Random Notes From All Over -- May 16, 2021

First things first: do you remember the ADM soybean crushing facility / Spiritwood, ND story? A reader writes, with limited editing:

The ADM facility in Jamestown [Spiritwood], ND, was on a short note on  the US Farm Report  today ...  the 150,000 bushel crush per day ... this crush is equal to 300 semi-truck loads [eighteen-wheelers] of soy beans every day.

 

That is twelve and one-half truckloads per hour or one truckload every five minutes.

How much diesel fuel will this require, or how many fast-charge battery chargers for semis?

The bean plant in Fairmont, MN, is similar and never stops. When there is an overhaul/update the notices are posted six months in advance so all those beans under contract can be delivered. 

[Comment: So many story lines here: best story line -- see the Daimler story below.]

Focus on Fracking, weekly edition posted. Link here. 

Coincidence? I think not. The dots connect.

• Apple and Berkshire Hathaway are joined at the hip.
• Berkshire's number one equity holding: AAPL by a large margin; nothing else comes close;
  
• Berkshire Hathaway owns Nebraska Furniture Mart
• Apple's 12.9-inch iPad Pro was not expected to be available until the second half of May, 2021; most likely, May 21, 2021 -- almost a week from now;
• u/PeterDragon 50 has already received pre-ordered 12-9-inch iPad Pro through retailer Nebraska Furniture Mart

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ATT-Discovery

Updates:

May 17, 2021: a much bigger deal than I originally realized. Immediately after the announcement ATT shares popped up nearly $2.00 / share but after word got out that the dividend would be "normalized" ATT shares are not down about $0.37. Annual dividend at $2.08 could be cut by at least 20% = $1.66. But the market value of T also goes down -- so the question is whether the "20%-cut figure" is "raw" cut on the dividend, or "percentage cut" in the total ATT payout, which has to be balanced against what folks are calling a huge cash machine: WarnerMedia-Discovery or Turner-Discovery or T-Discovery? My hunch: long term investors will do very, very well. 

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.

Original Note

ATT: I'm not sure I understand this -- let's go through the "facts" as I understand them:

• ATT owns WarnerMedia;
• when ATT acquired WarnerMedia, ATT acquired the "Turner" properties: CNN, TNT, and TBS;
• many ATT shareholders would like to see ATT get rid of CNN
• the "Discovery" network is owned by Discovery and Hasbro
• ATT is putting together a package that would merge the "Discovery" network with the Turner properties;
• the new entity, let's call it the"Discovery-Turner" or "Turner-Discovery" network / company would be a separate company from ATT
• ATT shareholders would own shares in a new (and huge [?] entity called "Discovery-Turner' or "Turner-Discovery" 
• that's how I understand it; readers will let me know where I'm wrong;
• in a world where there is so much content and so many competing streaming networks, "Discovery" as a stand-alone is getting "lost" among the big boys [and girls];
• one can argue whether this is good for the "Discovery" owners or not but from my vantage point there is no argument that it's a good idea for ATT to jettison CNN (think Don Lemon)
  
• the big question I have, I suppose, is whether "Discovery" viewers are the kind of viewers that will watch the Turner properties?
• if this does happen, I already have my trade ready
  
• the TBS shows are listed here;

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Miscellaneous

What folks will forget by tomorrow's market opening: China's retail sales miss estimates. 

What folks will be talking about tomorrow: batteries. WSJ. Nonsense. Cognitive dissonance.

What we will really be talking about tomorrow: Bill Gates fooling around. 

Memo to self: Big Bang Theory.

UNP: to pay $1.07 / share next quarter. After seven quarters of 97 cents / share, UNP raises dividend to $1.07 / share. Press released dated May 13, 2021, payable June 30, 2021, to shareholders of record May 28, 2021.

Reminder: actually two reminders -- I suggested not too long ago --

• this would be the year that investors are going to see a lot of dividend increases; and,
• Apple's biggest misstep this year? paltry dividend increase (a friend told me that)
  

More examples required? Here's one. Old news but Michael Fitzsimmons posted it today, Sunday, May 16, 2021. Headline: EOG Resources: shares pop higher on $1 / share special dividend.

On May 6th, EOG Resources announced a stunning Q1 earnings report that demonstrated strong free-cash-flow generation due to the recovery in oil and gas prices combined with EOG's very low-cost resource base.

 Better still, EOG remains disciplined with capital spending and declared a $1/share special dividend payment directly to shareholders.

EOG remains one of the best and most efficient shale operators, with wells that consistently perform among the best in the industry.

The company has a deep inventory of low-cost drilling locations with thousands of well locations that can generate a 30%+ return with WTI at $30/bbl.

Now that shareholders know they will be rewarded with increased dividends, and given the strong current oil price of oil and the anticipated US economic rebound - EOG shares are a BUY.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.

Thursday Night Football: we just talked about this the other day. I hear that the opening TNF game will be Dak vs Tom; Dallas vs Tampa Bay. Cowboys vs Buccaneers. Let's check. Ah, there it is. Pre-season, Thursday, August 5, Dallas Cowboys vs Pittsburgh Steelers; Regular season, Thursday, September 9, 2021: Dallas Cowboys vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers. See this TNF schedule. Be sure to read the fine print.

The first game of the season between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Dallas Cowboys is on a Thursday night, September 9, 2021, but it’s technically not part of the Thursday Night Football package. This also goes for the Thanksgiving matchups. 

[Comment: hello, Amazon. Hello, Jeff Bezos. Brilliant.]

Hulu: without question -- best television bargain out there. Amazon Prime Video a close second. 

Iron Dome: works. 

Windfall? Daimler to split. 

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.

Cheaper if  you pick it up yourself: DoorDash and Uber Eats delivery is costing more. Apps are shifting some costs to customers; restaurants are raising prices on apps and offering cheaper direct orders. WSJ paywall but the headline pretty much says it all. 

Snapshot: what percent of Americans who will ever visit Disneyland in southern California have already visited Disneyland?

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Word For The Day

Skeuomorphism.

Goes back to 2013. The day "skeuomorphism" (at least some of it) died: I remember the "event" but I did not know the back story. 

Back story at these links:

• definition;
• definition;
• eulogy for skeuomorphism.

When you take a photo with your smart phone, you generally hear a pretty loud "fake" click imitating the sound of a real SLR camera. That's one example of skeuomorphism.

That "photo-click" was "invented" / "necessitated" by the Japanese. My hunch: most readers will never guess why.