5/6/08

Economics

Politics

Domestic

For political junkies, I thought this post by Arianna Huffington on McCain an interesting read:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/what-john-mccain-told-me_b_100183.html

Compare and contrast Hillary and Obama’s policy statements:

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/05/04/us/04economy.graph.html

And a look at all three candidates spending proposals:

http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=294621700435727

Some great and humorous advice from P.J. O’Rourke (must read):

http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2008/05/commencement-advice-youre-unlikely-to.html

International War Against Radical Islam

An updated look at the state of our military:

http://www.slate.com/id/2190661/

The Market

Technical

A chart of the dollar:

http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-peso-rallies-comeback-of-king-dollar.html

Fundamental

An update of the Street’s forecast for the S&P’s year end closing value:

http://bespokeinvest.typepad.com/bespoke/2008/05/updated-year-en.html

By the way as of yesterday, 80% of the S&P companies have reported first quarter earnings per share. Excluding financials, profits are up 11%.

Subscriber Alert

The stock price of T Rowe Price (TROW-$62) has risen above the upper boundary of its Buy Value Range. Accordingly, it is being Removed from the Dividend Growth Buy List. The Dividend Growth Portfolio will continue to Hold TROW.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=TROW

The stock price of Abbott Labs (ABT-$53) has fallen below the upper boundary of its Buy Value Range. Therefore, it is being Added to the Dividend Growth Buy List. Since the Dividend Growth Portfolio already owns ABT, no additional action will be taken at this time.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=ABT

The stock price of Bucyrus Int’l (BUCY-$135) has risen into is Sell Half Range. At the Market open this morning, the Aggressive Growth Portfolio will Sell sufficient shares to reduce this holding to 3.5% of the Portfolio.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=BUCY

The stock price of SEI Investments (SEIC-$25) has fallen below the upper boundary of its Buy Value Range. Accordingly, it is being Added to the Aggressive Growth Buy List. At the Market open this morning, the Aggressive Growth Portfolio will Buy another one quarter position in SEIC.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=SEIC

At the Market open this morning, the Dividend Growth Portfolio will Buy an additional one quarter position in Wells Fargo (WFC-$31). The High Yield Portfolio will Buy additional shares in Martin Midstream Partners (MMLP-$35). The Aggressive Growth Portfolio will Buy an additional one quarter position in Rockwell Collins (COL-$64)

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=WFC

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=MMLP

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=COL

The Dividend Growth Buy List

Company Close 5/5 Buy Value Range

Avery Dennison $50.09 $45-52

Brown Forman 70.69 65-75

Canon Inc 51.93 47-54

Chevron 95.62 84-96

Federated Investors 35.10 32-37

Ingersoll Rand 44.06 42-48

Johnson & Johnson 67.90 60-69

Manulife Financial 38.82 34-39

Proctor & Gamble 66.65 66-75

Sherwin Williams 56.53 53-61

State Street Corp 73.84 66-76 UGI 26.04 24-28

UPS 72.74 67-77

VF Corp 75.93 72-83

Wells Fargo 31.15 27-33

Company Highlight

Johnson Controls is an industrial conglomerate supplying seating, interior and door systems to the automotive industry and providing advanced battery technology and systems engineering and installed building control systems. The company has earned a 15-18% return on equity and has grown profits and dividends at a 12-15% pace over the last 10 years. This record should be extended as a result of:

(1) growing its business at twice the industry rate by expanding globally and the introduction of new products,

(2) an aggressive acquisition strategy, this includes:

(a) the purchase of Delphi battery which gives JCI not only a strong foothold in the global battery business but also gives in exposure to the gasoline/electric hybrid vehicle market,

(b) buying York International and Skymark International thereby enhancing its heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and refrigeration control abilities,

(3) a disciplined cost control effort which increases production efficiencies and expands margins,

JCI is rated A by Value Line, has a debt/equity ratio of approximately 27% and

its stock yields 1.5%.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=JCI

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