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More Thoughts on Sears Holdings (SHLD)

Some thoughts on Sears (SHLD) from articles from the web.

Felix Salmon points out that “Eddie Lampert has given up on the idea of running it as a hedge fund, and in any case Sears is losing money, which means that Lampert can’t invest its free cash flow.” While I like Felix’s writing, I could not disagree more. Lampert has given up trying to be a “retail head”, not a hedge fund manager and losing money does NOT mean Sears is “cash flow negative”.

Evan Newmark in the WSJ has a typical Sears article. He points out that Sears’ “analysts” can’t seem the get is right (true), high profile investors are in the stock (more on that later), the retail side is suffering and shorting the stock at this point is dangerous. The article essentially boils down to a “extrapolation of current events” to future ones.

Jeff Annello over at Cicle of Competence points out “the panic over their cash balances, debt, and decreased cash flow couldn’t be further from the mark. The company ended the quarter with $1.4 billion in cash. In context, their quarterly interest expense comes to $66 million, and the net loss was $56 million. The company is not circling the drain. The fact is, in a bad economy disadvantaged retailers suffer; I’m not sure what is shocking Sears onlookers so much. CEO Bruce Johnson even predicted the company would have higher EBITDA this year than the last.”

He finished pointing out “The story is quickly summed up by Mohnish Pabrai, who to my pleasure, recently disclosed a position in Sears (from the Chicago Tribune)

“Hedge fund investor Mohnish Pabrai has been watching Lampert since he worked his magic at Kmart and until recently viewed Sears shares as too expensive. But last fall—a time when the shares began their decline to below $100—his Irvine, Calif.-based Pabrai Investment Funds began buying and as of March 31 held 517,607 shares, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

“There are two ways to look at Sears,” Pabrai said. “One is as a retailer. The second is as a collection of assets being managed by the greatest capital allocator. And I view it as the latter.”

Remember this: Short-sightedness can be blinding. Those who saw Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) as a textile (and a “failing” one at that)* maker were trumped by those who saw it as a collection of assets being managed by a brilliant capitalist.”

* Comment added by me

Concentrated Value has a thought provoking post in which he points out “As of May 23, 2008, Sears Holdings has 132,013,524 outstanding common shares. ESL Investments currently owns 65,639,184 shares giving the fund a 49.7215% ownership stake in SHLD. Notice how SHLD buybacks have significantly slowed as ESL closed in on the 50% ownership stake. Is Lampert timing the buybacks to coincide with a larger event?

Directors & Executive Officers as a group (19 persons) own 55.3% of Sears Holdings. The Tisch family alone owns 4,219,101 shares.

Eddie Lampert’s stake in Auto Nation is 40%. His fund has been aggressively buying shares in 2008. Will Lampert declare a 50% ownership stake in SHLD and AN at the same time?

From Acxiom’s (AXI) 2007 10-K:
“Our client base consists primarily of Fortune 1000 companies in the financial services, insurance, information services, direct marketing, publishing, retail and telecommunications industries. Some of our major clients include American Express (AXP), Bank of America (BAC), Baxter International (BAX), Capital One, CitiGroup (C), City of Chicago, DeLuxe, Discover Card (DFS), eFunds, Federated Department Stores , GE (GE), General Motors (GM), Guideposts, HSBC Bank USA (HSBC), HSBC Technology & Services (USA), IBM (IBM), Information Resources, Inc., JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Philip Morris (MO), Primedia, R.L. Polk, RR Donnelley, Sears, Sprint (S), TransUnion and Washington Mutual (WM).”

RBS Partner’s recently took up a 4.2% stake in the company. Everyone knows Lampert is a data mining geek constantly scrutinizing sales data. Acxiom’s value proposition is the enormous amount of data it owns on consumers and their buying habits. How do you value all the large longitudinal data sets currently provided by Acxiom? If large diversified retailer purchased Acxiom, would it provide a competitive advantage?

Deep value investors (Fairholme, Pershing Square, Force Capital, Perry, RBS, Legg Mason) and insiders own over 80% of the shares. They are not selling; in fact, Fairholme practically doubled its shares since their last filing. Would Fairholme make an $800M bet on SHLD on the allure of Lampert alone? Would Ackman buy $600M in SHLD if he did not see something? The same guy that reportedly read over 100,000 pages during his analysis of short sale of MBIA (MBI) and Ambac (ABK).”

Sears boils down to a company with a very concentrated shareholder base who also happen to be some of the most successful investors today. Should one think “Lampert does not know what he is doing” then one also has to then say Berkowitz, Ackman, Pabrai, Perry etc. have also been hoodwinked or enjoy losing money with a colleague. It is obvious neither are true.

Far too often people think a current situation is a irreversible path. That is good because without such erroneous thought processes, value investing would not exist.

Disclosure (“none” means no position):Long SHLD, AN, None

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Target's CFO: Why?

I just do not understand, given what has happened to those recently who have opened their mouths, why someone would do this.

Target’s (TGT) CFO said earlier this week the company could potentially pay a higher dividend, following an increase to the payout last year. “I clearly think that there’s room to increase the dividend,” Chief Financial Officer Doug Scovanner said at a conference broadcast on the Internet. But he added: “I do not believe that we are likely to fundamentally alter the dividend yield in any abrupt kind of way.”

Last June, Target increased its quarterly dividend by 2 cents per share to 14 cents per common share for a current yield of 1%.

Target has been using excess cash to buy back shares as part of a $10 billion share repurchase plan announced in November after agitation from Bill Ackman. It has said it expects to complete half or more of the stock buyback program by the end of the year.

Why is even talking about a dividend that yield 1%? It is out there now. Because you were ambiguous about it, people will want it increased and will be upset when you do not deliver. Why create an issue over a 56 cent annual payout? Now, admittedly this is not a onerous as a earnings “guarantee” but the fact that hew did not dismiss it, and actually gave it credibility will give it life.

If that is not in the plans, just say so. Dismiss it, put it to bed, and move one. Do not let it linger for people to run with.

Anything short of doubling the dividend keeps it insignificant for shareholders, ignore it. To be honest, they would probably do better by shareholders by scrapping the stupid thing and using the same cash to repurchase shares. I mean 1%?

Think about it. Target will spend about $460 million this year on dividends. At current prices they could use that to repurchase 8.2 million shares of 1% of the outstanding total. I would argue doing that each year would benefit shareholder more than a 1% yield will. Now, as they continue to repurchase the shares, that same money would by incrementally more of the outstanding number on a percentage basis.

There is a reasons that investors like Ackman, Lampert and Berkshire’s (BRK.a) Buffett never talk about 1% yields when talking about investing. There are better uses for the cash.

Disclosure (“none” means no position):None

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Target’s CFO: Why?

I just do not understand, given what has happened to those recently who have opened their mouths, why someone would do this.

Target’s (TGT) CFO said earlier this week the company could potentially pay a higher dividend, following an increase to the payout last year. “I clearly think that there’s room to increase the dividend,” Chief Financial Officer Doug Scovanner said at a conference broadcast on the Internet. But he added: “I do not believe that we are likely to fundamentally alter the dividend yield in any abrupt kind of way.”

Last June, Target increased its quarterly dividend by 2 cents per share to 14 cents per common share for a current yield of 1%.

Target has been using excess cash to buy back shares as part of a $10 billion share repurchase plan announced in November after agitation from Bill Ackman. It has said it expects to complete half or more of the stock buyback program by the end of the year.

Why is even talking about a dividend that yield 1%? It is out there now. Because you were ambiguous about it, people will want it increased and will be upset when you do not deliver. Why create an issue over a 56 cent annual payout? Now, admittedly this is not a onerous as a earnings “guarantee” but the fact that hew did not dismiss it, and actually gave it credibility will give it life.

If that is not in the plans, just say so. Dismiss it, put it to bed, and move one. Do not let it linger for people to run with.

Anything short of doubling the dividend keeps it insignificant for shareholders, ignore it. To be honest, they would probably do better by shareholders by scrapping the stupid thing and using the same cash to repurchase shares. I mean 1%?

Think about it. Target will spend about $460 million this year on dividends. At current prices they could use that to repurchase 8.2 million shares of 1% of the outstanding total. I would argue doing that each year would benefit shareholder more than a 1% yield will. Now, as they continue to repurchase the shares, that same money would by incrementally more of the outstanding number on a percentage basis.

There is a reasons that investors like Ackman, Lampert and Berkshire’s (BRK.a) Buffett never talk about 1% yields when talking about investing. There are better uses for the cash.

Disclosure (“none” means no position):None

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Barnes & Nobel (BKS) looking at Borders (BGP)

The biggest part of this news is not the possible Barnes and Nobel (BKS) bid for Borders (BGP)

Here is the big news, according to the Wall St. Journal,30 people, including strategic buyers and private equity firms, have either signed confidentiality agreements or are in talks to sign agreements so they can look at a bid for Borders.

There are some anti-trust issue with a possible BKS bid. Amazon (AMZN) is the #2 book seller with 15% of the market and a BKS, BGP combo would then have over 30%. Based on recent results (Whole Foods (WFMI) & Wild Oats, XM (XMSR) & Sirius (SIRI)) however, even if the government did object, chances are the merger would still eventually go through anyway.

Just yesterday, Carlye’s David Rubenstein said that, far from being dead, private equity deals in the $2 billion to $4 billion range will take precedence. “We are casting our net wider for $2 billion to $4 billion deals that will require little or no debt” said Rubenstein. He continued, “I think that the bottom has been hit in terms of private-equity investing activity and you’re now beginning to see the upward swing”.

Borders has a current market cap of $350 million and $580 million in debt. A deal that gave shareholders $12 a share would come in at $1.3 billion and change. At this price, the number of buyers who could purchase the chain is plentiful and perhaps the reason for the wide interest.

30 potential buyers will make for a very interesting and competative bidding process and is very good for shareholders.

We bought shares at $5 and change looking for this very possibility, not as a long term permanent holding. While sure this would eventually happen, I thought it was far more likely towards the fall as the Ackman financing and dilution deadline approached.

Either way, gonna be a fun summer with this one.

Disclosure (“none” means no position):Long BGP, none

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Time to Buy Ambac?

Recent events may say that Ambac (ABK) has bottomed..

1- Ackman:
According to his SEC filing today, Pershing’s Bill Ackman no longer hold a short position in the company. The most vocal critic of the bond insurers, Ackman’s actions show he feels the downside from here is limited. It is also of note that he dramatically also scaled back his short exposure to MBIA (MBI) since December.

2- Whitman:
Value investor Martin Whitman has picked up over 10 million shares of the bond insurer. Whitman, whose Third Avenue Value has trounced the markets since its inception, is famous for his bets in troubled companies.

3- Exposure:
Ambac recently responded to a Moody’s rating inquiry “we have already taken substantial reserves against our CES and HELOC portfolios (48% and 33%, respectively, against below investment grade exposure). Moreover, we have not assumed any recoveries related to our active remediation efforts. Despite very stressful loss estimates of our portfolio, we believe we have already exceeded Moody’s stressed Aaa target as of April 30th, 2008 and we continue to build excess capital.”

It also said “Ambac has no material exposure to subprime borrowers in either asset class. The estimated range of average FICO scores for borrowers within pools we’ve insured in these asset classes is 695 – 745.”

The big news is the Ackman exit. Without his negative commentary (and the specter of his presence) on the insurers, sentiment will begin to turn and the value investors that have bought shares and their outlook will begin to take a dominant role.

It has become clear that the NY Insurance Commissioners Office has decided that these two, MBIA and Ambac will not fail. They have held off ratings downgrades and the public statements from the office are always an attempt to reassure investors. Let’s also not forget that a failure of either of these will not exactly put the Office in the best of light. Without pal Eliot Spitzer to look out for him, Commissioner Dinallo may be in danger of being able to “pursue other opportunities”.

That being said, the downward heat on both companies just subsided big time. With smart money pouring into Ambac, I think it may be time to take a small stake..

Disclosure (“none” means no position):None

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Pershing Releases 13-F: More Sears, No Longer Short Ambac

Bill Ackman released the 13-F for his hedge fund today. Here are the current holdings. Missing is Ambac…

Holdings (in $ millions)
Target (TGT)= $1,215.9
Target (TGT)= $133 (calls)
Sears Holdings (SHLD)= $794.3
Barnes and Nobel (BKS)= $200.4
Borders (BGP)= $62.1
MBIA (MBI)= -$74 (puts)
Greenlight Capital (GLRE)= $4.5
Wendy’s (WEN)= $164.6
Cadbury Schwepps (CBY)= $1.6

Some big news as there is a a $150 million increase in Sears Holdings and Ackman is no longer short Ambac (ABK). He also reduced his MBIA short from over $500 million as of 12/31 to its current level.

Disclosure (“none” means no position):Long SHLD, BGP, None

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Wal-Mart Beats…….Yawn

Like McDonald’s (MCD), this isn’t really so much news anymore. Should they ever miss, only then will it be.

Wal-Mart (WMT) today reported its sales and earnings for the quarter ended April 30, 2008. Net sales for the first quarter of fiscal year 2009 were approximately $94.1 billion, an increase of 10.2 percent over $85.4 billion for the first quarter of fiscal year 2008. Net income for the quarter was $3.022 billion, an increase of 6.9 percent from $2.826 billion in the first quarter of fiscal year 2008. Diluted earnings per share for the first quarter of fiscal year 2009 were $0.76, up from $0.68 per share in the same prior year quarter.

In early April
I said “a common refrain out there is that people are trading down to Wal-Mart from Target (TGT). I happen to disagree. While I think some people are indeed trading down, the changes the company has made to scores of locations, it online dominance and its new “Save More, Live Better” ad campaign have more to do with it. But, for arguments sake, lets go with “trading down”.

The wealth loss in the US is due to one thing, housing. People still have jobs as the unemployment rate is low and wages are actually rising. It is the value of their homes, their largest expense, and the fear that illicits are creating the current environment.

Now, since housing prices have fallen at the fastest rate in almost 100 years, this wealth deficit has been dramatic. It also means that a recovery to pre-bubble levels will take years, maybe decades. People who bought homes in the last 3 years have a negative equity or, now not enough to tap for loans. Sensing this, they will spend accordingly.

If this is the reason people are running to Wal-Mart rather than the other retailers, one can only assume this trend will be in effect for the foreseeable future.

For shareholders of Wal-Mart, that is indeed good news. For holders of Target (TGT), JC Penny (JCP), Macy’s (M) and others, it means rapidly shrinking margins and the necessity to redefine themselves.”

As each quarter is pout in the books, this appears to not only becoming fact, but the pace at which is doing so is accelerating. Target is already out there stumping about their prices and the “value” they give shoppers rather than focusing on their trendy image as they have in the past.

Even Bill Ackman, who holds a 10% economic interest in the company recently acknowledged this on CNBC recently when he said “because Target has bright clean isles, it is perceived as being more expensive.”. While I think that is too simplistic a reason, it is true they are perceived that way. It isn’t because they are clean (new and refurbished Wal-Mart’s are just as nice), it is because Wal-Mart pounds their value proposition into our heads ever day, unlike Target. Target, until recently has focused on their fashion and people equate fashion with expensive.

This isn’t a trend one ought to expect top reverse anytime soon.

Disclosure (“none” means no position):Long WMT, MCD, None

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Ackman on Investing (Part 2)

This part has a pretty detailed discussion on bond insurers Ambac (ABK), MBIA (MBI), banks (Bear Sterns (BSC)) as well as more on Target (TGT).

If you have not seen it, watch part one first:

Video:

Disclosure (“none” means no position):None

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Chicago Tribune Corrects Ackman / Lampert Story

After several stories in the MSM and blogs yesterday erroneously said Pershings Bill Ackman flew to Sears Holdings (SHLD) annual meeting to confront Chairman Edward Lampert “because you will not take our calls”, the Tribune issued a correction.

“A story in Tuesday’s business section mischaracterized the reason activist investor William Ackman attended the annual meeting of Sears Holdings Corp. Ackman said he flew to Hoffman Estates from New York to hear Sears Chairman Edward Lampert speak. He had not tried to call Lampert.”

Here is a link to the correction:

This is troubling for the simple reason that the story in the Tribune has fictitious information. Another story in the NY Post reiterated it and one can only come to the conclusion the authors just invented most of it.

What is even worse is the tribune has changed the story online. If you do a Google search for “ackman lampert calls” you get the following results. You’ll notice the Tribune link says “But Ackman traveled thousands of miles to attend the meeting because Lampert wouldn’t take his call, the investor said in an interview after the event…” Yet, that is curiously missing from the story and the correction that has been made is not noted.

The heading “Wouldn’t Take Call” is still there in the actual article, but no mention of what it is talking about. A sloppy whitewash..

It is one things to misquote someone slightly, it is another entirely to invent an conversation…

Disclosure (“none” means no position):Long SHLD

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Pershing's William Ackman Talks Investing (Part 1)

Pershing’s Bill Ackman talks about Target (TGT), Ambac (ABK), Goldman Sachs (GS), sort selling and CDO’s. This is good stuff…

Disclosure (“none” means no position):None

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Pershing’s William Ackman Talks Investing (Part 1)

Pershing’s Bill Ackman talks about Target (TGT), Ambac (ABK), Goldman Sachs (GS), sort selling and CDO’s. This is good stuff…

Disclosure (“none” means no position):None

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Ackman Active, Except at Sears

With the news that Target (TGT) has agreed to sell $3.6 billion worth of credit card receivables to JP Morgan (JPM), one cannot help but notice he has made not a single demand from Edward Lampert at Sears holdings (SHLD). This would be the only investment in memory he has taken such a stance.

Ackman was at Sears’ annual meeting yesterday and did ask a few benign questions. According to Ackman, his 5 million share investment in Sears “is due to Eddie Lampert”.

Now some will say that Ackman has bee quiet because “he knows Lampert” or some such foolishness. Let’s be honest, you do not invest over $500 million and keep quiet if you think things are not being done properly. Last time I checked, Ackman was loath to not speak up when he thought management was not doing the proper things.

Now, some out there have claimed Lampert’s statement yesterday that Sears was “cutting costs” means he “took the late train”. The assumption must be that because he only talks to folks maybe 4 times a year that when he says something it only happens from that point on? It has not been an ongoing effort? This is just disingenuous at best and totally dishonest at worst. These are the same folks that have complained for the past two years that Lampert has “cut costs too much” at Sears and the retailer has suffered because of it. Let’s get the story straight folks. Which is it? Is he late cutting costs or has he cut them too much?

Now let’s look at it. Other retailers like JC Penny (JCP) and Macy’s (M) are taking on additional debt to get through the current environment. Target (TGT) is shedding valuable assets. Only Wal-Mart (WMT) is thriving. Sears, suffering like the rest of the industry is actually repurchasing stock and paying off debt, improving an already industry best balance sheet.

In short, Lampert is acting like a guy who is in this thing for the next few decades, not quarters.

Disclosure (“none” means no position):Long SHLD, WMT, none

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Pershing Updates Borders (BGP) Stake

Bill Ackman files a 13-D/A regarding his holdings in borders (BGP).

From the 13D/A filed yesterday:

“As of April 9, 2008, as reflected in this Amendment No. 7, the Reporting Persons are reporting beneficial ownership on an aggregate basis of 20,147,880 shares of Common Stock (approximately 28.8% of the outstanding shares). This includes warrants covering 9,550,000 shares of Common Stock (as further described below in Item 4). The Reporting Persons own cash settled, total return equity swaps covering 4,805,463 notional shares of Common Stock (as previously disclosed). The notional shares that underlie such swaps are not included in the totals set forth in the charts earlier in the Schedule 13D. The aggregate economic exposure of the Reporting Persons to shares of Common Stock, including the aggregate shares of Common Stock beneficially owned by the Reporting Persons plus the aggregate notional shares underlying such swaps, represents approximately 35.6% of the sum of the outstanding shares of Common Stock and the shares of Common Stock underlying such warrants.”

Disclosure (“none” means no position):Long BGP

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Weekend Reading At VIN

Here are the week’s top stories at Value Investing News

1. Vitaliy Katsenelson Interview with Active Trader Magazine

(via contrarianedge.com)

I was interviewed by Active Trader Magazine. The question comes to mind – what do I know about trading? Absolutely nothing! This is exactly what I told David Bukey, the editor of the magazine, when he asked me for an interview. He assured me that he read my book and thought my (investing) message was very important to his readers. How can you say no to that?

2. Buffett tips off MU crowd
(
via www.columbiatribune.com)

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett takes part in a question-and-answer session with business college students during the “Emerging Issues and Trends in Real Estate” forum and educational conference yesterday at the Trulaske College of Business at the University of Missouri.

3. Right Price Checklist: Business
(via mikesnewsletterinvesting.blogspot.com)

I detail my checklist for evaluating the business then apply it to Best Buy.

4. Warren Buffett Named ‘Manager’ of 2008 Boardroom All-Star Team

(via msnbcmedia.msn.com)

Warren Buffett ranks number one on Directorship magazine’s new list of the most admired board directors. Its Annual Survey of Exceptional Directors is compiled using “data from proxy firms, reader polls and governance experts.”

5. Special Situations Real Money Portfolio March 2008 Update

(via www.fatpitchfinancials.com)

Another update of the Special Situations Real Money Portfolio, my experiment in arbitrage investing. This month I talk about a profitless tender offer and the decline in price of three positions that have been held for several months.

6. Prof. Bruce Greenwald’s Talk on Value Investing

(via fundooprofessor.blogspot.com)

The talk, titled, “Value Investing Frameworks and Business Analytics” was delivered by Prof. Greenwald to an audience of 220 guests from the Indian investment community at Hotel Taj President in Mumbai On January 8.

7. Interview with Robert Rodriguez of FPA

(via www.investors.com)

Nice little interview with Bob Rodriguez, who along with Seth Klarman, always seems to have a good handle on the pulse of the financial markets.

8. Third Avenue Q1 Shareholder Letters

(via www.thirdavenuefunds.com)

Martin Whitman devotes a section of his quarterly letter to refuting William Ackman’s views on MBIA. My favorite sentence: “The argument that if an entity is in trouble, every liability on the balance sheet of that entity is also in trouble is strictly ‘amateur hour’.”

9. Altria’s Spin Cost Basis

(via valueplays.blogspot.com)

Here is the cost basis for your shares

10. Buffett Beats Bernanke

(via www.fool.com)

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is in a rough spot these days. When he lowers interest rates, the specter of stagflation is raised. When he rescues Bear Stearns from potential bankruptcy by brokering a sale to JPMorgan Chase, he’s chided for guaranteeing billions in private subprime loans with public money.

11. Bill Miller’s wishful thinking

(via money.cnn.com)

The value manager wants a better deal for Yahoo, but like so many takeover targets it has no better offers.

12. Value investing is supposed to get ugly

(via www.advisor.ca)

One of the tenets of value investing is there will be times when it’s going to get ugly. Problem is, for a lot of established value firms, things have never looked uglier — leading some advisors to question the wisdom of the strategy. But fund analysts say there is merit to what value firms are doing right now and investors should wait before they write off their value holdings.
Posted April 9th, 2008 by SilverSlime | Tags:


13. Q & A: Which Gurus Are Not Hurt By Credit Crisis?

(via www.gurufocus.com)

This is an interview GuruFocus had with Swiss magazine BILANZ. The questions and answers.

14. FDA Tobacco Bill: A Partnership

(via valueplays.blogspot.com)

This bill will end up being an FDA endorsement of tobacco

15. Swimming Happily Against the Tide — Third Avenue’s Marty Whitman Finds Lots to Buy

(via online.barrons.com)

In the midst of the market mayhem last August, Third Avenue Management sent a two-page letter to shareholders in its four mutual funds, including its flagship $10 billion Third Avenue Value Fund. The message: It’s time to buy.

16. Credit crisis over says top fund manager

(via www.citywire.co.uk)

Bill Miller of Legg Mason Investment Management believes the Bear Stearns bailout two weeks ago marks the end of the credit crisis.


17. MBA Advice from the Oracle of Omaha

(via www4.gsb.columbia.edu)

On March 21 I flew to Omaha — along with 150 of my classmates — to meet Warren Buffett, MS ’51, a man I have admired (some friends would say fanatically idolized) for close to 15 years.

18. Free Cash Yield: The Best Valuation Statistic?

(via magicdiligence.com)

There is only one valuation statistic that takes into account a company’s free cash production and balance sheet risk, and allows you to compare it’s valuation against other stocks, bonds, and treasuries. That statistic is the little used free cash yield measure.

19. Beware of Blind Contrarianism!

(via streetcapitalist.com)

Price is what you pay, value is what you get. Those words aren’t mine, they belong to Warren Buffett. For now though, they remain incredibly relevant to the type of investment environment we’re in.

20. Fat Pitch Financials Portfolio First Quarter 2008

(via www.fatpitchfinancials.com)

A review of the performance of the Fat Pitch Financials Portfolio for the first quarter of 2008.

Disclosure (“none” means no position):

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Monday’s Links

Deal.com, Barrons on Whitman, Ohio AG, Hmmmmm

– Thank you for the mention…..

– Barron’s did a nice piece over the weekend on Marty Whitman.

– What is wrong with these guys?

– Now, where did we read this story before? Maybe, here?

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