Year: 2008

Categories
China

The effect of new media

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Last Updated on June 6, 2008 by stlplace

Yesterday was a special day in modern China’s history. This is a time the leaders don’t want to talk about, and generation Y (young people born after 1980s) don’t know much about. I was a high school senior at the time, and we worried we would get into a sort of cultural revolution considering chaotic situation at that time. All right, I don’t want to get into the politics and the details of the event. All I want to say is I have lots of sympathy to the people lost loved ones in the event, and I was pleased to see the positive development in our country in last 20 years.

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Categories
Business Saint Louis

InBev come to get Anheuser-Busch?

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Last Updated on June 6, 2008 by stlplace

These days the talk of Belgium/Brazil beer maker potential takeover of Anheuser-Busch (NYSE:BUD) is getting St. Louisians attention. Note Anheuser-Busch is not just a large beer maker based in STL, it’s also has roots in the city and the community.

InBev Stella Atois
(Bottles of Stella Artois beer pass along a production line at an InBev brewery in Leuven, Belgium. Stella Artois is one of InBev’s best known brands. Paul O’Driscoll/Bloomberg News)

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Categories
CFA

Crunching time for CFA test

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Last Updated on June 3, 2008 by stlplace

(Update) Two miners survived after 14 days of Sichuan earthquake. My inspiration.

(Original) You may notice I have not updated my blog as frequently as usual, one reason is I am busying preparing for the CFA level I exam this Saturday. Although the outcome of the test is far too early, let me offer some guidance and thoughts as I am a stock junkie. I did not realize how big the task is untill lately: in other words, I spent too much time on TV, which includes CNBC, election and NBA; I should have spending more time in Starbucks or Panera reading 🙂

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Categories
Master Series

Berkshire BRK.B unusual volume

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Last Updated on June 6, 2008 by stlplace

Berkshire B share (NYSE: BRK.B) traded heavily May 30 Friday.

BRK-B Berkshire Hathaway stock chart 2008 May 30
(Full size picture here)

May be Bill Gates is selling on behalf of Gates foundation (USAToday article)? As you may know in 2006 Buffett donated large number of shares to Gates fundation (NYTimes article). I was wondering who is buying BRK.B on Friday? I know I could only afford 0.5 share at this time (hint: President Bush, could you speed up the tax rebate 🙂

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Categories
China Life Tips

Weekend thoughts w/e 053108

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Last Updated on May 31, 2008 by stlplace

Gas and Panera: more saving tips
Yeah, the $4 a gallon gas is finally coming, it’s $3.899 in recent 3 days here in STL. I tried to stretch the gas I put last time at $3.699 as much as I could, but it seems like I will need to put gas either tomorrow or Monday. Meanwhile, I tried to walk to and from Panera this morning and afternoon, maybe I saved a dollar or two on this 🙂

Seriously, I think my last car tune up worked in terms of improving gas mileage.

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Categories
IPO

Demystify the sale of CCB shares

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Last Updated on June 10, 2009 by stlplace

Coule day a ago I came across this BoA (NYSE:BAC) bought CCB (China Construction Bank, Hongkong 0939) shares at dirt cheap price story from my Chinese friend StrengthTrader (English news here). After that I read this one original written by 21cbh, titled The Mystery of 70% Off of CCB Shares, here is a faster link from baidu finance. BTW, I always bought and liked 21cbh when I was in Shanghai last year.

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Categories
China

What Wangshi and KFC dont know

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Last Updated on May 29, 2008 by stlplace

We all know the terrible earthquake happened in China, and the Chinese goverment and people are doing the best helping the survivors. There are many many heart touching stories since May 12 when the quake hit. NPR Melissa Block and Robert Siegal (read their Chengdu diary) did a good job from a foreign journalist perspective.

Wang Lao Ji tea drink pic

But I also noticed it is not free of controversies in this all out effort to save lives and help the needy. Notably, Wang Shi (王石), the chairman of Vanke (largest home builder in China), is inadvertly got into this “donation gate”.

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Categories
Investing

Cramer’s new tech

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Last Updated on June 6, 2008 by stlplace

I am not a big fan of Jim Cramer, and I watch his Mad Money show (CNBC) mostly for entertainment. But he recently comes out this new tech series, which is a kind interesting.

What is new tech?
According to Cramer’s definition, old tech means the traditional sillicon valley stocks: Apple, Cisco, Google are good examples. We all know old tech companies, solve problems for business and consumers. They make the business more effient (Cisco, Oracle), and make our lives more entertaining (iPod, iPhone). Cramer thinks, with the global energy, environment, and food problems we are facing, the New tech, which are mostly old industrial companies, are trying to solve those larger problems.

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Categories
gadgets

Second thought on China Mobile CHL

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Last Updated on May 29, 2008 by stlplace

(Update May 26 11:35PM) Just found the Google finance has the wrong EPS and PE ((EPS 2.62, PE 29.92) for CHL. Yahoo finance has the right number for CHL: ttm EPS $3.08, PE 25.44 as of Friday May 23.

Market sentiment
GS downgrade (Bloomberg): the ladies at Goldman Sachs cut the rating of 0941 (China Mobile H share) from neutral to sell, and cut price target from 135 HKD to 105 HKD. I don’t trust Goldman rating blindly (no disrespect to people at GS), this downgrade combined with the share drop both in NYSE and Hongkong, signals the big boys are leaving the table. I don’t want to stick my head out at this time, so I am going to sell 2/3 of my CHL shares tomorrow morning (Tuesday May 27).

China telecom re-org pic
(Source: XinHuaNet)

More background of the re-org, 3G license

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Categories
Shanghai Composite

Pork producers in China

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Last Updated on May 24, 2008 by stlplace

I did a little reading on China pork industry lately. I found 3 pork producers listed in Shenzhen, Hongkong and the US. There are Henan Shuanghui (000895 Chinese, English), Nanjing Yurun (1068.HK), and Henan Zhongpin (Nasdaq: HOGS).
I believe they are three major pork producers, and the sales of pork are also in this order (descending): Shuanghui, Yurun, Zhongpin. I remember I ate many Shuanghui sausages while in college. I also determined that was junk food (not much real good meat) recently.

Interestingly, as of Friday May 23, the PE (price earning, ttm) ratio of those three are also in this order: 44 for Shuanghui (000895.SZ), 22 for Yurun (1068.HK), and 13.4 for Zhongpin (HOGS, Yahoo Finance). Assume the companies has similar profit margin and financial leverage, the different PEs shows how different market values the similar business (pork/food) in mainland, Hongkong and the US.

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