Some stuff I read online 3/26/08

The financials are getting spanked again today. Meridith Whitney is out with another nasty report on the sector highlighting her fears around Citi (I get the feeling she does not like them very much). Overall, the market is getting beat up a bit but only being down 130 on the financial weakness is not bad. I took advantage of the pullback to add Blackstone to my portfolio writing June 22.50 calls versus long stock. With management committed to a minimum 1.20 worth of dividends for the next two years, there is about 20% of downside protection to a stock that trades at half its 52 week high. I fully expect this to be a very profitable investment both through ongoing dividends and stock appreciation.

I was listening to CNBC this morning and a guest suggested a way to get the price of oil and other high flying commodities to come back to earth and it seems like both a pretty easy and possibly very effective one. Increase margin requirements for commodity futures. This would force hedge funds and other speculators to reign in their position sizes that many have blamed for the run up. Interesting.

Here is today’s list of interesting articles I have read online.

I suspect that there will be a lot written for many weeks and months to come about the Bear Stearns acquisition. Here is a great piece trying to get in the head of Jamie Dimon from JP Morgan.

Dimon's dog

With all the talk of US banks recapitalizing, Mark McQueen over at Wellington Financial has an interesting piece on the stealth recapitalization of some of the Canadian banks.

Canadian banks quietly rebuilding capital

Motorola is splitting itself into two. Carl Icahn has been lobbying for change at the tech giant for a while now and it seems that he may have won at least a small victory. I am curious as to the move since recently MOT said they were looking to sell off the handset business. Were there no buyers? Stock has moved off its opening high of 10.30 to trade 9.85 up a mere dime. Looks like the market does not think much of the move.

Motorola to split into two companies

And lastly, a piece on a Dividend Aristocrat, 3M. A great piece suggesting that it is on sale right now and that the dividend is primed for safe long term growth as a result of a lowered payout ratio over recent years.

3M Company: Dividend Aristocrat Available on the Cheap

Thanks for reading…

Disclosure: Long Citi (C) and Blackstone (BX)