Commentary

Last evening our nation cast their votes to elect the 45th President of the United States. We can all now breathe a sigh of relief that this long election cycle is behind us. In our October 5th commentary titled “The Election”, we touched on the initial knee-jerk reaction that often […]

With just over one month to go until the presidential election, the political rhetoric continues to provide a dramatic backdrop to the investing and economic environment. At Greenwood Gearhart, we have received calls from clients and friends of all political persuasions asking: “What in the world are we going to […]

INVESTMENT, RISK, AND MYTHS OF ASSET ALLOCATION. One of the most thought-provoking topics we discuss with clients is that of asset allocation. These discussions are prompted as much by our views on the topic (which contrast with conventional wisdom) as they are by the challenges of the current investment environment. […]

The record poor performance of the first two weeks of 2016 has prompted many clients to ask “what’s going on?” Concerns about China, oil, geopolitical tensions, the Fed, and corporate earnings have prompted the latest round of angst and fear amongst some market participants. It’s understandable; after all, it has […]

In our previous commentary we assessed the 2015 economy in the context of both long-term positive underpinnings and short-term challenges. Since then, we have traveled to Florida, Washington, London, Paris, and Munich attending conferences focusing on monetary policy and the consumer industry. Attending these conferences, we believe, provides our firm […]

March of 2015 marks the sixth year of the most hated bull market in American history. Our nation’s media, as well as the fear-mongering market-timers who sold at inopportune 2009 levels, have chosen to repetitively focus on the negatives, even amongst increasingly positive developments. Although the crisis of 2008-2009 left […]

The shift in wealth from The Greatest Generation to the Baby Boomers to Generation X and today’s “Generation Now” has unique implications for our client families. A study by Cerulli Associates, a leading research firm, estimates that $16 trillion of assets will be passed down to the next generation in […]

As a result of the global economic recovery and subsequent increase in business activity, corporations are accumulating record levels of cash on their balance sheets. While this may seem like a good problem to have, cash is not a return-generative asset and can be a drag on shareholder returns, especially […]

The month of September marked the five year anniversary of a seminal event in the modern history of financial markets: the failure of Lehman Brothers, the largest bankruptcy in the history of the United States. While a lot has changed, much stays the same: uncertainty still exists in the financial […]

We recently concluded our Spring conference circuit by attending, as we do every year, the Consumer Analyst Group of New York (CAGNY) annual conference in Boca Raton, Florida, and the Consumer Analyst Group of Europe (CAGE) annual conference in London. These conferences yielded new investment ideas that are already adding to portfolio returns. We were pleased with the general outlook conveyed by the CEO’s and CFO’s who presented at the conferences and always appreciate the opportunity to evaluate them and their company’s priorities “in the flesh.” Since we have written extensively on the consumer product conferences in previous years, we are focusing our latest Greenwood Report on a discussion of a different sector: Energy. On May 15-16 we attended the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) Industry Conference entitled Energy: Will the Oil and Gas Boom Reignite the Economy? The conference provided a great opportunity to summarize new developments in an industry we have followed closely for years. Many of the profits reaped by our client’s energy portfolio holdings have been a direct result of our research on this sector and we are pleased to provide this update on the current industry trends that continue to shape and help grow the economic recovery.