The Old Guard And The Fountain Of Youth

There is a lot to say for the "old guard." Often the old guard is viewed as a bit dated, but filled with wisdom, experience, and relevant lessons for the future.

Today, there are some excellent values in stocks that fit the bill of being the old guard. But what is the surprise? Though Juan Ponce de Leon never found the fountain of youth, I think all of these companies are on the hunt, and in fact, will find their inner vigor

I own all of these "old guard" stocks that I believe remain fundamentally and technically cheap and interesting. The positions are outright stock, 1/21/22 leaps, and 1/20/23 leaps. I have found the leaps to be generally inexpensive, given the market perception at the time of my purchases, of being outdated and thus out of favor. This is starting to change, in for example, the percolating perceptions around CSCO and GM. Still, they all remain interesting to me.

What are the names?

Pfizer is $34.99 with a dividend over 4%, a fortress balance sheet, and a critical company for America and the world. Market cap of $195 billion, strikes me as low for what Pfizer means to humanity. Yes, enterprise value is $245 billion. This stock is cheap.

CSCO is $48.99. Chuck Robbins is terrific. An important company, with tons of cash and a continued vision for the future. 3% dividend. $203 billion market cap, and enterprise value of $187 billion

IBM at $121.79 with Arvind Krishna at the helm, partnering with James Whitehurst has far more upside in my view in AI and the cloud, than risk.

Oracle at $63.66 fits this bill for me. So does XOM with a 7.2% yield. And GM, though prospects for the future are beginning to percolate with the stock now at $55.99. And Dow, $57.24, with a 5% yield. And ATT, which I think is very cheap now at $28.97, a 7.2% yield and the streaming business of HBOMAX a sleeper. INTC is $58.99, and a critical American resource and as a semiconductor manufacturer, one of the very important engines of technology.

Ponce de Leon never found the fountain of youth. I think all of these companies are on the path, and if they don't find the fountain, they are still drinking a more youthful tonic than they have been given credit for by the market.