US Energy Stocks.

Following the recent market crash in the oil and energy sector, many investors have gone bargain hunting. But in this volatile market, which energy stock has the greatest risk to reward ratio? Without knowing when depressed energy prices will rise again, which names offer protection against bankruptcy and insolvency? My favorites in this type of market are the heavy hitters, the stalwarts of the market. Sure they may not have as much upside as some of the smaller names, but they offer me the much sought after safety blanket in today's rough market, while still capturing the upside in the eventual rise in energy prices.
The following is a brief overview of the top 5 energy companies based by market cap:
ExxonMobil (XOM): Heavily dwarfing its rivals with a near $330 billion market cap, ExxonMobil's ability to use pricing power is unmatched. It currently spots a P/E of 7.5 and a dividend yield of 2.3%. With a share price over 1/3 lower than its 52 week high, Exxon is a natural place to start your research.
Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR): It is the largest producer of gas and oil in Brazil. It also has strong ties internationally and could benefit from possible currency exchange rates. Its superiority is shown in its 15% profit margins and 21% operating margins, out pacing many rivals. With a market cap of $140 billion, PBR's reserves and future projects leave it well positioned for the future.
PetroChina (PTR): Based in Beijing China, PetroChina's stock followed the roller coaster that was the energy bubble. After Warren Buffett sold his entire stake, and following their status as the first trillion dollar company, PTR's stock price has come down to earth. With a strong grip on China's natural gas and petroleum production, and a reasonable market cap of $140 billion, PetroChina may have become a bargain.
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A): Located in the Netherlands, RDS has a strong brand name and a large, developed production arm. Recently on the Goldman Sachs conviction buy list, RDS may be a value with a P/E of around 6. It also sports a dividend yielding 6%. Royal Dutch Shell A shares have a market cap of just over $80 billion.
Chevron (CVX): Another beaten down behemoth, Chevron sports a P/E of 5.5 and a dividend yield of almost 4%. Their profit margins are a tad over 9% and there has been a recent spur of insider buying. It has the same market cap as rival BP, around $125 billion, yet is able to get away with having 1/3 less employees (67,000).
SeekingAlpha.Initializer.LogAndRun(load_article_toolbar);

PUER ART & CULTURE

Disaster reveals opportunities..

A strongger China in times to come after a series of disasters........

WILMAR,SIME to Golden AGRI

UPDATE 3-Wilmar profit soars; sees prices staying firm
(Adds CEO comments) By Ovais Subhani SINGAPORE, May 13 (Reuters) -

Wilmar International, the world's largest listed palm oil firm, said on Tuesday it expected to continue to profit from soaring commodity prices after posting a seven-fold jump in first-quarter earnings.

Wilmar shares rose more than 2 percent to an 11-week high, and analysts said they were surprised by the sharp rise in profits in a quarter that usually sees a lull in the palm oil business.
"Profit margins were significantly ahead of our expectations.

We expect subsequent quarters to improve on seasonally higher production volume and higher crude palm oil selling prices," said Goldman Sachs analyst Patrick Tiah.
Tiah said he was unlikely to change his buy rating or S$5 target price for Wilmar, given the risk on downstream refining margins that could be volatile from quarter to quarter.

UBS analyst Gaurang Bhatia said Wilmar's pretax profit margin of $27 per tonne for the quarter, compared to a year-ago $15, was unsustainable as more refining capacity was likely to be added in the industry.

Chairman and CEO Kuok Khoon Hong said palm oil prices could be supported as record crude oil prices were fuelling U.S.
and European demand for biodiesel, which can be made from palm oil.
"Palm oil prices are expected to remain firm in the forseeable future," he told a briefing, adding that if crude oil prices topped $130 a barrel that would mean crude palm oil would fetch over $900 a tonne.

"If the U.S. continues to support biofuel and European governments go for biodiesel then palm oil would remain at high prices. The current prices are not cheap." Malaysia's benchmark contract for palm oil futures was quoted at 3,551 ringgit ($1,106) per tonne on Tuesday, down 21 percent since a record 4,486 ringgit a tonne in March.

Wilmar is the world's biggest palm oil refiner but is cushioned from soaring feedstock costs because of its huge plantation acreage.
Kuok also said the firm, which had a capital expenditure plan of $800 million to $1 billion at the start of the year, would continue to look for acquisition targets and expansion in new markets such as Africa and central Asia.

FAVOURABLE OUTLOOK Wilmar, which owns oil palm plantations and runs milling, crushing, refining and processing plants in Indonesia and Malaysia, said January-March net profit rose to $343 million from a restated $49.7 million a year earlier.
Revenue rose to $7.1 billion from nearly $2 billion.

"While global economic growth in 2008 remains uncertain, led by concerns about a possible U.S. recession and credit tightening, the prospects for agricultural commodities continue to be favourable," the company said in a statement.

Wilmar has four biofuel plants in Indonesia and Malaysia, with combined annual production capacity of 1.05 million tonnes.

Wilmar is expected to post full-year 2008 net profit of $921.3 million, against $580.4 million in 2007, according to 14 analysts polled by Reuters Estimates before Tuesday's results.

Wilmar made its trading debut in Singapore in August 2006 following a reverse takeover of Ezyhealth Asia Pacific.
Last year, it completed the purchase of the palm plantation and edible oils businesses belonging to Malaysia's Kuok Group, a move which doubled its plantation landbank to about 570,000 hectares (1.4 million acres).
Headquartered in Singapore, Wilmar operates in 20 countries across four continents, with a primary focus on Indonesia, Malaysia, China, India and Europe.
Shares in Wilmar, valued at about $23 billion, have lost 6 percent since the start of the year, after more than doubling last year, while the Singapore stock market <.FTSTI> has fallen 8 percent.

Wilmar trades at about 26 times forecast earnings, compared with 11 times for local peer Golden Agri and 16 times for Sime Darby , the world's largest palmoil producer.

Asia telcos lure investors..

Investors look set to pump more money into Asian telecoms stocks, drawn by

1. the sector's high cash payouts and
2. stable earnings prospects, as they seek refuge from turmoil in financial markets, sky-high inflation and a slowing U.S. economy.
   

Compared with technology, banking and consumer stocks, Asian telecoms carriers are seen offering shelter from the subprime storm, ranking among the top five sectors in terms of yield, returns and earnings growth this year.

Favourite stocks include Taiwan's largest operator Chunghwa Telecom Co <2412.tw> and South Korea's second-ranked mobile firm KTF Corp <032390.ks>, which are relatively cheap, generate robust cashflows and offer dividend yields above 5 percent.

Investors are more wary of carriers in China, India and Indonesia. These firms offer stronger growth potential, thanks to their rapidly expanding subscriber bases, but escalating price competition and higher regulatory risks are a concern.

"When markets are volatile, sectors that have high yield and generate a lot of cashflow and have fairly certain earnings growth will be in favour, and the telco sector fits that pretty well -- telcos are the new utility stocks," said Michael Kerley, a London-based fund manager with Henderson Global Investors.

"I expect markets to stay volatile, and people tend to be more willing to pay for certainty when markets are volatile, so telcos will remain attractive," he said, adding that this situation could last another six months or longer.

Asia's telecoms sector is ranked a top performer in terms of dividend yield, earnings per share (EPS) growth and return on equity (ROE) ratios, in comparison with other sectors like finance, raw materials, property, healthcare and retail.

Return on equity measures how much profit a company generates with the money that shareholders have invested. A business with a high ROE is likely to be one that is able to generate cash internally.

According to recent data from J.P. Morgan Securities, the telecoms services sector has the highest forecast dividend yield of 2.8 percent this year, followed by the materials industry at 2.7 percent. The sector's forecast ROE stands at 14.1 percent, second after the energy industry's 16.6 percent.

Merrill Lynch ranks telecoms as the third-best performers in terms of EPS growth this year at 17.4 percent, after forecast 22.3 percent growth for the discretionary consumer segment and 36.8 percent for the non-semiconductor technology sector.

"We don't expect any slowdown in the Asian telecoms sector as domestic consumption is holding up well," said Credit Suisse analyst Colin McCallum.
"It remains to be seen whether high food -- in this case, rice -- prices has an impact, but we're not hearing operators talk about it as a major factor yet." CHEAP, CASH-RICH In terms of valuations, the telecoms sector appears more pricey relative to the technology, banking and raw material sectors, but the defensive nature of its cashflow and profits more than compensates for this, analysts said.

Merrill ranks Asian telecoms as the sixth cheapest -- at 18.7 times 2008 earnings -- out of 11 sectors, while Citigroup Global Markets ranks the industry 14th least expensive -- at 15.4 times 2008 earnings -- out of 24 sectors.

Top investor picks range from Taiwan's second-ranked carrier Far EasTone Telecom <4904.tw> and third-ranked Taiwan Mobile <3045.tw> to South Korea's top fixed-line operator KT Corp <030200.ks> and number three player LG Telecom Co <032640.ks>.

"Korea is the stand-out cheapest in the region -- you get pretty good yields, strong balance sheets, and attractive valuations, even on earnings which have been hard-hit by overly aggressive marketing campaigns," said Peter Wilmshurst, a Melbourne-based fund manager with Franklin Templeton Investments.

KT Corp ranks among the top five cheapest integrated telecoms operators in Asia Pacific -- at a 2008 PER of 12.5 times, out of a universe of 15 stocks, recent Credit Suisse data showed.
LG Telecom and KTF are also the cheapest and second-cheapest mobile operators in the region -- at 6.5 and 10 times 2008 earnings -- a ranking of 24 stocks from Credit Suisse showed.

Henderson's Kerley favours Far EasTone and Taiwan Mobile.
"They are cheap and hugely cash-generative. Although the market is fairly mature, the need for significant capital expenditure is muted, so these firms generate significant annual free cashflows and dividend yields are over 5 percent," he added.

In terms of 2008 forecast dividend yields, Chunghwa offers the third-highest rate of 6.4 percent, out of a ranking of 15 Asia-Pacific integrated telecom stocks by Credit Suisse.
Far EasTone is second in terms of offering the highest yield -- at 7.1 percent -- according to Credit Suisse's ranking of 24 Asia-Pacific mobile operator stocks.
The lowest forecast yields are from Japan's KDDI Corp <9433.t> at 1.6 percent, China Telecom Corp <0728.hk> at 1.7 percent, as well as India's Bharti Airtel Ltd and Reliance Communications Ltd , both at zero percent, the data showed.

"Chunghwa is debt-free and we usually pay out all our reserves when we return additional cash to shareholders -- we don't retain excess cash, and we plan to continue to do this," said Chunghwa spokeswoman Shen Fu-fu.
"Our cash is for share buybacks, capital reduction or overseas expansion such as our recent $30 million joint venture with Vietnam's Viettel," she added.

Meanwhile, some analysts are less enthusiastic about China Telecom and China Netcom Group Corp <0906.hk>, the country's top two fixed-line operators.
"Benefits from industry restructuring have already been reflected in their stock prices and valuations are too stretched," said Cazenove analyst Lai Voon San.

Henderson's Kerley is also shying away from Chinese and Indonesian operators.

"The regulatory environment in China is very unclear, and we're not comfortable with that. We're also not keen on Indonesia -- competition is intense and lots of new players are entering the market -- we prefer to get exposure through SingTel." Singapore Telecommunications Ltd , Southeast Asia's largest phone company, has spent about S$18 billion in recent years buying stakes in mobile operators in high-growth Asian markets ranging from Pakistan to Thailand. It owns 35 percent of PT Telekomunikasi Selular , Indonesia's top mobile firm.
SingTel also owns a 30 percent stake in Bharti, which has seen its share price fall on concerns over the extent of debt financing that would be used to fund a potential acquisition of a majority stake in South Africa-based rival MTN Group .

Ten Years to come for Chian..

China still has a long road to travel before becoming an international financial hub, although it has made big strides in recent years, a report by Xinhua Far East China Ratings says. Among the obstacles facing China's financial system, the credit rating agency said, is a lack of balance -- it is much easier for large enterprises to raise capital than it is for small and medium-sized enterprises. The system is also hampered by an underdeveloped fixed-income market, a lack of institutional investors, weak disclosure rules and a lack of innovation. "For the sound development of the financial system, China has to look at the fundamentals," said Chung-Hsing Chen, vice president and head of ratings at Xinhua Finance, the parent of Xinhua Far East. "I think the regulators here have matured a lot in the past two decades but they still do not have sufficient exposure to the global environment as to what it takes to make the market work better," said Chen. The report said the government needs to gradually deregulate the markets. Integration of the regulatory bodies could help the process of oversight and deregulation of the markets, it said. "In order to promote fair competition in the market, the government should relax stringent approval requirements for traditional businesses and normal projects. Xinhua Far East endorses speeding up the development of multi-layered capital markets." At a minimum, it said, the government should strive to further diversify the ownership structure of state-owned enterprises, strengthen corporate governance, and encourage foreign private-sector companies to list in the A-share market. Developing the country's bond market in order to provide securities firms with more revenue should be a major focus of reform, Xinhua Far East said. Because of their heavy reliance on trading income, local securities houses are over-exposed to fluctuations in the stock market. Instead, they should diversify their activities and become financial holding companies, the report said. Given the current weak state of global markets and the amount of reform that needs to be undertaken, it could take a decade for China's capital markets to achieve international status. "In five years China's securities industry will be much more mature, but in ten years it could become a major financial hub for the region," Chen said.

次贷危机中，中国机遇何在?-意见领袖-《财经网》

次贷危机中，中国机遇何在?-意见领袖-《财经网》