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Wall Street Examiner Podcasts

August 11, 2007 – Lee Wheeler talks with Lee Adler about key levels and trading strategy.

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Part One

Part Two


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Other recent podcasts:

July 26, 2007 – Lee Wheeler talks with Lee Adler about key levels and trading strategy. Click here to listen.

July 19, 2007 – Lee Wheeler talks with Lee Adler about key levels and trading strategy. Click here to listen.

July 12, 2007 – Lee Wheeler talks with Lee Adler about key levels and trading strategy. Click here to listen.

July 7, 2007 – Lee Adler chats with Aaron Krowne and Russ Winter about the current state of the rot in the financial system. Click here to listen.

June 29, 2007 – Lee Adler chats with Russ Winter about signs of a top and a big move by China that will change the rules of the game. Click here to listen.

Part 2 of chat with Lee Wheeler recorded 6/25/07. Lee talks about stock prices, sentiment, real estate and liquidity. Click here to listen.

Lee Wheeler expounds on his technical trading methods, and why he thinks this may be the most important juncture in the market in 5 years. Click here to listen. Recorded 6/25/07.

Wall Street Examiner podcasts returned with an interview with Russ Winter. Click here to listen. Recorded 6/19/07.

Wednesday, April 25, Wall Street Examiner Report with Steve Northwood, speculating on Fed’s wild actions on Wednesday. Also discussing the recent housing data Click here to listen.

Saturday, April 21, Wall Street Examiner Report with Russ Winter. Click here to listen.

Friday April 13, Wall Street Examiner Report with Lee Wheeler and Russ Winter. Click here to listen.
Friday April 6 PART 2, Wall Street Examiner Roundtable with Russ Winter, Lee Wheeler and Steve Northwood. Click here to listen.

Friday April 6, Wall Street Examiner Roundtable with Russ Winter, Lee Wheeler and Steve Northwood. Click here to listen.
Saturday March 24, Wall Street Examiner Triangular Table with Russ Winter and Lee Wheeler, Part 1. Click here to listen.

Thursday, March 15, Wall Street Examiner Roundtable with Russ Winter, Lee Wheeler and Steve Northwood. Click here to listen.

Saturday, March 10, Wall Street Examiner Report, Conversation with Aaron Krowne, proprietor of the Mortgage Implode-o-meter. Click here to listen.

Wednesday, February 28, Wall Street Examiner Roundtable with Russ Winter, Lee Wheeler and Steve Northwood. Click here to listen.

The “Outtake” 2/23/07- Uncensored cut of the discussion after the discussion from the February 21 Roundtable. Click here to listen.

Wednesday, February 21, Wall Street Examiner Roundtable Part 3 with Russ Winter, Lee Wheeler and Steve Northwood. Click here to listen.

Wednesday, February 21, Wall Street Examiner Roundtable Part 2 with Russ Winter, Lee Wheeler and Steve Northwood, featuring Lee Wheeler’s take on the market. Click here to listen.

Wednesday, February 21, Wall Street Examiner Roundtable Part 1 with Russ Winter, Lee Wheeler and Steve Northwood, featuring Russ Winter and Steve Northwood. Click here to listen.

Monday, February 19, Wall Street Examiner Lee Adler talked to WSE bloggers Aaron Krowne and Russ Winter about the state of the mortgage and housing markets. Click here to listen.

Sunday, February 11, Mark to Market with Mark Pierce III, talking about the technical signs to look for pointing to a market correction. Click here to listen. To view charts, click here.

Thursday, February 8, Roundtable Part 2 with Lee Wheeler, Steve Northwood, and Russ Winter, on the Fed and the market. Click here to listen.

Thursday, February 8, Roundtable Part 1 with Lee Wheeler, Steve Northwood, and Russ Winter, on the Fed and the market. Click here to listen.

1/31/07, Roundtable with Lee Wheeler, Steve Northwood, and Russ Winter, on the Fed and the market. Click here to listen.

1/24/07 -Lee Adler talks with analyst Steve Northwood about Treasury borrowing, the Fed, and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Click here to listen.

1/20/07- Lee Adler interviews Russ Winter about his put buying strategy, and the MBS situation. Click here to listen.

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2 Comments

  1. Paulm

    You guys are missing one key dimension of the private equity story: return on invested cash. What private equity guys are chasing is a potentially outstanding return on their “down payment.”

    They buy cash-flow positive companies for very little money down, borrow the rest at a ridiculously low rate, use the company’s cash-flow to service the debt, and in three to five years sell the company back to the market, often for a sizable profit. Even if they sell it back for break-even, they still come out smelling like a rose, with an out-sized gain on the cash they put in the deal.

    The LBOs are arbitraging the inefficiency of equity versus debt when interest rates are at an artificial, below-market rate (yes, we have the Fed to thank for all of this).

    Here are the problems, though. (a) This has been going on for years, so the best (strongest balance sheet) companies have already been bought. (b) The equity versus debt inefficiency disappears when interest rates rise (a friend who works these deals says they’ll come to a halt if the 10-year climbs and sticks above 6 percent. (c) Additional deals depend on lenders’ willingness to lend — easy to find when the Fed funds rate is at 1 percent, not so easy if it’s at 6 or 7 percent.

    Think about it: If you could “borrow” a cash-flow positive company for 5 percent down (or less), service the debt with the company’s cash-flow, and sell the company in three to five years for what you paid or more, you’d do it, because the total return on *your* invested cash would be double-digits, at a minimum.

    To call it ponzi finance misses the very real appeal of that these deals have had. Similarly, while “up-front fees” and “corruption,” as Russ claims, may describe what’s happening now, those weren’t the drivers three or four years ago, when the really big money was made.

    Now, on to the bigger questions. Is this a productive use of capital in the grand scheme of things? No, absolutely not. The economy overall is not wealthier as a result of these LBOs. In fact, it’s probably poorer, because the inefficiency cited above cheapens the value of target companies’ equity. This is one reason, maybe the biggest reason, why American companies are borrowing heavily to buy back their own stock: Debt is cheap, so if they don’t borrow and buy back stock, Blackstone will. (In the late ’70s and early ’80s, the term used was “poison pill” — same thing, different flavor). It also has cheapened the equity of every working-stiff like me who has managed to accumulate some savings for a raining day. It would seem that the only way for me now to maintain the purchasing power of my savings is to lever it up (just like a risk-love), but no thanks, not now. It’s too late in the cycle.

    At the end of the day, this all comes down to one thing and one thing only: The Federal Reserve’s (and U.S. government’s) unwillingness to ever let “the market” determine appropriate interest-rate levels. For decades now, this has meant artificially suppressing interest rates below where real buyers and sellers of debt would likely move rates to serve their individual self-interest.

    Lest there be any doubt, I am disgusted by the whole mess.

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