Wednesday, February 8, 2023
Sunnier days are returning to the global travel industry, especially air travel. Passenger traffic recovered dramatically in 2022, after collapsing in the first years of the coronavirus pandemic. While global air travel is still down about 20% from 2019, here in the U.S. it is pretty much back to pre-pandemic levels. Nearly 76 million people […]
The energy sector is one that keeps rewarding its investors. For example, let’s look at the so-called “Big Three” oil services companies: Halliburton (HAL), Baker Hughes (BKR) and SLB (SLB)—formerly Schlumberger. In 2022, these firms registered their most profitable 12 months since the heyday of the U.S. shale boom, reporting an aggregate net income of […]
There has been one very apparent trend since late October 2022. Following more than a decade of outperformance, global stocks have been consistently outpacing U.S. stocks. There are several reasons for this. But one major factor is the shift away from growth stocks—an area where the U.S. dominates—to value stocks. It looks to me that […]
In perhaps the most famous line from the mid-1980s television show The A-Team, A-Team leader Colonel John “Hannibal” Smith (George Peppard) often said: “I love it when a plan comes together”. Apparently, Hannibal Smith retired from the A-Team to join the executive team at the global mining giant, Rio Tinto PLC (RIO), because the company’s […]
Forget about the metaverse. The “next big thing” in the world of technology is Generative AI, a type of artificial intelligence that is capable of producing original content from scratch. Someday—hopefully not too soon—generative AI will be able to write articles like this, thus putting me out of a job. And one of the most […]
Utility stocks are historically seen as dull but dependable. After all, they have assured demand despite limits on profitability due to heavy regulation. Investors also see these stocks as regular dividend payers—bond proxies, in effect—with investors confident of solid income streams, leading to low but highly reliable total shareholder returns with relatively little capital risk. […]
My favorite among the major pharmaceutical companies remains AstraZeneca (AZN). One of the main reasons is that the company specializes in one of the areas where personalized medicine is making the greatest strides: oncology, in which AstraZeneca is the recognized leader. AstraZeneca already has three blockbuster oncology drugs. Here’s what Morningstar said about these drugs […]
Scientists began warning of a potential “twindemic” – a simultaneous surge in both Covid-19 and flu cases – in the autumn. Add in the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) into the mix and you have the United States in the throes of a viral “tripledemic”. In early December, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention […]
Before the coronavirus pandemic, most of us had never heard of mRNA vaccines, which is not surprising. Although scientists had been experimenting with the technology for literally decades (reminiscent of fusion), the technology had never progressed beyond the laboratory and into widespread medical use. But now, many of us have been vaccinated against COVID-19 with […]
Traditionally thought of as a means to transport oil and natural gas from point A to point B, pipelines are a critical part of the world’s energy infrastructure. However, that is gradually changing as the world moves away from fossil fuels. We saw one example of this in Europe, in early December. Spain and France […]
