Replies to post #7286 on The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

ABT’s 2Q13 sales in emerging markets grew 13%, year-over-year:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/abbott-reports-second-quarter-2013-114400548.html

2013 non-GAAP EPS guidance is unchanged at $1.98-2.04. Newly issued non-GAAP EPS guidance for 3Q13 is $0.51-0.53.

[swampboots]

OT: Did not know where to post this question and link, but here goes. In Dec you nailed the forthcoming Muni bond crisis , which declined 11%+ in last 6 weeks or so................. I escaped putting most into another condo in LA where temperatures have been 60-70's lately. But But But have nice sum left earning nothing, it is in cash. I never had so much cash uninvested in decades, I just saw this rather complicated article, what is your take as 7% interest with minor risk would "interes"t me (pun intentional, no apologies)?

http://seekingalpha.com/article/1552562-hidden-treasure-in-this-7-tax-free-yield-play?source=email_the_daily_dispatch&ifp=0

[DewDiligence]

Barron’s plugs HES:

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052748704093404578609640479626544.html

[DewDiligence]

HES, PetroChina ink China shale-oil PSC:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/24/us-cnpc-hess-shale-idUSBRE96N0EL20130724

Hess Corp has signed a production-sharing contract with PetroChina, China's first joint agreement to develop a shale oil block, the companies said on Wednesday. ["First" because this is a deal for shale oil rather than shale gas.]

…Hess Corp, which has experience with shale oil in North Dakota, signed the deal on Tuesday to explore and develop the 800 square-kilometre Malang block of Santanghu basin in China's northwest region of Xinjiang. The contract follows a joint study by the two firms.

…Royal Dutch Shell and EOG Resources Inc were interested in the same basin, but only Hess officially entered a joint-study agreement, industry officials said.

…Both the Hess and Shell contracts [see #msg-43984089 for Shell's shale-gas PSC] are expected to follow the existing practice in China for conventional oil and gas development, industry officials say. Those contracts normally last 30 years, with the foreign party bearing all the cost of exploration, and the Chinese firm has the right to back in with a maximum 51 percent interest during the production stage.

[DewDiligence]

In 2Q13, 3M logged the highest quarterly sales in the company’s history; healthcare was the best performing segment:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-25/3m-profit-tops-estimates-on-health-auto-parts-demand.html

3M maintained its full-year 2013 guidance for non-GAAP EPS of $6.60-6.85 and organic (i.e. excluding acquisitions and divestitures) growth of 2-5% in constant currencies.

Officially, 3M’s long-term (2014-2017) guidance remains as stated in Mar 2013 (#msg-86051080), although the 9-11% average annual increase in non-GAAP EPS during the period would seem to be hard to attain.

3M obtains a higher proportion of sales from emerging markets than almost any industrial multinational company. The guidance for 2014-2017 is that 40-45% of sales will come from emerging markets, up from 35% in 2013.

[DewDiligence]

MON/SYT/DD/DOW—The website, GMOanswers.com goes live tomorrow:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/29/business/seeking-support-biotech-food-companies-pledge-transparency.html

[DewDiligence]

HES sells electricity-marketing business to Centrica for $1B in cash:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/hess-announces-sale-energy-marketing-110000013.html

This is a business that I would bet few investors realized HES was involved in. Still on tap are the planned divestitures of: i) HES’ US retail service stations and convenience stores; and ii) E&P assets in Indonesia and Thailand.

p.s. HES reports 2Q13 results tomorrow.

[DewDiligence]

(Bullish for DE)—AGCO raises 2013 EPS guidance on strong 2Q:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/31/agco-results-idUSL1N0G10Q220130731

Agco said it now expects to earn about $6.00 a share in 2013, up from a previous forecast of $5.50 to $5.70.

…the biggest gains came in South America, where sales jumped 28 percent during the quarter, lifted by especially strong demand in Brazil.

[DewDiligence]

Small trades: I added some RDS-B (down 5% on a lackluster quarter) and sold some IBM today.

[DewDiligence]

ZTS JV receives China approval for porcine vaccine:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/zoetis-joint-venture-china-receives-000000253.html

Vaccines for swine have high growth potential as China is the world’s leading pork producing nation, with an annual population of more than 685 million pigs in 2012 [The word “population” is not what was meant, IMO.] The joint venture provides a strategic platform for growth in China where the animal health industry is valued at $1.8 billion and is expected to grow at 9.3 percent year over year in the next 5 years.

[DewDiligence]

MON increases dividend 15% to annualized payout of $1.72:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/monsanto-board-approves-quarterly-dividend-203000087.html

[DewDiligence]

MDLZ boosts dividend and buyback authorization, sending share-price 4% higher:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/mondelez-beats-expectations-hikes-buybacks-202131942.html

The buyback authorization was increased to $6M (from $1.2B) and the dividend payout was hiked 8% to an annualized rate of $0.56. The dividend yield at the current share price is 1.7%.

MDLZ maintained its 2013 non-GAAP EPS guidance of $1.55-1.60.

[DewDiligence]

Added PCL today @47.33 and 47.56. Two stories on the rebounding US housing market:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323838204579000911160750246.html (Home Prices Rise Steeply in West, Sunbelt)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424127887324522504579001221060111310.html (Mortgage Delinquencies Fall to Lowest Level Since 2008)

[DewDiligence]

MON reports results tomorrow for the fiscal year ending 8/31/13.

[DewDiligence]

MON is evidently establishing a successor to CEO, Hugh Grant:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/monsanto-company-names-brett-begemann-131000380.html

Monsanto Company today announced that its Board of Directors is expanding Brett Begemann’s oversight for the company’s global commercial operations and that he will now be named to serve as the company’s President and Chief Operating Officer effective immediately. Begemann most recently served as the company’s President and Chief Commercial Officer. In his expanded role, Begemann will lead the global business organization with a continued focus on the company’s growth areas.

I like Begemann, who is well known to investors who have followed the company.

[DewDiligence]

Three 3M executives establish 10b5-1 selling plans:

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/66740/000110465913085735/a13-24571_18k.htm (Inge G. Thulin, CEO)
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/66740/000110465913085724/a13-24571_38k.htm (H. C. Shin, EVP)
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/66740/000110465913085723/a13-24571_28k.htm (Chris D. Holmes, SVP)

[DewDiligence]

Nice profile of ZTS in today’s WSJ; the quotes below are from the CEO, Juan Ramón Alaix:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303755504579207710851450896

“The fastest opportunity for growth in companion animals will be coming from emerging markets, where they will be adopting and increasing significantly the amount they will be spending per pet to keep them healthy.

“…We have reported very positive growth in Brazil in companion animals. China is growing fast. Even countries like Russia now, the number of pets adopted is increasing very fast. In Russia, it's growing faster in cats than in dogs. I asked why, and the answer was, ‘Well, you should be in Moscow in winter and try to really walk a dog.’ ”

[DewDiligence]

The stocks I own and manage for others:

#msg-95464990

Also see #msg-95464978.