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Is the bear market finally over? I don't know. Since the global bottom, world shares are up 23% in sterling. UK shares are up 26%. If that's a bear market rally, it's history's biggest. The longer it runs, the greater the odds this is a bona fide bull, not a sucker's rally. But what folk really want to know is how long it takes to get back to where we were before the bear. My answer: I don't know that either.
I do know that when recovery comes, it will be steeper and faster than you expect. As I said in "V" is for recovery, bear markets bottom in a V shape - the right side about matching the speed and shape of the left, and then the market goes on to new highs. In other words, the steeper and faster the descent, the steeper and faster the climb. We just had a hugely steep descent, so get ready for a wild ride.
Bruised and bloodied investors worry the recovery will be different this time - it may take a decade or more before shares hit previous highs. Some worry they'll never see new highs in their lifetime! This is the tired "it's different this time" notion - shares can't possibly rebound from this particular crash with all its unique and huge problems - that surfaces late in every bear.
Endless headlines claim the recent surge is only a sucker's rally, making comparisons to 1929-1932 - a big crash with a partial recovery then another brutal bear and recession in 1937. They fear instead of a V we'll get an L, with stocks languishing for years (which I don't see happening and next month I'll explain why). But there was no L in the 1930s! Instead, there were several steep Vs - lots of volatility. Stocks didn't move sideways! In the first three months following the1932 bottom, shares soared 92% - you'd like 92% right now.
I hear investors say, "If shares are down 50%, it takes a 100% move to get back to where we were. If the market averages 10% a year, that takes 10 years." My response is: You're right. If the market averages 10% a year - which it does over very long periods. But that 10% includes bear markets. Bulls, by nature, give much higher average returns. Have to, to make up for the bears.
Everyone wants to say today is another 1929-1932. Well if 9 March was the bottom, and if we match the recovery between June 1932 and March 1937, global shares will hit their 2007 peak in March 2010. Fast! Suppose stocks rebound slower - just at their average bull market rate? Then US stocks hit their previous highs in May 2012. UK shares could do it faster, since they fell less.
Think about buying stocks now that you'll want to own in 2012, like these...
Sweden's Sandvik fell 70% in the bear market as the recession whacked sales of its metal-cutting, mining and construction tools as well as specialty alloys based on titanium and zirconium, used in thousands of applications like boiler tubes and flanges. This diverse vendor of industrial supplies is fully global - 50,000 employees in 130 countries. It sells at 70% of annual revenue, 7.5 times depressed earnings and 5 times what I expect for 2010 earnings.
Timken Co. supplies bearings and specialty steels to markets that scare investors - including transportation, mining and aerospace. The worriers assume that it will be killed by Chinese competition. It won't be, any more than it was put out of business 25 years ago by cheap Japanese steel. Why? First, half of what Timken does is marketing. Second, it already operates globally, in 26 countries, including an upcoming factory in Xiangtan, China supplying parts for windmills, for instance. At 30% of annual revenue, at five times my estimate of 2010 earnings and with a 4.75% dividend yield, Timken is too cheap.
Owens Corning can't get a break. This producer of fiberglass and other building products was sent into bankruptcy by asbestos lawyers. It emerged in 2006 just in time for housing to head south and the stock to tank 85% top to bottom. But it is more than holding its own in its markets. Two years from now investors will look back at 2009's valuation - 40% of revenue, 80% of book value - and shake their heads.
Olin is number three (behind Dow and PPG Industries) in the US chlor-alkali business, which means splitting brine into chlorine, caustic soda and hydrogen. Olin also makes Winchester ammunition. Industrial chemicals are a good antidote to inflation. Olin is cheap at 56% of sales and six times earnings with a 6% dividend yield. It would be better if Olin bit the bullet and sold Winchester, but you've got a buy even if it stands pat.