Barrons weekend update: Cover story on John Malone's Liberty Media; positive on AVGO
Cover story: Under the leadership of cable mogul John Malone and chief executive Greg Maffei, the nine stocks under the Liberty Media umbrella have in the aggregate, over the past decade, delivered an annualized 13%-compared with 7.5% for Berkshire Hathaway and 7.7% for the S&P 500.
Feature:
1) At Barron's Asia Roundtable, Michelle Leung of Xingtai Capital Management, Erwin Sanft of Macquarie Securities, Anh Lu of T. Rowe Price, and Ronald Chan of Chartwell Capital, discussed China's economic slowdown and the impact of higher U.S. interest rates on Asian markets;
2) Positive on AVGO: Company stands to benefit from strong sales of the AAPL iPhone 7, of which it has 25-30% more content than in previous models, and shares could rise 20%.
Tech Trader: Cautious on GOOGL, FB: Tech companies currently dominate the online advertising business, but that situation could change at some point if rivals discover new ways to deliver ads-and investors should begin to consider the possibility, and the potential implications.
Trader: Investors are trying to assess the impact of concerns such as a possible rate hike in the U.S. and DB's financial strength, says Chris Hyzy of BAC, who remains upbeat about U.S. stocks; Mark Roberts of Off Wall Street Research says bulls may be wrong about PNRA, where profits will be pinched by rising costs and slower demand; Positive on CBS: Shares of broadcaster will remain attractive even if the company doesn't strike a deal with VIA, and if a deal does take place, chief Les Moonves will have an outsize say over the terms.
Profile: Michael S. Beall, manager, Davenport Value & Income fund, focuses on well-run businesses with strong owner-operated managements (top 10 holdings: JNJ, FNF, MKL, WSO, COF, JPM, GE, DEO, WFC, GLPI).
Small Caps: Positive on AMC: New initiatives at movie chain, such as reclining seats, reserved seating, and higher-quality concessions, are driving growth despite a steady decline in attendance.
European Trader:Positive on RWE.DE: German utility giant's plan to spin off its renewables, infrastructure, and retail business into a new company, Innogy, should drive a 20% increase in its stock.
Asian Trader: "Indonesia's tax-amnesty program, introduced in July, is turning out to be hugely successful," and has led Indonesians to repatriate more than $9.5B.
Emerging Markets: The leading emerging market performers this year have been Brazil, Peru, and Russia, while the worst have been Greece, China, and Czechoslovakia.
Commodities: Analysts say the decline in butter prices, the result of bulging inventory, probably has farther to go.
Streetwise: "Healthcare is considered one of the market's four defensive pillars-along with utilities, telecoms, and consumer stocks-but last week it was anything but"; MS analyst Adam Parker identified JNJ, AMGN, MDT, AGN, and LLY as some of the more defensive issues among the market's 50 largest stocks.
