– Notable: Fed announcement, US imports from Mexico, home builder pressures
– Company Highlights: Vontier, Canadian National Railway, Johnson & Johnson, Amazon, Ecolab
– ON Our Minds: Market breadth
Latest News
LBA Monthly View | September 2023
POSTED IN: LBA Monthly View
LBA Monthly View | August 2023
– Notable: Vacation trends, US 10-year yield, Drug pricing, ChatGPT
– Company Highlights: Canadian National Railway Company, Henry Schein, Inc., Amazon, Vontier, Tyler Software
– ON Our Minds: Is an economic slowdown and recession still inevitable?”
POSTED IN: LBA Monthly View
LBA Monthly View | July 2023
– Notable: Back-to-school shopping, Government debt, Commercial real estate
– Company Highlights: Amazon, Microsoft, Visa, Thermo Fisher Scientific
– On Our Minds: Perspective on Acquisitions
POSTED IN: LBA Monthly View
LBA Monthly View | June 2023
– Notable: Interest rates, IPO mania, car dealer inventories
– Company Highlights: The Home Depot, Amazon, Nvidia, Apple
– On Our Minds: The Shadow Banking System
POSTED IN: LBA Monthly View
Reflections & Observations: Balancing Growth and Profitability
In this newsletter edition we cover the following:
– AI and Labor
– Why We Don’t Invest in Banks
– Healthcare: Ripe for Disruption
– Historical Path of Interest Rates
– Protecting Assets
POSTED IN: Reflections & Observations
AI and Labor
These days, it feels like everyone is talking about artificial intelligence (AI) and how it may impact our lives personally, professionally, and societally. (Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft used the term 65, 57, and 53 times, respectively, in recent quarterly earnings conference calls.)
POSTED IN: Articles
Why We Don’t Invest in Banks
The banking failures of 2023 have been dominating headlines for weeks and have prompted many clients to ask about Lowell Blake’s exposure to banks. Our investment strategy intentionally precludes us from investing in companies like banks, and we’d like to explain why.
POSTED IN: Articles
Healthcare: An Industry Ripe for Disruption
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic added incredible stress to the already fragile US healthcare system. Compounded by (1) the severity of disease caused by early strains of the virus, (2) the US’s initial lackluster response, (3) prior depletions of emergency equipment stockpiles (e.g., N95 respirators) and (4) the high prevalence of comorbidities associated with severe disease and death, the US healthcare system struggled mightily.
POSTED IN: Articles
Historical Path of Interest Rates
The yield on the benchmark US 10-Year Treasury Note has shown remarkable symmetry for approximately 80 years. It had been trending lower in 1920s and 1930s, the decades preceding WWII, and eventually bottomed out in 1941 at roughly 1.95 percent.
POSTED IN: Articles
Protecting Assets
Recent events in the banking industry have placed a spotlight on the importance of asset protection. There are a number of steps that you should consider to ensure your assets are well protected today and in the future.
POSTED IN: Articles