Interesting comments from Greenspan on CNBC today. Spoke of two areas to watch because he expects them to continue to increase in prices due to market demand. One was oil (big surprise), and the other was grain.
His explanation for grain was as people in the third world countries raise their standard of living, they also change their eating habits. They go from eating simple grains, and to eating meat, of which the live stock must be fed grain. Feeding live stock grain was, according to Greenspan, less effective use of grain. He considers grain to be a resource that will not increase, due to limits on land, etc.
I thought it sounded reasonable. Now to figure out how to invest in grain stocks.
there is a drought in China that has severely damaged their wheat crop
Hunting, fishing, and poker are my sports. Work when necessary.
I’ve got some money in SAFM although it hasn’t been doing too well. They sell chickens to restaurants and in the latest conference calls, etc, they have noted that the thing that is challenging their profitability the most is the price of chicken feed (which is grains, corn, etc) is going up. I think it has a lot less to do with a change in eating habits and more due to inflation and diminishing food resources. In inflationary times, the cost of these commodities will always go up. There are some agriculture stocks out there (FEED, GRO, etc), but I have stayed away from them since they aren’t really profitable at this point. You could think about stocks that are on the edge of agriculture such as DE (John Deere), but at 18 times earnings and only an 8% profit margin, I think they look too expensive at this point.
Skinneej,
I am still holding a couple of thousand shares of HQS, and it down a few hundred right now (I’m up overall due to some trading), but I think it is a matter of time for this type of stock. Its kind of the way I’m looking at the food “chain” stocks. Right now most of the market it pretty mature, and not a great place to get in at this time, imho. I’m just starting to do some research, but it may be that basic products essential to food products may be a good long term place to speculate. I agree that the food itself may be too far up the chain to benefit. Of course, I’ll post if I make a purchase.