Sure, except that FMG are (just like RIO, BHP and others) at the...

Sure, except that FMG are (just like RIO, BHP and others) at the mercy of their highly volatile commodity price, no matter how efficient they are at pulling rocks out of the ground, and said commodity price just happens to be a teeny bit high relative to its prevailing extraction costs (hence to its long-term equilibrium levels).

Regarding MSFT, at an earnings yield of just ~3.5% pa it looks like a terrible risk/reward to me for a mature technology company, no matter how high their margins are. To give you an idea, it will take them another 8 years of growth at 15% pa to turn that yield into a >10% pa relative to current price, and that’s a lot of time value of money lost.

On the other hand, ZNO can afford to lose 2/3 of its current earnings (on a run-rate basis) and still provide an earnings yield in excess of 3.5% pa relative to current price. It is nowhere near as good a business as MSFT, that’s for sure, but the margin of safety it affords as of today is much better, as far as I can see.

Anyway, each to their own.