I am not writing this under duress, neither my family nor I were kidnapped by the Chinese government; I simply made a mistake in my last note about China called “Simple Math of Chinese ‘Staggering’ Growth” and would like to correct it. The Chinese non-export economy is not growing at a 23% rate. This figure [...]
Chinese non-export economy grew 23% in June! Before you start googling for that number, let me warn you. You won’t find it. I’ve computed it using fifth grade math.
Here is what we know: exports constitute about 35% of the Chinese economy and they dropped over 20% in June, while the Chinese economy (GDP) grew 8%. So the [...]
IMS Health (RX) did not have a spectacular quarter to put it mildly. Revenue decline (on constant currency basis) accelerated to 4% from a 2% decline last quarter. Pharmaceutical companies are becoming more stingy and thus RX’s business got pinched. However, most of the revenue damage is taking place on the consulting side of the [...]
Financial commentators are obsessively debating whether the recent rise in the Chinese stock market means there’s a bubble — and if so, when it’s going to burst. My take? Who cares! What happens to the broader Chinese economy is what we should really be watching. It will have a far-reaching impact on the rest of the world — much more far-reaching than a decline in stocks.
I’ve received a few emails asking my thoughts on Microsoft’s (MSFT) quarter. Here is my take: this is probably the least meaningful quarter in the company’s recent history. MSFT is about to introduce Windows 7 (and a slew of other products.) If I were a corporate customer, I wouldn’t be buying Windows Vista now if [...]
It is interesting to observe the excitement the Street has with Caterpillar’s (CAT) earnings. They were better than company thought last quarter, but sales were still down 41%. I have to give CAT credit for cutting costs as much as they did. But here is what caught my attention in the quarter: the area that [...]
My doctor said that my bad cholesterol is high, and of course my good cholesterol is low, and I’m too fat (well, actually the wife said that). So, instead of following the fine American tradition of supersizing my Big Mac with Lipitor, I’ve decided to take a slightly different route – I tweaked my diet: [...]
The word contrarian is often overused in investing, I have yet to meet an investor who bragged about being a crowd follower; therefore, everyone is a contrarian. Contrarian investing is very difficult as it requires one to be on the lonely side of the ledger as truly great opportunities present themselves in stocks that everyone [...]