Clearing its previous high for the year, Petrohawk Energy ran up 11.35% today to close at $34.82. This Houston based developer, producer, and distributor of oil and natural gas jumped on an upgrade by Lehman Brothers. Trading over 2.5 times its normal volume, Petrohawk is a good company that couldn’t have had a better day, a pre-market upgrade on a day when ...

I had a very interesting meeting with the largest athletic shoe company in the world, Yue Yuen Industrial (0551.HK). The soles of tennis shoes are made from 'synthetic' rubber, a combination of petroleum-based chemicals as well as rubber. Since the cost of oil is soaring, so is the cost of synthetic rubber. That doesn't mean Yue Yuen International is headed for trouble. It does mean that they'll need to improve productivity and/or raise prices to compensate for the raw materials increase. I did have a fascinating discussion with the CEO about the success of their manufacturing plant in Vietnam.

The name may sound funny, but the Little Sheep (0968.HK) restaurant chain is a business well worth your investigation. Little Sheep is a chain of 'hot pot' restaurants that is famous for its Mongolian-style mutton dishes. Little Sheep is a huge business in China. In 2006, it grabbed an amazing 11.8% of all the full-service restaurant business in China! There are currently around 350 Little Sheep restaurants around China, but the company will be using the IPO proceeds to finance an aggressive expansion plan. At 27 times 2008 earnings, it is a little pricey, so I would wait for a pullback. You will have to wait though because U.S. investors are not allowed to buy Hong Kong IPOs for 40 days.