I’ve been seeing a lot of media coverage on the increase in foreclosures recently. It’s clear that there have been examples of predatory and misleading lending practices, as well as examples of people showing poor financial judgment, although most articles seem to focus on the former. But I couldn’t help finding this Wall Street Journal article ‘Subprime’ Aftermath: Losing the Family Home to be almost amusing. If it was trying to illustrate how sub-prime lenders were evil, it did a really bad job.
Take Ms. April Williams, who is the main character interviewed for this story and also featured in the box to the right.
“This has stripped us of our whole pride,” says April Williams, 47 years old, who has until August to pay off her ...
Filed under: Private equity, Canada, TXU Corp (TXU)It's been a long process, but there's finally a deal. BCE (NYSE: BCE), which is the largest telecom company in Canada, has agreed to a $48.82 billion deal. The buyers include the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, Providence Equity Partners, and Madison Dearborn Partners.And, yes, it's the biggest buyout in Canada's history. It's even bigger than the TXU (NYSE: TXU) deal. The transaction involved several other potential suitors, such as KKR and Cerberus Capital.Because of increased competition and slower growth, BCE was ripe for a buyout. It also helps that the company has juicy cash flows.So, by being a private company, BCE will have more leeway in making some key operational changes (such as layoffs and spin-offs).The biggest winners are BCE's shareholders. ...
Filed under: Newspapers, Columns, Mutual funds, Rich in AmericaAccording to this weekend's Wall Street Journal, the rich are "bailing out" of hedge funds. Says Robert Frank, "In 2005, the world's financial millionaires (those with investable assets of $1 million or more, not including primary residence) had 20% of their investments in alternatives. In 2006, they cut that exposure in half, to 10%."Of course, everyone is speculating about what it all means. Are the days of big returns from hedge funds over? Are we approaching a credit crisis, or another Long-Term Capital Management-style blow-up that will threaten the liquidity of the capital markets?Here's another possibility that may be part of the explanation: Maybe astute, wealthy investors are realizing that hedge funds can't, on average, generate returns strong enough to ...
Related Stocks: BBH, PBW, SLV, TTH, XHB Nick Perry (Schaeffer's Investment Research) submits: Last week we saw the PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy Fund (PBW) hit a new high while the rest of the market pulled back. This week we have a mixed overall picture but continued strength in alternative energy: Complete Story »
Filed under: Private equity, ALLTEL Corp (AT), Harrah's Entertainment (HET), First Data (FDC), Blackstone Group L.P (BX)With higher interest rates and pushback in the debt markets, it's been tougher for the private equity folks to get deals done. Just look at the recent IPO of the Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX). The stock has been, well, like a stone.But, according to this week's Barron's , this may be an opportunity. That is, there may be a way to arbitrage returns.Huh? Well, many deals have a spread between the buyout price and the current stock price. Why? Since a deal has not been closed, there's a risk of a deal falling through. With the recent general problems in private equity, there's been a widening of spreads.In fact, there are 10%+ ...
A lot of time, love and money go into starting a business. No one wants to see it fail, but half a million small businesses fold every year. Sometimes, you need to know when to throw in the towel. Here’s how to distinguish between a snag in the road and a black hole.Make three assessments: Complete Story »
Related Stocks: BSX Newsletter Value Investor Insight carried an interview May 30th with Troy Capital's Alex Troy, whose fund has returned an average of 23.6% annually net of fees since inception in March 2003, versus 15.8% for the S&P 500, according to Value Investor Insight. Here's the excerpt from the interview in which he discusses Boston Scientific (BSX), which was trading at $15.43 at the time of the interview (current price here): Complete Story »
This week on Sound Money Tips:Pack EfficientlyHere's how to travel lighter.Please Angry CustomersYou can't please them all. Maybe you can please some.Tell Them What They Want to HearImprove your odds of getting backed by a venture capitalist.Find a LawyerTips for finding a lawyer that suits your needs.Know When to Cut Your LossesUnpleasant as it is, sometimes you have to know when to give up. Complete Story »
Filed under: Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, Comfort Zone InvestingTed Allrich is the founder of The Online Investor and author of the just released book: Comfort Zone Investing: Build Wealth And Sleep Well At Night. In this weekly column, he'll offer advice to investors who are just getting started.Housing stocks have been the whipping boys of this market. A few months ago, there were tepid upward swings in some of them, caused by investors thinking the worst might be over. But they were wrong. The worst wasn't over and things look blacker now than ever. It's the perfect time to start looking at the sector and consider investing in the leaders.There's an old saying on Wall Street: Buy stocks when there's blood in the streets. In other words, when ...
Filed under: Products and services, Apple Inc (AAPL), iPhoneThere may be a chance for investors to profit from investing in Apple, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone component suppliers. ifixit has kindly disassembled an iPhone and identified the following components: Skyworks Solutions, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: SWKS) GSM/Edge Power amplifier (SKY77340) ARM 339S0030 (which ifixit thinks might be a Baseband processor) Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.'s flash memory chip. According to ifixit, BG means 32 Gigabits, the 1 means double that, so that's 64 Gigabits of storage, or 8 Gigabytes. (K9HBG08U1M) I am not sure which company makes the ARM, however, Skyworks might be worth looking at. Skyworks generated $766 million in revenues and lost $69 million in the last year. It ...
