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In October 1996, Fortune magazine ran a cover story entitled: HOW COKE IS KICKING PEPSI'S CAN. In it, the authors portray a Coca-Cola (KO) management that's very satisfied with itself. The cola wars are over. They've won. Case closed. Of Pepsico (PEP), Roberto Goizueta said, "As they've become less relevant, I don't need to look at them very much anymore." Pretty smug for a man described as reserved, aristocratic, and cerebral. Nonetheless, the swagger seemed appropriate given Coke's performance. The anecdotes set forth by Fortune show KO was outmaneuvering PEP on every front.Complete Story »

Forest Labs (FRX) is among the stock picks in this weekend's Barron's. Staff writer Jay Palmer does an excellent job laying out the bull case for FRX shares in Forest Lab's Prescription for Success. An unappreciated pipeline plus a huge cash horde add up to a winning combination. He isn't the first to think so.Forest Labs has been a Lonely Value favorite for exactly these reasons. My first Forest post (See the Forest for its Cash) appeared in June of 2009. At the time, the company had $3 billion in cash and securities (zero debt) against a $7.4 billion market value. Fully 40% of Forest's market value was in cash and marketable securities. In addition, FRX was churning out over $1 billion a year in free cash flow. It still does.Complete Story »