One Person’s Trash Is Another Person’s Treasure Portfolio: Dell Inc. (DELL), Staples, Inc. (SPLS), Arch Coal Inc (ACI)

Finally, after the bell yesterday, coal miner Arch Coal Inc (NYSE:ACI) and Meritage Midstream announced a joint venture to be known as the Black Thunder Terminal. The goal is to create a rail terminal capable of handling and storing crude oil, as well as handling rail loading and marketing services to the Powder River Basin and downstream refiners. For its portion, Arch Coal Inc (NYSE:ACI) will contribute reclaimed land and existing rail infrastructure assets with Meritage contributing the capital to build and operate the crude oil terminal. Consider this just another in a series of ways Arch Coal Inc (NYSE:ACI) is branching out from traditional mining to stabilize its cash flow.

We can do better
For a second week in a row this portfolio outperformed the S&P 500 in spite of ongoing new highs for the index. Although I’m happy to see this combination of companies getting back toward breakeven, I still understand that there’s a long way to go. Over the long run, though, I fully believe calmer heads will prevail and investors will send these deeply discounted companies markedly higher.

Check back next week for the latest update on this portfolio and its 10 components.

The article One Person’s Trash Is Another Person’s Treasure Portfolio originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Sean Williams.

Fool contributor Sean Williams owns shares of QLogic, Dell, Skullcandy, and France Telecom, but has no material interest in any other companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.The Motley Fool owns shares of 3D Systems, Dendreon, France Telecom, Skullcandy, and Staples, and has the following options: Short Jan 2014 $36 Calls on 3D Systems and Short Jan 2014 $20 Puts on 3D Systems. The Motley Fool recommends 3D Systems, Exelon, and France Telecom.

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