Sales growth continues to be explosive for Facebook before their upcoming IPO.  I’d be really surprised to see the IPO valued at less than $100 billion but there is no denying the wonderful potential of this company.  There has been a lot of speculation regarding an agreement with Microsoft on search which I really believe...Read More

When investors are paying $600 billion for a consumer electronics company, they are forecasting ample growth prospects and stable margins.  Apple (AAPL) has played by its own rules which has worked out wonderfully for the company.  But by making the carriers subsidize the company’s gross margins through reducing the phone costs to consumers, the carriers...Read More

Banco Santander (SAN.MC) is in the process of monetizing some of their international assets to meet Basel III requirements, which seems to include looking at an IPO of their Mexican operations.  It will be interesting to see how much they sell, and at what multiple to earnings and book value the stock will be valued...Read More

It looks like Nestle (NSRGY) is paying a healthy 19.8 times 2012 EBITDA for Pfizer’s (PFE) nutrition business.  That is a pretty high multiple but Nestle is betting on cost synergies, and high growth prospects from the emerging markets that the business operates in.  Nestle has and also produces a lot of cash so this...Read More

Europe scored a minor victory last week with the boosting of the IMF’s capital, but it is very important that the ECB and the individual governments come up with a strategy to recapitalize the banks similar to how the U.S. did with TARP.  The banks should first be able to try and raise capital on...Read More

http://seekingalpha.com/article/514921-bank-of-america-don-t-wait-for-the-robins?source=email_rt_article&ifp=0 INVESTING IN THE FINANCIAL MARKETS INVOLVES RISKS. OPTIONS ARE NOT SUITABLE FOR ALL INVESTORS.Read More

I’m really interested to see if Roche comes back to the table after Illumina (ILMN) rejected their $6.7 billion offer.  Illumina has an amazing track record of revenue growth in an exciting market as a maker of DNA sequencers.  While the company is profitable, these acquisition are far more about the technology and future growth,...Read More

Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRK/B) subsidiary Lubrizol seems to be executing quite well according the their CEO James Hambrick.  In this article Hambrick says that he plans to increase revenue by about 60%, and that $10 billion in revenue is a reasonable number for this company.  The Lubrizol acquisition was clouded by all of the drama surrounding...Read More

AIA Group Ltd (1299) continues to profitably grow in Asia.  As disposable incomes rise it is very likely that the insurance industry will experience a long and fast growth trajectory in Asia and other emerging markets.  American International Group Inc. (AIG) still owns about 19% of AIA and it will be interesting to see if...Read More

Lower natural gas prices is a tremendous boon to chemical makers and steel companies.  Once the U.S. develops an adequate energy policy focusing on utilizing more natural gas versus oil the benefits will be even more pronounced.  Companies like Dow Chemical (DOW) have the opportunity to be huge beneficiaries in reducing their cost structure through...Read More