In Search of the Perfect Investment

Australians talk about Blind Freddie. He’s the ultimate klutz. Even he can pick stocks that go up in this market.

Most consistent growers of the past ten years have been gold and silver.

I”m still bullish on gold and silver.

Here’s ten years in gold:

Here’s ten years in silver:

Here’s ten years in mining with BHP. The last couple have been really great. I continue to like BHP. As the world economy recovers further, it will want all the stuff that BHP mines.

Yesterday I said I was drawing a semi-blank. Everyone responded with ideas. Including:

From  reader John Harahan:

Finally, Harry since you mentioned something about potential hot stocks I just thought I’d throw one out that being GTLT.ob. Take a look at this little telcom (making money @.08 per share) based in Virginia with an outstanding and seasoned management team. Take a look at the insider buying over the last 4 years. Listen to the last cc. I have been accumulating for 3+ years and now have a rather large position. Best of luck to all.

Your article today references good investments. I have emailed you twice in the past year in reference to Rare Earth Stocks. Have you done any research on this topic? Good sources for research are John Kaiser’s Bottom Fish letter and Jack Lifton’s TMR newsletter; both are free. GOOD LUCK. I own several including Avalon, Great Western, Rare Earth and Rare Element.

I’ll save otheer ideas for tomorrow. Meantime, Yahoo Finance wrote a piece on 29 stocks, with a market cap greater than $10 billion, that hit 52-week highs yesterday. I don’t like all of them. But some we already have on our list. Stay away from AT&T.

PetroChina Co. Ltd. (NYSE:PTR): Up 2.49% to $146.25. PetroChina Company Limited explores, develops, and produces crude oil and natural gas. The Company also refines, transports, and distributes crude oil and petroleum products, produces and sells chemicals, and transmits, markets and sells natural gas.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CVX): Up 1.25% to $107.37. Chevron Corporation is an integrated energy company with operations in countries located around the world. The Company produces and transports crude oil and natural gas. Chevron also refines, markets, and distributes fuels as well as is involved in chemical operations, mining operations, power generation and energy services.

AT&T, Inc. (NYSE:T): Up 2.35% to $30.05. AT&T Inc. is a communications holding company. The Company, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, provides local and long-distance phone service, wireless and data communications, Internet access and messaging, IP-based and satellite television, security services, telecommunications equipment, and directory advertising and publishing.

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO): Up 1.06% to $65.72. The Coca-Cola Company manufactures, markets, and distributes soft drink concentrates and syrups. The Company also distributes and markets juice and juice-drink products. Coca-Cola distributes its products to retailers and wholesalers in the United States and internationally.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ): Up 1.43% to $38.29. Verizon Communications Inc. is an integrated telecommunications company that provides wire line voice and data services, wireless services, Internet services, and published directory information. The Company also provides network services for the federal government including business phone lines, data services, telecommunications equipment and payphones.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT): Up 1.04% to $110.54. Caterpillar Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets construction, mining, agricultural, and forestry machinery. The Company also manufactures engines and other related parts for its equipment, and offers financing and insurance. Caterpillar distributes its products through a worldwide organization of dealers.

Apache Corp. (NYSE:APA): Up 1.34% to $127.94. Apache Corporation is an independent energy company. The Company explores for, develops, and produces natural gas, crude oil, and natural gas liquids. The Company has operations in North America, onshore Egypt, offshore Western Australia, offshore the United Kingdom in the North Sea (North Sea), and onshore Argentina, as well as on the Chilean side of the island of Tierra del Fuego.

Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE:HON): Up 2.19% to $59.60. Honeywell International Inc. is a diversified technology and manufacturing company with operations around the world. The Company provides aerospace products and services, control technologies, automotive products, and power generation systems. Honeywell also provides specialty chemicals, fibers, plastics, and electronic and advanced materials.

Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL): Up 2.3% to $49.00. Halliburton Company provides energy services and engineering and construction services, as well as manufactures products for the energy industry. The Company offers services and products and integrated solutions to customers in the exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas.

National Oilwell Varco, Inc. (NYSE:NOV): Up 1.91% to $82.26. National Oilwell Varco Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells machinery, equipment, and downhole products used in oil and gas drilling and production. The Company also provides oilfield inspection and other services, and supply chain integration services to the upstream oil and gas industry.

EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG): Up 1.04% to $119.67. EOG Resources, Inc. explores for, develops, produces and markets natural gas and crude oil. The Company operates in major producing basins in the United States, Canada, Trinidad, the United Kingdom North Sea, China and, from time to time, select other international areas.

Praxair Inc. (NYSE:PX): Up 1.48% to $100.92. Praxair, Inc. supplies gas to industries primarily located in North and South America. The Company produces, sells, and distributes atmospheric gases including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases, as well as process gases including carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronics gases, and acetylene. Praxair also supplies metallic and ceramic coatings and powders.

Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE:NSC): Up 1.15% to $69.56. Norfolk Southern Corporation provides rail transportation services. The Company transports raw materials, intermediate products, and finished goods primarily in the Southeast, East, and Midwest and, via interchange with rail carriers, to and from the rest of the United States. Norfolk Southern also transports overseas freight through several Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports

Yanzhou Coal Mining Co. Ltd. (NYSE:YZC): Up 2.92% to $34.50. Yanzhou Coal Mining Company Limited operates underground mining and coal preparation and operation businesses. Its products are sold in domestic and international markets. The Company also provides railway transportation services.

priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ:PCLN): Up 1.59% to $491.69. Priceline.com Incorporated enables consumers to use the Internet to save money on a variety of products and services. The Company’s product allows customers to name their own price on products or services and communicates that demand directly to participating sellers or to their private databases. Participants include domestic and international airlines, and hotel chains.

Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE:RAI): Up 0.34% to $35.65. Reynolds American Inc., through its subsidiaries, manufactures tobacco and smokeless tobacco products. The Company’s subsidiary sells its products in the United States and its territories.

Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE:VLO): Up 2.94% to $30.44. Valero Energy Corporation is an independent petroleum refining and marketing company that owns and operates refineries in the United States, Canada, and Aruba. The Company produces conventional gasolines, distillates, jet fuel, asphalt, petrochemicals, lubricants, and other refined products as well as diesel fuel, low-sulfur and ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel, and oxygenates.

CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS): Up 3.6% to $25.31. CBS Corporation is a multimedia company that operates broadcasting, television production, and publishing businesses. The Company operates television and radio stations, produces and syndicates television programs, publishes books, provides online content as well as provides outdoor advertising.

Weatherford International Ltd. (NYSE:WFT): Up 4.28% to $22.15. Weatherford International Ltd. provides equipment and services used for the drilling, completion, and production of oil and natural gas wells. The Company offers drilling and intervention services, completion systems, artificial lift systems, and compression services. Weatherford conducts operations in substantially all of the oil and natural gas producing regions in the world.

TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU): Up 1.97% to $48.06. Telus Corporation is a telecommunications company providing a variety of communications products and services. The Company provides voice, data, Internet, and wireless services to businesses and consumers in Canada.

Parker Hannifin Corporation (NYSE:PH): Up 1.02% to $94.32. Parker Hannifin Corporation manufactures motion control products, including fluid power systems, electromechanical controls, and related components. The Company also produces fluid purification, fluid flow, process instrumentation, air conditioning, refrigeration, and electromagnetic shielding and thermal management products.

The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR): Up 2.15% to $24.19. The Kroger Co. operates supermarkets and convenience stores in the United States. The Company also manufactures and processes some of the foods that its supermarkets sell.

HCA Inc. (HCA): Up 2.57% to $33.89.

PPG Industries Inc. (NYSE:PPG): Up 1.35% to $90.59. PPG Industries, Inc. supplies products for the manufacturing, construction, automotive, chemical processing, and other industries worldwide. The Company makes protective and decorative coatings, flat glass, fabricated glass products, continuous-strand fiber glass products, and industrial and specialty chemicals.

Hershey Co. (NYSE:HSY): Up 1.07% to $54.79. The Hershey Company manufactures chocolate and sugar confectionery products. The Company’s principal products include confectionery and snack products; gum and mint refreshment products; and food and beverage enhancers such as baking ingredients, toppings and beverages.

The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MHP): Up 3.84% to $40.05. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. is a global information services provider. The Company operates in the finance, business, education, construction, medical and health, energy, automotive, aerospace, defense, and broadcasting markets. McGraw-Hill uses a variety of media, including books, magazines, newsletters, software, on-line data services,CD-ROMs, facsimile, and television broadcasting.

Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFMI): Up 1.56% to $64.35. Whole Foods Market, Inc. owns and operates a chain of natural food supermarkets in the United States. The Company’s stores provides full range of merchandise, featuring products that are free of artificial flavors, sweeteners, colors, preservatives, and added chemicals. Whole Foods also develops, produces, and markets nutriceuticals and nutritional supplements.

AmerisourceBergen Corporation (NYSE:ABC): Up 0.89% to $39.73. AmerisourceBergen Corporation is a pharmaceutical services company. The Company distributes pharmaceutical products and services. AmerisourceBergen distributes an offering of brand name and generic pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter healthcare products, home healthcare supplies and equipment, and related services to a variety of healthcare providers.

Energy Select Sector SPDR (NYSE:XLE): Up 1.22% to $79.46. Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund is an exchange-traded fund incorporated in the USA. The Fund’s objective is to provide investment results that correspond to the performance of The Energy Select Sector Index. The Index includes companies that develop & produce crude oil & natural gas, provide drilling and other energy related services.

The backup lesson from Tokyo. Cheap, nasty and lazy. That’s how I now look at the backup “strategies” of the world’s  nuclear power plants. Read this short piece and ask yourself “What I am doing to back up my personal life. Think of three  critical areas — my computer,  myfinances  and my home? Do I have  several strategies in place? Or am I assuming (as our nuclear plants do) that there’ll never be a disaster — also called a black swan event?

From yesterday’s New York Times:

Lessons From Fukushima Taught on Capitol Hill

WASHINGTON — Almost all American nuclear power plants have backup batteries that would last only half as long as those at Japan’s troubled Fukushima Daiichi plant did after a tsunami knocked out power there, an expert testified Tuesday at a Senate committee briefing on nuclear safety.

An industry official, addressing the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, conceded that battery life was “one of the obvious places” that nuclear operators would examine for potential improvements.

David Lochbaum, a nuclear expert at the Union of Concerned Scientists, which generally takes a critical tone toward nuclear reactors, said that just 11 of the nation’s 104 plants had eight-hour batteries, and 93 had four-hour batteries. The batteries are not powerful enough to run pumps that direct cooling water, but they can operate valves and can power instruments that give readings of water levels, flow and temperatures.

After the March 11 tsunami disabled the local electricity grid at the Fukushima Daiichi plant and the plant’s emergency diesel generators, the failure of the batteries deprived the plant’s operators of those crucial measurements.

Addressing the committee with Mr. Lochbaum was Anthony R. Pietrangelo, senior vice president and chief nuclear officer of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry trade association. “To get to 48 hours, or 72 hours, pick a number,” he said of the backup batteries. “We’re going to have to take a hard look and see what resources would be required.”

After the committee briefing, Mr. Pietrangelo said that one alternative to adding long-lasting batteries could be having portable diesel generators available for quick dispatch to a reactor. Some equipment intended to cope with a severe accident or terrorist attack is already centrally stockpiled, he said.

Separately, Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, said Tuesday that he would introduce legislation to require that American plants acquire 72-hour batteries along with 14 days of fuel for the backup diesel generators.

Fukushima reportedly had seven days of diesel fuel, but the tanks were washed away by the tsunami; most American plants bury their tanks for safety, according to industry officials.

The bill would also impose a moratorium on license renewals and on new plant licenses.

Another expert who spoke before the Senate committee, William Borchardt, the chief staff official of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said that the Fukushima crisis would have no impact on the commission’s granting of new licenses or license extensions.

If Japan’s experience shows that changes in reactors are needed here, he said, those will be ordered immediately, regardless of the status of the plant’s license, license extension or license application.

Another American practice that appears likely to be re-evaluated in view of Japan’s crisis is filling pools with spent fuel to the maximum extent possible. Mr. Markey and others called for reducing the risk by moving some fuel to dry casks, something that is done now only when the pool is at capacity.

No self-respecting phone company or computer data center would have as little electrical backup as our nuclear power plants do today. It’s downright scary.

I pray they fix this. There’s a nuclear power plant only 38 miles from where I live in New York City.

Indian Point nuclear power plant on the Hudson River, just 38 miles north of where I and 25 million hapless souls live.

Stuff from Australia

How can I not recommend them? Click here.

From Australia: Political correctness at its best.

An Englishman, a Scotsman, an Irishman, a Welshman, a Latvian, a Turk, an Aussie, a German, a Yank, an Egyptian, a Jap, a Mexican, a Spaniard, a Russian, a Pole, a Lithuanian, a Swede, a Finn, an Israeli, a Romanian, a Bulgarian, a Serb, a Swiss, a Greek, a Singaporean, an Italian, a Norwegian and an African went to a night club.

The bouncer said  “Sorry, I cant let you in without a Thai.”

Harry Newton who wonders why his month-long sojourn in the Coachella Valley desert in Southern California ever has to end.

Susan and yours truly posing in Old Town, La Quinta, after having coffee and croissants at booming local coffee shop.

View yesterday from the tennis courts at PGA West. Note azure blue skies. Temperature was 75. No humidity.

My partner Ed Mittelbusher at PGA West, standing under grapefruit trees in the  parking lot.

Above Ed you’ll find a zillion ripe grapefruit. Ed tells me they’re called grapefruit because they cluster like grapes.

We’ve been picking the grapefruit and having them for breakfast. Not a shabby life.

I hear the weather out east has not been good.