Random Notes On A Wednesday Night -- February 17, 2021

Wow, I'm in a great mood. It appears Texas has survived the worst. One more night, one more day and it should  be all behind us. Two weeks from now the whole thing will be forgotten and a month from now it will all be back to normal. 

Be that as it may, I'm absolutely impressed how great folks are when these things happen. 

So, enough of that. 

Sherwin Williams announced an increase in its quarterly dividend; up from $1.34 to $1.65. Shares jump 2%. Unless Tim Cook really doesn't care about the share price of AAPL, he needs to do something about that paltry AAPL dividend. Someone said yesterday that CLR's chart wasn't very encouraging; one could say the same thing AAPL. Watching paint dry. LOL. No pun intended. 

I wonder how many Americans would test positive for Covid-19 if tested five times a week, week in, week out?

The biggest problem for McDonald's with the Covid-19 lockdowns: not much impulse buying.

I'm staying one more night in the hotel only because I can. Peace and quiet. And watching the Australian Open. What more do I need? Later: wow, Osaka schooled Serena Williams.

I don't know how many times I've said this on the blog but I'll say it again: this whole EV thing -- I don't think folks have really thought this though. 

I'm glad we had the "freeze" to wake folks up.

Two of the most interesting graphics I have ever seen in fourteen years of blogging:

I see futures are negative. That's okay: the Dow closed at another all-time high.

Biggest story developing: the rift between Biden and Prince MBS. In the big scheme of things this should have happened decades ago. But good, bad, or indifferent, this will be interesting to watch. Get out the popcorn. 

I saw the headline, didn't read the story, but apparently Biden was unaware that "the vaccine" had been approved and distributed and injected well before he was president. I can understand that. There's a lot of things for a president to keep track of. Or maybe he's just tired of the whole thing. LOL. I certainly am. I'm no longer paying attention to the pandemic but will post vaccination stats on Tuesdays and Fridays. 

Operating styles: it appears Trump operated as a very-hands-on CEO; Biden seems to be operating as an executive chairman. He has breakfast with the First Lady, Doctor Jill; makes a few speeches; takes a few phone calls; but most importantly, ignores swarthy, bearded men wearing ghutras.

But the big news for me is "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" attitude of Harold Hamm and Continental Resources. I agree with the CEO: we'll talk about a dividend, but it's not gonna happen any time soon. So many things could be said. I'm excited. This should be fun to watch. The amount of time given to the Long Creek project in the Q&A portion of the conference call was most interesting. This is a huge project: 56 wells, two rigs, 20%, 50%, 30% over three years. Let's see 20% of 56 = 11 wells. That would be two pads, two months. Then 28 in 2022; and, finally the last 17 in 2023. 

And looking at the recent permitting by CLR in North Dakota suggests this is not the last huge such project for Harold Hamm, et al. I can think of at least two more such projects. 

By the way, after two score of new permits, today the only operator with new permits reported in North Dakota: CLR. 

The Powder Basin acquisition is most interesting. It was nice to see the history of Samson Resources. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to these "96 federal permits in-hand" to be "pulled" by the Biden administration for further review.

Natural gas: $3.30.