wall st journal: fertilizer cos raking in cash

"And fertilizer companies Mosaic and Potash of Saskatchewan. Both skyrocketed last year. Yes, the fertilizer business is raking in cash thanks to rising food demand from places like China."


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One Way To Play Oil
January 4, 2008 10:31 a.m.

With oil hitting $100 a barrel, should you be jumping onto this bandwagon -- or jumping off?

Try talking to fund manager Ken Heebner instead.

He's been beating the street for around 40 years. So when he says he's found an oil play that "may be the biggest investment I've ever seen in my life," it makes me sit up and take notice.

Mr. Heebner trounced the rest of Wall Street last year. His CGM Focus Fund soared 80%. (I own CGMFX in my portfolio).

He is an oil bull, and remains so even with oil piercing such exalted levels. "I think the overall picture is one where oil is going to remain elevated, with an upward bias," he says.

His fund is betting that way. When we sat down recently for an end-of-year conversation, he conceded that if oil prices fell "I'd need a new portfolio."

But while Mr. Heebner is betting on oil, it's notable that he's been looking beyond the big headline stocks like ExxonMobil and Chevron.

Instead he's found ways to play the oil boom that have kept him ahead of the pack.

Like Vimpel Communications, a Russian cellular company, which is benefiting as that country's oil and gas bonanza feeds through into consumers' wallets.

And fertilizer companies Mosaic and Potash of Saskatchewan. Both skyrocketed last year. Yes, the fertilizer business is raking in cash thanks to rising food demand from places like China. But there's an oil story too. High gasoline prices have driven up demand for ethanol fuel additives, and that's having big knock-on effects throughout agriculture, Mr. Heebner notes.