I’ve not been researching many companies recently and there’s a reason. I was getting frustrated with the various data websites…
I’ve held JD Sports for quite a while, and a few days ago its latest interim results were released. The core business is doing extremely well. JD Sports stores are currently the leaders in sports fashion wear, with pretty much no competition.
But while the JD business is thriving I am not at all pleased with how the overall group is doing. The group is made up of not just JD Sports but Fashion stores like Bank, and now Blacks which is a higher end outdoor retailer. The fashion and outdoor segments have no unique selling point, are in fierce competition with all sorts of competitors and unlike JD Sports shops, they do not offer something unique to the customer.
Emeco leases heavy earth movement vehicles to the mining sector. It is currently selling for less than what I calculate as a conservative liquidation value. Although the industry is in a cyclical downturn, Emeco continues to generate free cash flow and is well within its debt covenants. I think it is worth around book value of A$0.72, compared to its current share price of A$0.22. Under a worst case scenario and the company liquidates I think there is a good chance of investors not losing money.
I’ve made a lot of portfolio changes over the last week or so, I don’t know if I’ve just been lucky but I’ve recently found quite a few investments that are attractive.
If you are new to the investing world, you probably don’t understand a lot of what this website says. Don’t…
I get quite a few requests for books to read on investing and am quite bored of typing out the…
I was back in my hometown of Sheffield last week and one thing that struck me was how the high street has changed. Rows of empty shops, new small businesses everywhere and lots of pawn shops. It made me think of a post on Expecting Value on H&T Group and so I decided to look at the business myself.
I’m not going into detail as EV already did a good job of writing up the company, but this is a summary of my thoughts on it. I like the business model of pawn-broking, and recently purchased a second hand games console from one so know they can offer good value for money even competing with the likes of Ebay and Amazon.
CF Industries is one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizer products in the world and I first mentioned it in my ‘Fertiliser Company Comparison’ article. It is currently selling at a P/E ratio of just 6.8 and generates all of its profits as free cash flow. Daniel Loeb’s Third Point has already announced it holds a position in the stock as it views it as undervalued.
Its core market and distribution facilities are concentrated in the midwestern United States (the so called corn belt) and other major agricultural areas of the U.S. and Canada. It also exports nitrogen fertilizer products from Louisiana manufacturing facilities and phosphate fertilizer products from Florida phosphate operations through its Tampa port facility. It mainly sells its products to industrial customers. It also owns a 75.3% interest in Terra Nitrogen Company (TNCLP).
A comparison of the biggest players in the US fertiliser industry looking at their valuations and operating metrics to decide which could be the most attractive investments.
Fertiliser companies are very out of favour at the moment. A major Russian producer has recently turned its back on a cartel and the stocks of fertiliser companies have quite rightly been thrashed as a result. This means that value investors and contrarians will be looking for any mis-pricing.