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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2583 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for March 22, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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You're overselling it.

In many industries, competition is fierce to the point where no one is making any money.

For example, during the shale boom that started around 2010, U.S. oil producers plowed all of their profits back into expansion. U.S. oil production rose from 5 million barrels per day then to over 13 million today. But overproduction caused oil prices to collapse and many producers went bankrupt. Even the best-run firms have substantially underperformed the market. Today oil trades well below what it did in 2010, despite the prices of everything else going up a lot.

As a result you can buy the stocks of most oil and gas producers for a PE of less than 10 (compared to a PE of 50 for Costco). Even though they are profitable today, people expect that they will repeat the same mistakes a second time.

Some corporations stick it to the consumer and make big profits. Some don't care about money and just like to drill, baby, drill.

I am sure that there are lots of other industries like this too.

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