make sense from a fundamental investing point of view.
Non-agency mortgage REIT Chimera (CIM): Collect 15% in dividends while you wait for the stock to double or triple?
Financial HippieIt's hard to find value these days in the market. However, I believe the whole agency REIT space is still attractively valued. I think CIM is a special case where it will provide the same yield as agencies but with an optionality on returning leverage.
Balance sheet wars – US solar companies vs. the Chinese government. Who’s going to win that one?
Financial HippieWe all know the foot race that is going on in the solar industry - companies are trying to achieve the lowest per megawatt cost for an installed system. Until the next leapfrogging technology comes along, the most important factor to drive down cost is scale*. Here is where the US solar companies will have serious problems competing against the Chinese solar companies because the US solar companies lack cheap, indiscriminate access to capital like their Chinese cohorts.
Lone Pine Capital’s Melco Crown (MPEL) position – a bet on lowering the Macau gaming revenue tax rate?
Financial HippieI was thinking about shorting Melco Crown (MPEL) until I saw Lone Pine Capital take a 1% stake in Melco Crown. Why did they sell all of their Las Vegas Sands (LVS) position to swap into Melco Crown (MPEL)?