Tuesday, Open With "F"; Close With "APPL" -- Should Be An Exciting Day -- October 26, 2015

Earnings announced Tuesday:

• Anadarko (APC) (a lost of 73 cents: wow, huge miss, a net loss of $4.71. How could forecast and actual be so different? Actually, they knocked off $3.69 from the loss for "certain items affecting comparability" and when doing that they actually show a loss of only 72 cents (slightly better than forecast).
• Baxter (BAX), time not supplied, forecast: 29 cents/share; incredible quarter; beats by 12 cents; 
• Canadian National Railway (CNI), forecast, $1.15/share; easily beats, $1.26;
• Comcast (CMCSA), forecast: 80 cents/share; meets forecast; 
• Cummins (CMI), forecast; $2.60/share; huge miss, at $2/14; job cuts announced; shares tank, down 10%
• Ford (F), forecast 47 cents/share; incredible quarter but misses by one cent;
• Peabody Energy, a loss of $8.38/share; reports loss of $8.08; 
• United Parcel Service (UPS), forecast $1.37/share; misses, at $1.32; surprise drop in revenue; shares drop about 5%;

Yet to report:

• Apple (AAPL), after market close, forecast: $1.88/share

Disclaimer: the usual disclaimer. This is not an investment site. Do not make any investment or financial decisions based on anything you read or think you may have read here. Of the companies listed above, I have invested in only three, and have no plans to add more to my holdings. I have never invested in any of the others and have no plans to do so.

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Texas Monthly

I will subscribe to almost any periodical that offers an introductory annual subscription for $10 -- or thereabouts. That's how I got BloombergBusiness for a year or so. That's how I ended up getting the Smithsonian. Unless the latter is renewable at $10, I have no plans to renew. The magazine is an embarrassment with innumerable pages of "cheap" advertising (e.g., "Athena Pheromones Increase Affection"; "Rent an Apple Tree"; "Men's Wide Shoes"; and, Word's Finest Eye Cream!" I believe the latter goes around the eyes, not in them). But I digress.

I got an introductory offer for Texas Monthly but now, because I live here, I'm pretty much committed to renewing every year despite the price. The covers are always enticing, and the titles to the articles are always interesting, but the font is way too small to read, and the advertising is excessive -- worse than the Smithsonian if that's possible.

If there was less advertising and the articles had slightly larger font, it might be enjoyable to read the articles. A sampling of this month's stories:

The median price for a house in the major metropolitan areas in Texas seems to be about $225,000 -- I'm not sure who buys these houses when 51% of Americans earn less than $30,000 / year.

The best article: the top 25 new and improved BBQ joints in Texas. There are over 2,000 BBQ joints in Texas, so to get to the top 25 is no mean feat. It turns out that one of the BBQ restaurants that made the list is here in Grapevine: Meat U Anywhere BBQ. It's been open for about a year. There are two others in Dallas (where I will never go) and two others in Ft Worth.

The best story, however, may be on the sanctuary city of Mission, Texas. This Hispanic town of about 80,000 people just west of McAllen on the Mexico border is close to becoming the butterfly capital of the United States. Last year, the city council unanimously passed an ordinance, believed to be the first of its kind in the country, prohibiting the capture or killing of butterflies on public property. Around 300 species of butterfly can be found in the Valley. Birdwatching remains the biggest draw, but butterflying is quickly catching up.