We are clearly in a golden era, or year, of cinema. We saw Slumdog Millionaire yesterday and were stunned. My emotions kept turning left and right, brightly happy, horribly sad, my eyes alternatively closing and opening wide, from laughter to tears. A wonderful film. As are many, many this year. Doubt, Gran Torino, Benj. Button, Frost/Nixonand Milkare all astonishing movies with extraordinary acting by many.
Today, I called Mastercard with a dispute on our charges. A man with an obvious Indian accent greeted me politely. After resolving the issue I asked where he was. “Mumbai, Sir.” I asked if he had seen Slumdog; he had. And, I wondered, is the movie accurate? “Well, Sir, it is a slice of our life, not all of it. And the young man made some money and got the girl.” Is your call center like the one in the movie? “Yes, quite similar.” I asked if he could convert the winnings by Jamal into dollars. He gave me an answer I could not quite understand. We said a warm goodbye. The MSN currency converter gave me a figure of $411, 658. According to the Stanford University site the average yearly Indian income is $500.
Pam and I were on our second appetizer and second drink when Mac and Jane sat next to us at the bar. We were all out to celebrate Valentine’s Day. The four of us, having never met before, pretty quickly began a lively conversation. Topics ranged from living where Pam and I do, in a gated/golf course community vs. living downtown; wondering where the Black middle class live in Wilmington; Mac’s experience with throat cancer and Pam’s oncology nursing experiences. We were really getting along and both Pam and I were thinking we were about to make new friends. “What did you do for a living, Rick.” Jane asked? I was on Wall Street. Bam! Mac and Jane looked down at their drinks and conversation took a pregnant pause. Suddenly, the air left the room. Well, I suggested gaily, that was fun! We all kind of chuckled but, later, Pam and I talked about another way of telling people how I had made a living. Clearly, Wall Street is verboten.
I picked up a few things from weekend reading. Ezcorp (EZPW) runs 400 pawn shops. Their last quarter net income rose 18%; last year they had $457 million in sales. The company has been an aggregator by buying smaller pawnshops in Colorado and Nevada in addition to their shops in Texas and Oklahoma. Around our city pawnshops are bursting with stuff. Yesterday I saw two men walking into a shop carrying a tall ladder. Out of work construction people are pawning everything.
Teva, a company I have been writing about, but do not own, received a mention in Business Week. But this time it was mentioned as a stock with a good and growing dividend. Sales were $11 billion last year with $14.9 billion expected this year. Dividend payouts grew an average of 28.9% over a recent five-year period. Current yield is 1.13% at $44/share. EPS estimates are $2.83 for last year and $3 for this. Shares were up 39.8% last year.
Barron’s Magazine wrote a puff piece on Abbott Labs (ABT). Since I have owned the stock for a while I agree with all the positive things and am looking forward to a Barron’s bounce on Tuesday.
Here, on the coast of southeastern North Carolina the days are lengthening. Sunrise is now 6:56a while sunset is 5;56p. But twilight lengthens the day by an hour on each end.
The International Labor Organization is saying that world-wide unemployment could reach 50 million. Spain currently is hardest hit with 14.4% unemployed followed by Ireland 8.2%, France 8.1%, US 7.6%, Greece 7.5%, Canada 7.2%, Germany 7.2%, Sweden 6.9%, Italy 6.7% and Britain 6.1%. Low end includes Netherlands 2.7%, Japan 4.5%, Australia 4.5% and Mexico 4.7%.
