Thanks To The Democrats: Sallie Looks Cheap

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Five years ago, we presented Forbes magazine readers with a bullish call on student lender SLM, otherwise known as Sallie Mae. Backing up our bet was analyst Matthew Snowling of Friedman Billings Ramsey, an Arlington, Va., investment bank.

That tip worked out well, as Sallie has had an 84% cumulative total return since October 2001, versus 34% for the S&P 500. After last week’s election, we checked in again with Snowling on Sallie Mae , a stock that gets bounced around on political news.

“We recently dusted off the Sallie Mae story,” he says. “It’s getting interesting.”

Full story at Forbes.com

The DOE Wants You To Make Money

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Taxpayers are getting their money’s worth out of Robert Rosner, astrophysicist and director of the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. Rosner tells us his workweek usually winds up closer to 80 hours than to 40.

“When I go home,” says Rosner, 59, “I don’t stop working.”

What keeps Rosner so busy? Plenty. Running Argonne, the country’s oldest national laboratory and a hub of research on topics like nuclear reactor technology, means dealing with Washington bureaucrats, safety concerns, a budget of $475 million and a staff of 2,900, including 750 PhDs.

But Rosner is also devoting a good deal of time to developing Argonne’s ties with the private sector. Although the lab’s Web site touts existing partnerships with companies like Baxter International, Caterpillar and 3M, Rosner describes the national labs as a “severely under-recognized gem” of American research and development. He wants more recognition, meaning more partnerships.

Full story at Forbes.com

Stock Picks From The Best Overseas Biz Climes

WASHINGTON, D.C. – For the past several years, we’ve used data from the International Finance Corp., the private sector arm of the World Bank, as a starting point for an international stock search. We’ve had moderate success with the approach, so we’re giving it another go.

The data in question comes from the IFC’s annual “Doing Business” study, which measures how easy it is to do business in a particular country. Namely, the survey quantifies the time and costs involved in starting a business, dealing with licenses, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business.

This morning, the IFC releases “Doing Business in 2007: How to Reform,” which ranks 175 countries in those categories. The survey, for which the IFC surveyed 5,000 local experts, is a treasure trove of information for Beltway wonks, especially those interested in how red tape affects developing economies.

Full story at Forbes.com

Software Lobbyists Think Global, Act Global

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Just prior to Congress’s August recess exit, the Business Software Alliance notched a few legislative victories. One was the Senate’s ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime. The other was the introduction of a patent reform bill similar to House legislation meeting with BSA approval.

But for BSA–a technology trade group representing the likes of Apple Computer, Microsoft and SAP–a truly noteworthy moment came a year ago last summer. Then, BSA chief Robert Holleyman had one of the more pleasant encounters that a Beltway lobbyist can hope for.

Full story at Forbes.com

Terrorist’s Loss, Consultant’s Gain

WASHINGTON D.C. – A new study from the National Association of Manufacturers describes the “substantial collateral benefits” realized by a handful of companies in their efforts to harden their supply chains against the threats of terrorism, natural disaster and energy shortages.

“This does seem to suggest that we ought not look at investments in global security on one hand as separate from investments in business performance,” said Jerry Jasinowski, president of the Manufacturing Institute, NAM’s research arm, at a press event on Tuesday at the association’s Washington headquarters. Flanking Jasinowski were executives from Dow Chemical, a participant in the study, and IBM, its sponsor.

That message will delight certain government officials. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, regulators at U.S. Customs and Border Protection and elsewhere have strained to convince the business community that security measures can coexist with, even enhance, the free flow of commerce. “This is really an outstanding piece of work,” said Michael C. Mullen, director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Policy and Planning, of the study.

Another group that will cheer the survey: technology hardware and services outfits such as IBM, Motorola and Unisys. As the government has pushed its post-9/11 trade security initiatives–among them the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism and the Container Security Initiative–these companies have moved in to pick up related business.

Full story at Forbes.com

Generating Hydrogen, Battling Earmarks

WASHINGTON, D.C. – It’s been a busy week on Capitol Hill for those interested in hydrogen as an energy source.

On Thursday, the U.S. Fuel Cell Council, an industry group, holds its annual Congressional expo, complete with a caucus room full of company exhibits and rides in hydrogen-powered vehicles.

The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources heard testimony on Monday from Chevron and General Motors execs on the implementation of the hydrogen and fuel cell provision of last year’s Energy Policy Act.

“We still need major technological advances to ensure hydrogen can be affordable, safe, cleanly produced and readily distributed,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., at the Monday hearing.

Just across the river in Alexandria, Va., H2Gen Innovations’ 40 employees are advancing all those goals. The company’s tale illustrates both the promise of the hydrogen economy and the hazards involved when the feds turn to the private sector for research and development.

Full story at Forbes.com

Papers, Please

Washington, D.C., never wants for looming deadlines, and here’s a date that has Beltway bureaucrats and contractors scurrying: Oct. 27, 2006. That is when all federal agencies must be able to issue employees identification cards meeting technological standards demanded by President George W. Bush and developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

“Everyone is working hard to meet this challenging deadline,” chirped a White House press release last week.

Whether everyone meets the deadline or not doesn’t matter much to Jay M. Meier, senior analyst at Minneapolis’ MJSK Equity Research. “If it’s Oct. 27 or March 27,” he says. “I don’t care.”

Meier covers a handful of technology outfits, several with an interest in credentialing: Fargo Electronics, Identix, LaserCard and Zebra Technologies. While his ratings vary among those stocks, he’s bullish on the identification business as a whole, deadlines or no. “The opportunity is so big,” he argues.

Full story at Forbes.com

Interstate Highways: Big Numbers In Washington

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Long before there was an Interstate Highway System, there were highway lobbyists. In fact, the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, or ARTBA, was founded 104 years ago. As the Interstate turns 50 this week, ARTBA is using the occasion to pound the table on its policy priorities.

As part of that effort, ARTBA’s formidable economics staff has put out a barrage of statistics on the Interstate’s economic 50-year impact and outlook. The stats make good fodder for the ARTBA’s arguments on expanding highway capacity. They’re also startling for anyone presently bothered by traffic congestion.

Full story at Forbes.com

In The Eye Of The Global Warming Storm

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Asked to name his most formative Washington experience, Thomas Kuhn comes back with a quick reply: the Clean Air Act. Kuhn, the chief executive of the Edison Electric Institute, the electric utilities trade group, remembers the tumult that accompanied the passage of that 1990 law.

“Some of the toughest battles in Washington are the environmental battles,” says Kuhn.

And judging by some of the rhetoric flying around Washington this week, more of such battles loom. “Global warming, I believe, is the number one environmental challenge,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., told a crowd of several hundred who gathered on Wednesday for the United States Energy Association’s and Johnson Controls’ annual Energy Efficiency Forum. “We have to choose our energy future,” added colleague Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. “We can’t just stumble along and expect everything to work out.”

Full story at Forbes.com

Congress Tees Up Dividend Stocks

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In early March, we noted that Beltway analyst Stuart Sweet saw a 70% likelihood that Congress would extend tax rate cuts on dividends. It took a bit longer than Sweet expected, but that extension now appears to have a rendezvous with President George W. Bush’s pen.

At the time of our earlier story, we also relayed that Sweet, based on his bullishness on the tax-cut extension, was advising clients to consider stocks paying nice dividends. So we put together a list of five dividend standouts. As of midday today, that group was up 8%, on average, versus the market’s 3% advance.

Full story at Forbes.com