TOL

I have always thought my investments in TOL had been disappointments.  Why?  Because I sold them off at a very handsome profit but the share price has never recovered to more than AUD$20 each.

Subsequently, I was handed TOL shares via the takeover of PRK (Patrick Corp).  I thought it has been miserable but in fact, I forgot that PRK tripled its shares (1 share became 3 shares in 2004).  Hence, I should not take $14.77 per share but 1/3rd of that, ie. $4.93 each.  When TOL took it over, it also gave $3 cash per PRK share plus 0.4 TOL share.  Hence the real price was only $1.93 and today, Japan Post lobbed a takeover bid for TOL at $9.04.  So on top of dividends, I have made more than 4 times the investment in PRK.

I did think about buying more TOL shares recently purely for its yield but the parcel is held not in my super fund so the franked dividends are not as appealing. 

RIO

I don't need any more RIO share but I bought another 200 today.  Why?  Because there is a buyback of shares.  Most of it will be in frank dividend and a smaller portion in capital return.  For the super fund, this is a gift because of the tax benefits.  And today is the last day that you can buy to qualify for the tax benefit by extracting the franked portion of the dividend.

KAR

Picked up a small parcel of KAR this AM.  It found oil off Brazil and it has plenty of cash at hand since selling off its tenement in the NW Shelf in WA.  Under normal circumstances, the share price would have ballooned but with the price of oil at its trough, no one is interested.  Yet, everyone knows that the price of oil cannot stay like that forever.  In punishing the US shale oil producers, the OPEC countries are hurting themselves.  And if no one explores when oil price is down, when it goes up again, there will be no new oilfields to tap on.  Hopefully, I am right!

Logical?

Price of oil went up and the trade deficit widen in the USA... so the DJI went up.  I have not the faintest idea what is the logic behind that.  That is why I have remained on the side line mostly.