Whitney Tilson, of T2 partners, pitched some investing ideas yesterday. Tilson is also the founder of the Value Investing Congress. The congress held its 8th meeting on the 1st and 2nd of October, 2012. Tilson spoke on the first day of VIC, where he opened with his views on the US housing market, and how he is not as optimistic about a solid recovery in the near term as others are. He is also wary of the economy’s inability to reduce the unemployment numbers, as job growth has contracted in the past years.
Investing Ideas in Equities
The major highlight of his thesis was the reversal of his position on Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), he took a u-turn from short to long on this one. Readers can go through the full background of Tilson’s position on Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) on this link. He now finds long term value in the company, and thinks that it is well positioned against its competitors, such as Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN).
The other major investment discussed in his presentation was Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B). Tilson is optimistic about the company, he thinks that BRK has potential, even after Warren Buffett leaves the executive seat. Tilson reduced his estimates from 10-12 times of EBIT, to a projection of 8x of EBIT or 12x of P/E. He ranks the BRK stock as cheap, and a safe investment.
Tilson also discussed Howard Hughes Corp (NYSE:HHC), where Bill Ackman is chairman of the board of directors. He believes that the company now has a more focused and intensive management panel, after the spin off from General Growth Properties Inc (NYSE:GGP). To get the full picture of Howard Hughes current setting, Tilson visited various properties owned and planned by the company in Las Vegas, Houston, Hawaii, and South Street Seaport. He views the Hawaii and Seaport land to have immense potential. Despite weak trends in the market, the Las Vegas based Summerlin is fairly valued, but is not thriving. For all the rest of HHC’s planned communities, Tilson finds potential for better pricing in them. His analysis estimates a value of $67 to $125 per share. The potential tailwinds for the company could come from more development projects, asset sales, recovery in Las Vegas, and more analyst coverage.
Full Presentation Below:
Value Investing Congress Presentation-Tilson-10!1!12
