Insurance: Non-Life Business Now Enters Growth Phase

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/personal-finance/insurance/insurance-news/Insurance-Non-life-business-now-enters-growth-phase/articleshow/6745302.cms

MUMBAI: After playing second fiddle to the life insurance industry for several years, the non-life business has roared back into growth mode. In the first six months of the current fiscal, the industry has recorded 23% growth and there are signs that profitability has improved as well.

“In a stable price environment, the non-life industry should grow by 2-2 .5 times the rate of GDP growth. What we are now seeing is some stability in pricing coupled with opening up of hitherto untapped sectors because of government schemes like the Rashtriya Swastha Bima Yojana,” said ICICI managing director Bhargav Dasgupta .
The growth rate in the first half is almost twice the 13% growth recorded in the whole of 2009-10 .

....

For the first half of the current fiscal, private insurers have recorded total premium of . 9,204 crore against . 7,312 crore in FY10 — recording a growth of 25.9%. Stateowned insurers have collected total premium of . 14,500 crore in the first half of FY11 against . 11,184 crore in the previous year — resulting in a 21% growth.

....

Among companies, HDFC Ergo continues to be one of the most aggressive growing by 49%. ICICI Lombard General Insurance — leader among private companies — has grown 32%. Tata AIG General has also managed a 33% growth despite its foreign parent’s troubles internationally.

Chinese Housing Bubble

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1975397_2094492,00.html

Demographics of the Worlds Leading Economies

The following chart shows the old-age to working-age population ratio of the world's leading industrialized countries: US, Japan, UK, Germany, etc.

What I see is this: from 1990-2010, Japan's old-age to working-age population ratio shifted from .19 to .36. by 2030, it will be over .50.
The US from 2000 to 2010 went from .20 to .26, and by 2030 will be at .33. That is a drag on growth... but not nearly as bad as it was for Japan.

great source:

Where Are We with Market Valuations?

10/10/2010:
The Stock Market is Fairly valued. Based on historical valuations, it is likely to return 6% a year from this level of valuation. This page is updated daily with the market.

Total Market Cap and US GDP

The Ratio of Total Market Cap to US GDP

The Predicted and the Actual Stock Market Returns

What returns can we expect from the stock market?

As of today, the Total Market Index is at $ 12196.2 billion, which is about 83.5% of the last reported GDP. The US stock market is positioned for an average annualized return of 6%, estimated from the historical valuations of the stock market. This includes the returns from the dividends, currently yielding at 2.1%.

As pointed by Warren Buffett, the percentage of total market cap (TMC) relative to the US GNP is “probably the best single measure of where valuations stand at any given moment.”

More at the source on:

1. Interest rates
2. Long Term Growth of Corporate Profitability
3. Market Valuations
Also....

As of 10/10/2010, the stock market is likely to return 6% a year in the next 8 years.

Note: If this stops updating, look here for Wilshire total market value. (I'd use full cap)

Today it is 95% TMV/ GDP

Is The S&P500 Overvalued? What Can You Expect . . .

This article provides a range of values depending on the scenario chosen. The author believes that a fair value for the S&P 500 Index is within the range of 873 (for required expected return of 9%) to 1031 (for required expected return of 7%), with a mid-point estimate of 944 (for required expected return of 8%). Our assumption is that the S&P earnings will grow with GDP at about 4.5% per year and yield a 2.1% dividend yield and sell at a long-term P/E of 15 in ten years.


http://www.investorsfriend.com/S%20and%20P%20500%20index%20valuation.htm

Top Mortgage Servicers

Expanding the Wells Fargo Moat:

Oct 7 (Reuters)

 Below are the largest U.S. mortgage servicers, which
collect mortgage payments and foreclose on delinquent loans, as
of June 30, 2010.

 Bank                           Total Loans         Market

                                Servicing now       Share

                                in $billions
1) Bank of America (BAC.N)       $2,135.30          19.9%
2) Wells Fargo (WFC.N)            $1,811.97          16.9%
3) JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N)    $1,353.60          12.6%
4) Citigroup Inc (C.N)            $677.81             6.3%
5) GMAC/Ally Financial           $349.08             3.2%
6) US Bancorp (USB.N)             $189.85             1.8%
7) SunTrust Banks Inc (STI.N)     $175.93             1.6%
8) PHH Mortgage (PHH.N)           $155.97             1.4%
9) OneWest Bank, CA (IndyMac)     $155.00             1.4%
10)PNC Financial Services (PNC.N) $149.94             1.4%
Total residential mortgages outstanding             $10,640

 ($ billions, for 1-4 family homes)

 Source: Inside Mortgage Finance

Forest City Q2 2010 Conference Call Notes

Intro
value not being reflected by the stock....
YTD net operating income up across all categories
See Supplemental for Geography.
Expect future growth from:

• NOI
• development pipeline

last 2 years, $800 million of our share of openings
expect 200 basis point spread over debt on these new openings
242 million cash at holdco, our share.
Working to joint venture of NY retail?
Over the past two years, they've done 2.5 billion in refinances, 100 million had to be put down.
Land & construction loans non-existent

Pipeline
East River Plaza opened. Costco!!
Presidio Landmark- 161 unit. Opened.

Beekmann- 904 units in Manhattan
(2% vacancies in the Manhattan market)
Ridge Hill- working hard to lease it up. Great demographics
Foundry Lofts- units at the DC yards.

From Q&A
Ridge Hill is an $800 million project
Rock Gaming Casino will:

• lease 200,000 square feet from Tower City.
• buy adjacent 16 acres
• drive traffic to tower city
• 600 million casino investment plus 100 million phase 1 building