Reliance Steel (RS) 2012 Review

Reliance Steel, RS,  provides value-added metals processing services and distributes more than 100,000 metal products. 

The company has grown profits and dividends at a 13-15% rate and earned a 7-19% return on equity over the last ten years. RS operations were under significant pressure from declining volume and increasing price competition in 2009. However, profits begun growing again as a result of:

(1) despite slow economic growth, it is witnessing improvement in its core customer base (aerospace and energy) resulting in both rising demand and prices,

(2) acquisitions (latest: McKey and National Specialty Alloys),

(3) an excellent cost control discipline.

Cold Fusion and Palladium (Chart)

Every decade or so the topic of cold fusion comes up. When it does you sometimes see Palladium, the commodity, soar. Will 60 Minutes trigger a new bull market in Palladium?

You can trade Palladium futures at the NYMEX.


Palladium, Cash, Monthly Bar Chart, Ten Years

You'll notice that Palladium (cash market)

• Soared up to 1100 during January, 2001.
• After trading below 200 several times during the 2003-2005 period
  
• Palladium soared to 585 during March 2008.
• It is once again languishing down near 200.
• Although. it has recently moved up sharply to the 249 area.
• Perhaps this was in anticipation of the 60 Minutes report on Palladium which aired this evening.
  

60 Minutes Cold Fusion (Video and Text)

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Bob DeMarco is a citizen journalist and twenty year Wall Street veteran. Bob has written more than 500 articles with more than 11,000 links to his work on the Internet. Content from All American Investor has been syndicated on Reuters, the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Pluck, Blog Critics, and a growing list of newspaper websites. Bob is actively seeking syndication and writing assignments.

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