Loews Corp (L)

everydayinvestor

everyday investor

sector has been hit hard recently. good prospects

Thanks EverydayInvestor

This is a back door way to play an up swing in drilling for new oil and gas through the Loews holdings in those areas. These guys have a good track record over a long time, to make this a little more comfortable

Really shown strength over the long run (50+ years). Excellent management has poised it to rebound nicely. Great discount on a stock that should continue to grow for years to come.

sum of the parts discount is now super compelling - Barrons had a recent highlight for more detail, but the discount is close to 15. even mark down a marginal CNA and its still 7 discount. Tisch's are great managers.

Winter on reason. No goverment help. But they will come back because the home owners are do it your selfers especially in this time.

C&C

Has money in the bank

one of the best run companies in the U.S. plus they have lots of cash.

A good supply of cash in a troubled market climate==survivor.

Unburdened of its tobacco subsidiary (Lorillard), this holding company is easier to analyse now, and is poised to do well over the years. At least as long as we need oil, since it has 50% or more ownership of DO (deep driller Diamond Offshore) and a pipeline company. Its financial subsidiary CNA may be a question mark, but I think it will pull through.

Lowe's has been beaten down by all the news about the mortgages. As soon as people realize (like happened in the late 80's) that it is just fud on the part of the "news" they will stop trying to flip their houses and actually live in them. Then they will want to do all those little home inprovements that they had put off. Shouls be good for Lowe's and Home Depot.

I originally picked Loews to outperform for five main reasons:

1. Market cap = $26B, Cash = $13B. I like that ratio. Loews could easily make an acquisition, IF it wanted to. I like the fact that it has the ability to, but doesn't HAVE to.

2. CNA, it's insurance subsidiary is struggling big time. However, this won't last forever, and when it recollects itself, LTR will benefit.

3. Now, it's old news, but the spin-off of Lorillard was interesting. I thought it was going to be undersuscribed to and LTR shareholders would receive some LO as a dividend. That didn't play out. I may just have to buy some LO on the side now that I know I'm not getting any as a LTR shareholder. PSA: Don't smoke.

4. Diamond Offshore. Seriously, I shouldn't have to explain myself on this one. I love the offshore drilling space (RIG is #1). This will be a solid industry for years to come.

5. Great management. I've been critical of financial institution managments lately. If you read anything about them or listen to a conference call, you know that shareholder interest is at the top of their priority list. Why? Probably because their family owns 25% of the company. I am okay with that level of ownership because all of their initiatives are aimed at increasing shareholder value, and who doesn't want that?

There are a few other reasons like nat gas and pipeline exposure, plus a great investment portfolio, but those are the top 5. I think you can buy LTR as a long term hold (perhaps on a pullback though, I think people are realizing this is a good investment and have run the price up slightly in the past month). I have.

Buy backs and such will cause this price to increase a lot in the coming months/years

I find Loews a very solid company and I have been tracking it lately and I think it will grow nicely in the short time. Anyway, is a bet that I like to do as infrastructure is very important in the long run

Hard to see this conglomerate under-performing S&P.

selling cigarettes, oil and gas can't be that hard