The tobacco sector looks ripe for consolidation. Already in recent months, sector heavyweight British American Tobacco has sought to merge with Reynolds. There are also continued rumours about a potential re-merger between Altria and Philip Morris. This scope for M&A activity is coming along for two main reasons, in my opinion. First, cigarette volumes are…
If there is one aspect of our work we at Master Investor are particularly proud of, it’s spotting trends early. Being an independent publication and having a broad network of high calibre contributors and associates, we can focus our efforts on helping private investors get ahead of the curve. As part of our investigative work,…
Low interest rates have incentivised borrowing in recent years. There has been little reason for companies to reduce their debt levels. Therefore, businesses in a range of sectors have leveraged up their balance sheets in order to improve shareholder returns. This has helped to boost profits and generated higher returns for investors. However, a more…
In my view, dividend investing is about more than simply buying a handful of high-yielding shares. I focus less on yield than most dividend investors and more on dividend growth. A long-term investment horizon dictates that a stock which can grow dividends quickly may be worth more than a company with a high yield. Fast-rising…
– NVIDIA’s stock has rallied 3x in the last year and now trades at a market capitalisation of $63bn. – NVIDIA is leading its way in the GPU market and benefiting from significant progress in the fields of Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and Big Data. – For an amusing demonstration of how…
In recent decades, house prices have become a national obsession. Other countries across Europe seem to lack this constant focus on how much house prices have changed in the last month, quarter or year. However, in the UK the love of rising house prices looks set to stay in the long run. The reason for…
The FTSE 100 has surged 17% in the last year, but easyJet (LON:EZJ) has slumped 38%. For some investors, a large share price fall could dissuade them from buying. However, I’ve always been more interested in buying shares which have fallen in price. I think they often offer less risk, not more risk, and such…
“For some reason I have always felt happier going against the crowd and generally feel uncomfortable doing what everyone else is doing. So many pressures in the investment business encourage one to do the opposite and go with the crowd.” – Anthony Bolton, “Investing With Anthony Bolton: The Anatomy of a Stock Market Winner”, 2006…
While Donald Trump’s victory in the US election was unpopular, there will inevitably be some winners from his Presidency. One sector which could record higher profitability as a result of his win is the defence sector. His promise of greater military spending and the possibility of rising defence spending among NATO members means the sector…
Since the inauguration of Donald Trump on Friday, market conditions have become increasingly volatile. The FTSE 100 has fallen by as much as 70 points since then, bringing its total decline for the last six trading sessions to 170 points (2.3%). This decline may or may not continue, but in any case it seems likely…
