Norway Oil Fund rises above $1 Trillion

The value of the Government Pension Fund Global increased yesterday over 7813 billion NOK (1 trillion USD) positively influenced by rising stock prices.

Some facts:

1. Invests in 77 countries
2. Investsment in ca. 9000 companies
3. Holds ca.  1.3% of listed companies worldwide
4. Investment return from the start 1998 till 2nd quarter 2017 was 5.9%
5. In 2016 212.5 billion NOK (ca. 27 billion USD) were transfered to the state budget.

Links:
https://www.nbim.no/en/the-fund/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-19/norway-wealth-fund-says-reached-1-trillion-in-value

A presentation on the responsible investment for year 2016 with interesting details about their investment philosophy, goals and principles can be found on the homepage:
Presentation "Responsible Investment 2016"

Bloomberg Article - Forecast on Decline in Oil Demand

An intersting view on the oil demand which could be - depending on the point of view - positively/negatively impacted impacted from the following changes:

1. efficiency improvements, i.e. for engines
2. electrical cars, some oil companies like Shell plan hydrogen cars from natural gas
3. biofuels could replace oil

Some Companies mentioned: Peabody (coal), Statoil ASA (Norway), Exxon Mobil.


Link: https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-oil-projections/

On the Statoil ASA webpage I found some details about new energy solutions like offshore wind parks. Link: https://www.statoil.com/en/what-we-do/new-energy-solutions.html

Eric Cinnamond

Thanks to csinvesting I learned about Eric Cinnamond who is -according to his website- a portfolio manager for an absolute return strategy and writes about this on the blog. There is also a podcast conversation on The Felder Report.

Links:
Homepage of Eric Cinnamond
http://ericcinnamond.com/
Podcast on the Felder Report
https://www.thefelderreport.com/2017/05/30/podcast-eric-cinnamond-on-the-value-of-absolute-return-investing/

Financial Priorities - Pyramid - Morningstar

Ms. Benz from Morningstar proposes an investment pyramid which has as basis "having a goal" and only at the top the "investment selection".

So the ranking in terms of priorities are as follows:

1. The Basis: Setting and Prioritizing Your Financial Goals 
2. Managing Your Saving and Spending Rate
3. Your Asset Allocation
4. Your Own Behavior 
5. Managing for Tax Efficiency   
6. The Top: Making Investment Selections
   

Food for thought... although turning stones to find interesting companies and stocks is more fun😉
I would also add Risk and Money Management as important topics in this process.

Link to the article:
http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=789005

Schroders Blog - Value Investing Strategy Works Also in Emerging Markets & Sectors

Schroders writes about value investing in China and mentions Chinese distiller Kweichow Moutai and Russian utilities like Inter RAO as examples working in the past.

Links:
Schroders articles:

http://www.schroders.com/en/uk/the-value-perspective/blog/all-blogs/a-value-strategy-works-in-emerging-markets-as-much-as-developed-ones/

http://www.schroders.com/en/uk/the-value-perspective/blog/all-blogs/why-whole-sectors-being-tarred-with-the-same-brush-is-good-news-for-value-investing/

Interesting statement from 2nd article:
"...Regular visitors to The Value Perspective will be well aware of our view that some parts of the stockmarket – particularly the supposedly stable, low-volatility, ‘safe-haven’ sectors, such as food, beverages and tobacco – are historically very expensive while others, such as financials and mining, remain historically cheap...."

Company info on FT:
Kweichow Moutai: https://markets.ft.com/data/equities/tearsheet/summary?s=600519:SHH
Inter RAO: https://markets.ft.com/data/equities/tearsheet/summary?s=IRAO:MCX

Amiral Gestion - Fund

http://www.amiralgestion.com/uk/

Dividend Investing

Information about dividend investing in the US (DRIP), includes a list of stocks with dividends:

http://www.dripinvesting.org/tools/tools.asp

Article about Geraldine Weiss and stock screen:

https://www.forbes.com/2002/02/12/0212adviser.html

Dorfman Screen - ROE and Earning Growth

John Dorfman writes about a screen where the company must have a 30% return on equity and 30% earnings growth over last five years.

In 2017 36 companies made the cut, among them mentioned:
Texas Instruments (TXN)
MasterCard (MA)
Viacom (VIA)
NVR
Gilead Sciences (GILD)

http://dorfmanvalue.com/only-red-hot-companies-can-make-my-30-30-club/

Gilead has according to Yahoo Finance a trailing P/E below 7 and a ROE of 70.
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/GILD/key-statistics?p=GILD

Dorfman - Casualty List

John Dorfman writes about his stock screen "casualy list":

http://dorfmanvalue.com/transocean-and-essendant-are-on-the-casualty-list/

Deep Value Investment Fund

According to the description:
"A small cap fund that looks for unloved companies priced at a discount to their liquid assets. Largely UK weighted, the fund has a bias to the service sectors."
http://www.ch-investments.co.uk/our-funds/deep-value-investments-fund

Companies mentioned in the March 2017 fact sheet:
Lamprell plc
Sanshin Electronics
Indigivision Group
Record
PV Chrystalox Solar
H&T Group
B P Marsh & Partners
Hydrogen Group
Thalassa Holdings
Hargreaves Services
McKay Securities
Bovis Homes Group
Enteq Upstream 

Prof. Damodaran - Good Companies vs. Bad Companies

Prof. Damodaran writes about why good companies can be a bad investment and why bad companies can be a good investment - a paradox.
In the post is a nice matrix about valuations and multiples for screening:

http://aswathdamodaran.blogspot.co.at/2017/03/explaining-paradox-why-good-bad.html

Related to this is the post of November 2015 when Prof. Damodaran evaluated Valeant at $32.50. Then the stock price was $15, now the stock price of Valeant is $11.

http://aswathdamodaran.blogspot.co.at/2016/11/faith-feedback-and-fear-returning-to.html

Dorfman - How to Catch a Stock at an Inflection Point

John Dorfman writes about stocks that are still cheap but are getting better.
http://dorfmanvalue.com/its-great-to-catch-a-stock-at-its-inflection-point/

Selection rules:

1. Stock is in the U.S.,  market value > $250 million.
2. Stock’s price < 15 PE.
3. Earnings in last Q > +15% vs a year ago.
4. Latest reported earnings were higher than analysts expected.
5. Company’s total debt < 50% of the net worth.

Selected companies:
CVS Health Corp. (CVS)

American Outdoor Brands Corp. (AOBC)

Investors Title Co. (ITIC)
Gannett Co. (GCI)

AllianceBernstein Holding LP (AP)

Interesting Fund Companies

Thornburg Investment Management:
https://www.thornburg.com/
Global Perspectives:
https://www.thornburg.com/insight-commentary/global-perspectives/emerging-views/

Schroders - The Value Perspective

Ariel Investments

Books - History

• Edward Chancellor: Capital Returns
• Link to 5 good question podcast: http://fivegoodquestions.co/season-2/s2e20
• Wikipedia - Baring crisis 

• Harold James: The end of Globalization

• Charles Kindleberger: The World in Depression
• Link to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_P._Kindleberger
• Charles Kindleberger: Manias, Panics and Crashes
• David Kynaston: The City of London