World Of Investment Update On BP And Pepsico

Here is an update from the recent reports on BP and Pepsi:

BP saw a lot of positives in 2009.  Thunder Horse Field is now up and running. New exploration has produce a huge find in the Gulf of Mexico, and the company won a bid to produce oil in Iraq.

As for the quarterly numbers, 2009 upstream production increased by more than 4%. Unfortunately Refining was a problem for the company as it was for the entire industry. Still, overall, the results were better than anyone would have expected from BP a year ago.

The recent release of BP's fourth-quarter results produced a temporary decline in the price of the stock from the price of our original investment. It probably didn't help that the firm projected a decline in 2010 production and a continuation of weak refining margins for the next few quarters. An increase in the dollar and a decline in the Euro also did not help the share price.

However, these are all short term problems. BP continues to be a great long term holding in oil and gas. It will move much higher in the months and years ahead. The 6% stock dividend pays us well to wait.

Pepsico (PEP) quarterly report was right in line with analyst expectations on revenues and earnings.

Its fourth-quarter profit almost doubled on strength in its snacks business and overseas beverage operations, while U.S. beverages continued to slump.

The drink maker said it will continue to launch new snack products as well as speed growth in developing markets, which it expects to boost revenue and profit. The company has been expanding its international units and food products division to buffer the decline in U.S. drink sales.

The company said it expects to close on its acquisitions of bottlers PepsiAmericas and the Pepsi Bottling Group by the end of the month. Those multi billion dollar moves, are designed to help the company better compete in the U.S. because it will control its own distribution and be quicker to market with new products, which the company says will help it keep up with the changing tastes of shoppers.

Shares of Pepsi are trading slightly higher from our original investment price. Pepsi continues to be a world class blue chip firm with a nice dividend.

Please read our other articles from this week on eworldvu.com:

A Commodity ETF Hedged For Long Term Growth

Reason For Toyota Recall Hype Found Under Lahood

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