Apple and Barrick Gold

I wrote before about Apple, especially here. I have decided to take profit on the counter (which I bought around USD 450 per share), not because I think the share is expensive, but to hold some more cash. The share price has performed quite well, but is still below its all time high of about USD 700:

For those who are interested in entrepreneurial stories, they might want to consider the movie "Jobs".

Not the best movie ever produced, but quite decent, and it does show how the most valuable company started from its humble beginnings. Will we ever see such a success story in SE Asia? I definitely hope so.


Barrick Gold has not exactly been my most successful share so far, the reason being that gold has performed quite badly this year. Marc Faber mentions in his December newsletter that precious metals and their miners (including Barrick Gold) are some of the rare value plays at the moment.

For me, investing in Barrick is a long-term investment based on the believe that eventually there will be higher inflation due to the actions of the central bankers worldwide. As Marc Faber has indicated, the US dollar has depreciated 95% of its value in about 80 years time (meaning average goods are 20 times more expensive). The US dollar will again depreciate by 95%, but this time it will happen much faster.

From Seeking Alpha, some articles regarding Barrick (the reader might have to sign up for the full articles, which is free of charge):

Barrick Gold: Have We Seen The Bottom?
Barrick Gold - A Contrarian Play Based On Improved Capital Allocation
Has Barrick Gold Deceived Investors?

For those readers who might be shocked about the last link, I would not say this is completely normal practice, but it does happen regularly in the Western markets. All companies do like to polish up their current position and future possibilities, and sometimes they might go to far. Professional investors who buy shares based on information from the company might feel that they have been misled on certain assumptions. Specialized lawyers might want to take up these cases, sometimes for a part of the reward. This type of action is very rare in Asia, I guess the optimal situation would be somewhere in the middle.