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O’Reilly Automotive: Negative Equity, Big Buybacks, 27x Earnings
O'Reilly's book value is negative and its P/B reads -37.8, yet profit keeps growing. I look at $2.4 billion of buybacks …
News
Caterpillar at 35 Times Earnings: A Record Backlog Meets a Cyclical Past
Caterpillar carries a record $72 billion backlog and trades near 35 times trailing earnings, against a five-year average…
News
Payout Ratios on 20 Dividend Stocks, Ranked Highest to Lowest
Payout ratio is the dividend divided by trailing EPS. I ran it on twenty dividend payers: Mondelez and Southern sit near…
BA
Boeing (BA) Stock: Cash Flow and the 737 Rate Matter Most
Boeing lost $428 million in the second quarter yet made $631 million of free cash flow. With shares near $198 and a 71x …
LIN
Linde (LIN) at 29.7 Times Earnings: Cheap Only Against Itself
Linde's revenue growth has climbed from 0.1% to 9.3% in six quarters, yet the stock fell 5.9% on its last report. Is a 2…
News
Free Cash Flow Lies Too: Three Adjustments Before You Trust It
Two companies can both report $1 billion of profit and hand owners very different cash. Here are the three adjustments I…
COP
ConocoPhillips (COP): Is the 2.5% Yield Enough After Marathon?
ConocoPhillips yields 2.50% and trades at 17.4 times earnings against a 14.1 five-year average. Does the Marathon Oil de…
SHW
Sherwin-Williams (SHW): Its Own Stores Matter More Than Paint
Sherwin-Williams sells most of its paint through its own stores, and the stores grew same-store sales 4.2% last quarter.…
News
Chevron After Hess: Production Is Up, and the Multiple Is Too
Chevron's second quarter earned $6.11 a share, one quarter worth 59% of the trailing year. With the stock near $210 and …
News
Why I Check Return on Invested Capital Before Return on Equity
Two companies with the same business can show ROE of 12% and 21%. ROIC stays put at 8%. Below is the arithmetic, then a …
SCHW
Schwab (SCHW): $119.8 Billion of New Assets in One Quarter
Schwab pulled in $119.8 billion of core net new assets in the second quarter, and June alone was $62.7 billion. Here is …
NEM
Newmont (NEM) at 15.6 Times Earnings: The Gold Price Does the Work
Newmont sells gold near $4,414 an ounce and spends about $1,621 to mine it. At 15.6 times earnings the stock looks cheap…