We last bought Loews Corp. (L) for our "buyback portfolio" in May 2020, and sold it a couple of months later for a quick 8.23% gain, recalls David Fried, editor of The Buyback Letter.
Loews is most often thought of as a hotel/hospitality company, but the Loews Corp. is actually a holding company that has insurance, energy, hospitality, and packaging industries.
Some of their consolidated subsidiaries include CNA Financial (property and casualty insurance), Boardwalk Pipelines (transportation and storage of natural gas and liquids), Loews Hotels & Co. and Altium Packaging (rigid plastic packaging).
Loews recently broke ground on a new $550 million Loews Arlington (Texas) Hotel and Convention Center, which will be a full-service resort and will bolster Arlington’s robust convention business. It’s the second Arlington hotel for Loews. The ocmpany owns and/or operates 26 hotel and resorts across the U.S. and Canada.
Like many companies, Loews struggled during the early part of the pandemic, but the company has recovered some this year. Q2 2021 showed net income of $754 million, or $2.86 per share, compared to a net loss of $835 million ($2.96 per share) for Q2 of 2020.
Net income for the six months ended June 30, 2021 was $1 billion, or $3.82 per share, compared to a net loss of $1.5 billion ($5.16 per share) for the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, in the last 12 months, management has reduced shares outstanding by 8.262%.
