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More than a year ago the Chairman of investment firm Grantham Mayo and Van Otterloo (GMO), Jeremy Grantham got a lot of attention for a long research report that he issued titled: “All the World’s a Bubble”

You can read the complete article in the link above - including graph. The only asset class that escaped Grantham’s critical eye was a very peculiar one: timber.

Most people wouldn’t even think of timber as an asset class or imagine that in the past 30 years it has beaten every other asset class, including the usual suspects of equity, bonds and real estate.

Now that more than a year has go

As part of David Merkel�s rules on industry selection, he lists the following:

• Buy strong companies in weak industries when the industry pricing outlook seems hopeless.
• Buy moderate to strong companies in strong industries where the earnings power and duration are underestimated.
• Underweight/ Ignore/ Short industries where pricing power is likely to be negative for several more years, and especially industries that are in terminal decline.
• Avoid fad industries. There are P/E levels that no industry can grow into.

My best example of #1 is the P&C insurance industry in early 2000. Total gloom. I

I have been a fan/holder of Plum Creek Timber (PCL) for clients since before I started this web site. I�ve written about it a few times over the years and I just continue to hold it.

I�ve known about the stock going back to my days at Lehman Brothers from 1989-1991 when it was still an MLP.

I think I first read about the diversification benefits of timber/lumber sometime in the mid 1990s.

The chart shows PCL in blue compared to Rayonier (RYN) in red and the S&P 500 over the last year. In the last few years PCL has had periods where it has been ahead of RYN and periods where it has lagged RYN.

I have been a fan/holder of Plum Creek Timber (PCL) for clients since before I started this web site. I've written about it a few times over the years and I just continue to hold it.

I've known about the stock since my days at Lehman Brothers (1989-1991) when it was still an MLP. I think I first read about the diversification benefits of timber/lumber sometime in the mid 1990s.

The chart above (click to enlarge) shows PCL in blue compared to Rayonier (RYN) in red and the S&P 500 (SPX) over the last year. In the last few years, PCL has had periods where it has been ahead of RYN and periods whe