Vale gets a new CEO and gets rid of control by its old shareholders
Vale (VALE) has a new CEO–that’s an important and immediate change. It will take longer to end the control of Vale by a small group of banks and Brazilian state pension funds–until 2020–but that may actually be more important in the long run....
Vale sells fertilizer assets to Mosaic–time for this long-term stock pick to pay down some debt
Brazil’s Vale (VALE) has agreed to sell it fertilizer assets to Mosaic (MOS) for $2.5 billion in cash and stock. The price at 15 times trailing-12-month EBITDA (earnings before taxes, interest, depreciation, and amortization) is a good one given the continued...Update Vale (VALE)
And the biggest winner from Argentina’s huge natural gas from shale discovery in Patagonia? YPF Sociedad Anonima (YPF) is certainly a winner. The find of 4.5 trillion cubic feet of gas is roughly double the Argentine company’s previous proved natural gas reserves of...Update Vale (VALE)
Looking for a big shareholder friendly Brazilian commodities play? I’d look right past Petrobras (PBR) where the Brazilian government took a bigger stake in the company (48%) after the company’s $67 billion share offering last week to Vale (VALE), the country’s big...Iron ore prices retreat by 12% and iron ore mining stocks say, So what?, and move higher
It’s hard to imagine this happening with any other “product.” The price of the product drops 12% for the next quarter. And the stock market essentially shrugs it off. On a bad day for the market, August 30, when the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index drops by...Update Vale (VALE)
(I’m ratcheting up my vacation a notch next week for my annual summer recharge of my batteries and taking Jubak Picks completely dark for a week or so until August 24. I will resume my regular posting schedule when I return.) What was most interesting about...When will rising commodity prices threaten the economic recovery?
Ah, if it were only iron ore. The big three companies that dominate the world iron ore market—Vale (VALE), Rio Tinto (RTP), and BHP Billiton (BHP)—have won price increases of 80% to 100% from Asian steelmakers. Like it or not, European steelmakers will have to fall in...How Vale spent $18 billion and shot itself in the foot
I always wonder what’s up when I see a normally quiet company begin tooting its own horn in ads. It’s almost never a good sign. Today’s (March 16) Financial Times has a full page ad from Vale (VALE) headlined “Vale also transforms minerals into awards.” The text notes...Update Vale (VALE)
I think we’ve just seen the end of the fixed long-term contract pricing system for iron ore. That pricing system may not know it’s dead yet. But right now it’s dead system walking. Brazil’s Vale (VALE) has told domestic customers that it will raise iron ore prices by...Update Bunge (BG)
Brazilian iron ore giant Vale (VALE) said on January 15 that it’s in talks with Bunge (BG) to buy that company’s fertilizer assets in Brazil. The deal, for as much as $3.8 billion, would relieve Bunge of a unit that showed a loss of $127 million in the third quarter,...A rising dollar stalls all boats (so far)
The rising dollar (and the falling euro and yen) has been enough to stall the emerging economy stock markets that have outperformed the U.S. Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index since this huge rally began on March 9. The “stall” is just that. Emerging economy stock...Update Vale (VALE)
The short-term numbers that Vale (VALE), the world’s low cost exporter of iron ore, reported on July 30 for the second quarter of 2009 were ugly but expected. Operating revenue dropped by $300 million to $5.1 billion from the first quarter. Profit margins fell to 20%...Trading halted in Fortescue Metals: more cash from China on the way?
Trading in Australian iron ore miner (and Jubak’s Pick) Fortescue Metal (FSUMF.PK) has been halted in anticipation of the release of news on Monday that the company has completed a ”commercial negotiation”. Speculation in Australia is that the news...Brazil adopts a China-style industrial policy–and the target is China
The Brazilian government has told Vale (VALE), the country’s largest iron-ore producer (and either No. 1 or No. 2 in the world) that it has to do more to build up the Brazilian domestic steel industry rather than just selling iron ore to Chinese steelmakers....China plays hardball on iron ore but the iron ore miners are the winners so far
China has so far refused to sign a long term contract with the world’s big iron ore exporters, Vale (VALE), BHP Billiton (BHP), and Rio Tinto (RTP). The goal was to get a big price break on iron ore prices. But it now looks like China’s tough stance has...Chinese stocks crack: Time to go bargain hunting–in Brazil
The Shanghai Composite stock index closed down 5% on July 29. The intraday damage was worse with stocks down 7% at one point. The rout wasn’t surprising. The Shanghai market was up almost 80% for 2009. And rumors have been swirling in recent days that officials...The key to commodities investing now is idle capacity. And how quickly it gets back into production
In its regular report on June iron ore production, delivered on July 22, BHP Billiton (BHP) gave investors the key to investing in commodities over the next year. Ignore this at your portfolio’s peril. BHP just told us all what to buy, what to avoid, and when....Two winning stocks in the war over iron ore
The body count is five and rising. First, the Beijing government arrested four Rio Tinto (RTP) staffers in China to negotiate the price of iron ore with Baosteel and other Chinese steel makers. Then, the Chinese detained an executive at steelmaker Shougang Group and...
Buy Vale (VALE)
Formerly known as Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, this Brazilian company is the second largest producer of iron ore in the world. The company’s iron ore mines are the lowest-cost producers in the world.Jim’s Daily Email Alerts:
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