• Subscribe
  • Log In
  • Home
  • Daily Diary
  • Asset Class
    • U.S. Equity
    • Fixed Income
    • Global Equity
    • Commodities
    • Currencies
  • Sector
    • Basic Materials
    • Consumer Discretionary
    • Consumer Staples
    • Energy
    • Financial Services
    • Healthcare
    • Industrials
    • Real Estate
    • Technology
    • Telecom Services
    • Transportation
    • Utilities
  • Latest
    • Articles
    • Video
    • Columnist Conversations
    • Best Ideas
    • Stock of the Day
  • Street Notes
  • Authors
    • Bruce Kamich
    • Doug Kass
    • Jim "Rev Shark" DePorre
    • Helene Meisler
    • Jonathan Heller
    • - See All -
  • Options
  • RMPIA
  • Switch Product
    • Action Alerts PLUS
    • Quant Ratings
    • Real Money
    • Real Money Pro
    • Retirement
    • Stocks Under $10
    • TheStreet
    • Top Stocks
    • TheStreet Smarts
  1. Home
  2. / Investing

Jokers, Clowns Make for Good Distractions, but Not Good Investments

My strategy is based on not following the herd, which means profiting along with 'unpopular' energy giants.
By JIM COLLINS
Nov 23, 2022 | 01:30 PM EST
Stocks quotes in this article: XOM, CVX, COP, ARKK

"Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am ... stuck in the middle with you."

Joe Egan and Gerry Rafferty coined that phrase while playing together as Stealers Wheel in the 1970s, and it describes the year we have had at my firm, Excelsior Capital Partners.

My investment strategy is based on not following the herd, and sticking in the middle, outside the lanes of the clowns and jokers. But these fools never stay in their own lanes, and that upsets me. So, I do the opposite of what they preach.

It's the day before Thanksgiving as I write this, and I really want to celebrate and just read stories about Jamal Hinton and Wanda Dench continuing their awesome, if initially unintentional, T-Day tradition. But I can't. Instead I am bombarded by stories in the financial media that serve only to push a ridiculous narrative.

I read one on CNBC.com that triggered such a violent gut reaction that I was glad I wasn't in Arizona at the Cheesecake Factory with Wanda and Jamal when I read it.

The article stated: "'Exxon, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips's threadbare tax disclosures leave investors, watchdog groups, and the general public in the dark about the companies' secretive tax practices,' Daniel Mulé, policy lead on extractive industries and tax at Oxfam America, said in a statement."

I have no words. OK, maybe one or two. Why is Oxfam, an organization that was created, I believe, to alleviate hunger, having one of its members quoted about integrated oil majors on a financial news site? I am wondering what the group possibly missed in Exxon's (XOM) 144-page 2021 10-K. A simple search shows the word "tax" was mentioned 223 times in XOM's 2021 10-K. That's "threadbare" tax disclosure?

Really?

But, apart from the excellent stuff I read daily that is written by my fellow Real Money contributors, that is just the type of stories we see daily. 

Not only are XOM,  (CVX) and (COP) "warming the planet" with their "greenhouse gasses," now these oil industry execs are apparently meeting in some Star Chamber-type lair to come up with "secretive tax practices."

Everyone on Earth tries to pay lower taxes. Anyone who has ever walked into an H&R Block has actually done just that. But these narrative-pushers try to fill your screen with these bizarre conspiracy theories about open and transparent public companies.

It is absolute, utter crap. I decided many years ago to take the other side of the trade. And, oh yeah, is it working in 2022.

Exhibit A is my HOAX model portfolio. I benchmarked it against financial media darling Cathie Wood's ARK Innovation Fund (ARKK) . 

I have to be a little careful, because of the proprietary trading I do for my clients, but here, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, is a link to the initial, never-updated version of HOAX.

So, without any reinvestment of the bountiful dividends it pays (The ARK fund has never paid a dividend) here are the figures since HOAX's inception on Dec. 23, 2021.

HOAX: +54.44%

ARKK: -63.30%

Yeah, that feels good. HOAX doesn't have COP, but XOM and CVX are core holdings. Believe me when I tell you, that despite the rantings in the media, those names will not be "divested" by HOAX's portfolio manager anytime soon. That, of course, is me.

But that is not what you are getting from certain financial media sites. Climate hysteria. Check. Trump-bashing. Check. Those whose flagship funds have fallen more than 60% this year. Check. Stories about actual returns from actual investments? Crickets, man, crickets.

So, that is my message to you. Ignore the clowns and the jokers and stick to companies that produce cash flows from the assets that they control and then, finally, return a portion of those cash flows to you via dividend payments. It will make the turkey taste better tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Get an email alert each time I write an article for Real Money. Click the "+Follow" next to my byline to this article.

At the time of publication, Collins' firm was long XOM, CVX.

TAGS: Politics | Energy | Investing

More from Investing

Why Market Indexes Are Often a Poor Measure of What's Really Going On

James "Rev Shark" DePorre
Mar 27, 2023 11:55 AM EDT

We are witnessing one of the most extreme disconnects in decades between the Nasdaq 100 and Russell 2000.

What the Fed Has Wrought

Bret Jensen
Mar 27, 2023 11:00 AM EDT

Damage From the central bank's policy mistakes are likely to keep growing.

Movado Shows Now Isn't the Time to Issue Disappointing Guidance

Jonathan Heller
Mar 27, 2023 10:35 AM EDT

The watchmaker saw its shares hammered on its outlook, which is a cautionary tale for other stocks.

Workday's Stock Looks Ready to Make Further Gains

Bruce Kamich
Mar 27, 2023 10:34 AM EDT

Let's check the charts and indicators.

Caterpillar's Stock Was Hot, Now It's Not: Here's the Trade

Stephen Guilfoyle
Mar 27, 2023 10:15 AM EDT

Two downgrades by a highly rated analyst are not to be taken lightly.

Real Money's message boards are strictly for the open exchange of investment ideas among registered users. Any discussions or subjects off that topic or that do not promote this goal will be removed at the discretion of the site's moderators. Abusive, insensitive or threatening comments will not be tolerated and will be deleted. Thank you for your cooperation. If you have questions, please contact us here.

Email

CANCEL
SUBMIT

Email sent

Thank you, your email to has been sent successfully.

DONE

Oops!

We're sorry. There was a problem trying to send your email to .
Please contact customer support to let us know.

DONE

Please Join or Log In to Email Our Authors.

Email Real Money's Wall Street Pros for further analysis and insight

Already a Subscriber? Login

Columnist Conversation

  • 01:56 PM EDT PETER TCHIR

    Very Cautious

    I am very cautious here. I don't like how the c...
  • 08:58 AM EDT JAMES "REV SHARK" DEPORRE

    This Weekend on Real Money

    How to Adjust Your Trading Style as Market Conditi...
  • 05:00 PM EDT CHRIS VERSACE

    AAP Podcast on the Fed Decision!

    Listen here!
  • See More

COLUMNIST TWEETS

  • A Twitter List by realmoney
About Privacy Terms of Use

© 1996-2023 TheStreet, Inc., 225 Liberty Street, 27th Floor, New York, NY 10281

Need Help? Contact Customer Service

Except as otherwise indicated, quotes are delayed. Quotes delayed at least 20 minutes for all exchanges. Market Data & Company fundamental data provided by FactSet. Earnings and ratings provided by Zacks. Mutual fund data provided by Valueline. ETF data provided by Lipper. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions Group.

TheStreet Ratings updates stock ratings daily. However, if no rating change occurs, the data on this page does not update. The data does update after 90 days if no rating change occurs within that time period.

FactSet calculates the Market Cap for the basic symbol to include common shares only. Year-to-date mutual fund returns are calculated on a monthly basis by Value Line and posted mid-month.

Compare Brokers

Please Join or Log In to manage and receive alerts.

Follow Real Money's Wall Street Pros to receive real-time investing alerts

Already a Subscriber? Login