Investment Update, Mort Zuckerman And Illegal Immigration

The eWorldvu Model Growth Portfolio has already increased in value by more than 4 percent in just three months while the Retirement Portfolio has declined by about 1 percent. 

Overall, this is an excellent short term performance since the S and P 500 has slightly declined during the investment period.

See the results here: Investment Model Portfolio's 3/2/2010

In the Model Growth Portfolio, Celgene and Berkshire Hathaway have already been big winners and we expect more stock price appreciation to come.  In fact, just about every holding in the Model Growth Portfolio has increased in value except Flour.  Flour has lost value by more than 9% due to the weak earnings report it released last week.

The engineering and construction management firm's fourth-quarter profit fell short of analyst expectations, and it cut its 2010 earnings guidance. Fluor cut its 2010 profit outlook by about 12 percent as orders remain weak and it also expects delays in large projects. As a result, its backlog declined to $26.8 billion at the end of 2009 from $28 billion three months before.

Flour's weak outlook for the year is a result of the current deep international recession. The company will see earnings growth and a building order backlog as the economy continues to strengthen in the months ahead.

This is still a world class engineering company and rapid price appreciation lies ahead.  Hold the shares and you will be well rewarded in the long term. In the short term, selling the July 50 covered calls (if you hold the stock) would probably be a good investment strategy.

Mort Zuckerman

With yesterdays news that Harold Ford will not run for the Senate in New York, billionaire Mort Zuckerman looks like he now intends to run. This could mean that a Republican could win the New York Senate seat and bring the Republicans, Senate control in the mid-term elections.

Here is Ben Smith's take at Politico:

 “A lot of donors were telling [Ford] that if Mort ran, they would be with Mort,” said a senior New York Democrat.

But Zuckerman – who would likely skip the Democratic primary and challenge Gillibrand in the general election as a Republican-Independent – poses a far graver threat to the national political status quo. The New York billionaire who owns one of the Democratic Party’s loudest megaphones, the New York Daily News, backed Barack Obama in the 2008 campaign but has emerged as a bitter White House critic, and his entry into the race would put Republicans clearly within striking distance of retaking the Senate.

Illegal Immigration

Soon, our national politics will turn from the ongoing obsession with health care to determine a path for citizenship for illegal immigrants. Government workers are currently counting illegal immigrants in the national census, which will result in a change in the demographics of our political representation.  

Read:Political Power Is What Counts In The Census

So, is building that border fence going to control illegal entry into the country? How is e-verify doing to control the hiring of illegal immigrants in the workplace?  We will explore the immigration issue in an article in the World of Politics Journal on eworldvu.com later in the week.

http://www.eworldvu.com