Slope of Hope Blog Posts

Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.

Fannie Mae Junior

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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac junior preferred shares could increase by at least 100% if one analyst is correct. Dick Bove of Odeon Capital said Josh Rosner of Graham Fisher & Co., who has testified multiple times in front of Congress about the government-sponsored enterprises, discussed them with the Odeon team.

Rosner said it is in the government’s best interest to settle with the plaintiffs before the Supreme Court in the Collins case. If the government loses, it could own Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac $130 billion. Additionally, the Federal Housing Finance Agency could be declared unconstitutional, and the next president could fire FHFA Director Mark Calabria. However, these last two points have already effectively happened due to the impact of the Seila case on the government-sponsored enterprises.

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News Sentiment Data

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Stocks that are considered overvalued can remain elevated for a long time before reverting to fair value and investors looking to short-sell such stocks can run the risk of entering the market too soon and getting stopped out. One of the eternal questions of investing is how to pick those stocks that are ripe and ready to fall versus those that still have higher to go. Timing, as ever, is key.

The U.S. stock market is trading just shy of all-time highs at the time of writing despite being in the midst of a global pandemic – a sign in itself valuations may be stretched – so it seems the perfect time to run a similar model to highlight stocks that are overvalued right now and vulnerable to downside.

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Jack Bogle’s Wonderful Life

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John C. (Jack) Bogle, world-famous founder of the first low-cost index fund, had a favorite film: the Christmas classic,  “It’s a Wonderful Life,” starring James Stewart as tempest-tossed George Bailey.

Everyone knows the movie and its theme: that life is best lived helping others.

And if you do right by others they will, for the most part, do right by you.

And you’ll have “a wonderful life.”

It’s what Peter Kaufman calls “mirrored reciprocation,” and it is far older than humanity.

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High China Exposure

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Relations between the United States and China have worsened over the last few years. The trade tariffs, the novel coronavirus, the Hong Kong security law, the closure of consulates, and China’s expansionist mindset have all contributed to the downturn in the US-China relations. The growing anti-US sentiment in the world’s most populous country could hurt American businesses that have a strong presence in China. Here we take a look at the top 10 US companies with the highest revenue exposure to China.

Contrary to the popular perception, Apple generates only about 17% of its revenue from China. Boeing, Caterpillar, General Motors, Starbucks, Nike, and Ford are some other US companies with a strong presence in the country. But none of them get more than 25% of their revenue from China.

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Amazon Puts Tesla on Notice

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Amazon just put Tesla on notice. Last month, Amazon announced a surprising new blockbuster acquisition: It’s buying Zoox – a self-driving car startup – for $1.2 billion.

Amazon’s surprising move got the full attention of Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Immediately after the deal, he jokingly called Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos a “copycat.”

Amazon acquired Zoox for its crown jewel: its top-shelf computer vision technology. Computer vision is one of today’s biggest moneymaking opportunities.

In short, cutting-edge computers can now “see” and process visual information better than a human can. This is a game-changing foundational technology in the same way the PC, smartphone, and internet were foundational technologies.

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