Berkshire Hathaway Caps Off Strong Year of Operating Earnings Growth

Image: Berkshire’s operating earnings experienced a strong advance during 2023 from last year’s levels. By Brian Nelson, CFA On February 24, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK) reported strong fourth-quarter results that capped off a year where operating earnings advanced 21% on a year-over-year basis. Warren Buffett tipped his hat to his long-time partner Charlie Munger, who passed away in November of last year, crediting him as the architect of Berkshire and himself merely in charge of the “construction crew.” There weren’t many surprises in the annual report, and Buffett made several references to areas that he has long talked about in the past, including pointing investors to operating earnings, as opposed to net income, which includes unrealized capital gains that can make … Read more

Newmont Posts a Stellar Earnings Report, Raises Dividend

Image Shown: An overview of Newmont Corporation’s recent accomplishments. Image Source: Newmont Corporation – Third Quarter of 2020 IR Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan Shares of Newmont Corporation (NEM) are included in the Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio because we view its long-term dividend growth trajectory quite favorably, and the gold miner has not disappointed. At the start of 2020, Newmont significantly increased its quarterly dividend as we covered in this article here. Due to a combination of its enlarged dividend, very promising growth outlook, sizable expected synergies from its 2019 acquisition of Goldcorp, and its stellar cash flow profile, we added shares of NEM as a holding to our Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio on January 13, 2020 (link here). As … Read more

Our Thoughts on Newmont’s Bright Outlook

Image Shown: Newmont Corporation’s gold reserves are extensive and should support the gold miner’s ability to generate meaningful cash flows over the years and decades to come. Image Source: Newmont Corporation – August 2020 IR Presentation By Callum Turcan Back on January 13, we added shares of gold miner Newmont Corporation (NEM) as a holding to the Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio (link here). In July, we significantly increased our fair value estimate for Newmont and please note the top end of our fair value estimate range sits at $72 per share of NEM (Newmont’s 16-page Stock Report can be accessed here). We will cover why we boosted our fair value estimate in just a moment. As of this writing, shares … Read more

Newmont Surges Higher, Posts Solid Earnings Report

Image Shown: Newmont Corporation’s operational and financial performance has held up well in the face of the pandemic, relatively speaking. Image Source: Newmont Corporation – Second Quarter of 2020 IR Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan Back on January 13, 2020, we added gold miner Newmont Corporation (NEM) to the Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio at a modest weighting. Since then, shares of NEM are up ~64% as of this writing on August 6. Please note we significantly increased our fair value estimate for Newmont in July, and the firm’s updated 16-page Stock Report can be viewed here. Part of the reason for the positive revision came from Newmont expecting that it will generate greater synergies than first envisioned when it acquired Goldcorp … Read more

Freeport-McMoRan’s Outlook Improves Considerably

Image Source: Freeport-McMoRan Inc – February 2020 IR Presentation By Callum Turcan Global copper, gold, and molybdenum miner Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX) suspended its quarterly common dividend in March 2020 and provided a revised outlook for the full-year in April 2020 due to the coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic hampering both commodity prices and its operational performance. One of those hurdles involved the Peruvian government imposing restrictions on its Cerro Verde mine in March 2020 (as part of COVID-19 containment efforts), a copper mine that Freeport-McMoRan owns a ~54% stake in. Another hurdle involved the collapse in commodity prices earlier this year (though gold prices have held up quite well in 2020). First, let us provide some background before highlighting why Freeport-McMoRan’s outlook … Read more

BHP Benefiting from an Industrial Rebound in China

Image Source: BHP Group – Fiscal 2019 Annual Report By Callum Turcan In recent months, iron ore futures prices have surged higher due to an ongoing recovery in China’s industrial sector and supply concerns in Brazil, which has culminated into the Dalian Commodity Exchange’s September 2020 iron ore deliveries hitting a record high since the futures contract was first launched in 2013. Pivoting to copper, three-month copper futures prices based on trading activity on the London Metals Exchange have also perked up on the back of an apparent recovery in Chinese economic activity. Rising metals prices bodes well for major and minor miners around the globe, including BHP Group (BHP) (BBL). Brief Aside Please note BHP is the ADR for … Read more