Hottest Links: Sherlock’s Lessons, Bad Weather, And Ukraine Bets

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Hottest links for Thursday, March 6th, the late edition. Get our free daily newsletter and never miss a single linkfest. Also, now if you sign up you will get our new e-book on value investing.

Top stories for today are included below. Just in time for Thursday afternoon reading, we’ve got some great stories, including Darden saying “damn the torpedoes,” a great lecture on activist investing, and the case for systematic decision making.

Hottest Links: Stories

Value Investing

A Few Lessons from Sherlock Holmes

An investor introduced me to Peter Bevelin a few years back, recommending Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger, which I hope to reread during our next trip up the mountain. [The View from the Blue Ridge]

The Case For Systematic Decision Making

A more in-depth version of a thought piece we’ve been tossing around. Enjoy [Wesley R. Gray, Turnkey Analyst]

Follow up: East Asiatic – Sale of Venezuelan Business

East Asiatic Company (OTCMKTS:ESAKY) was part of my “strange stocks” series almost a year ago. The stock looked extremely cheap, but the issue was that for their Venezuelan, they had to use the official Bolivar exchange rate. [Memyselfandi007, Value and Opportunity]

Buffett’s Book Pick Guides Fuss to Marks Beating Market

Warren Buffett, in his annual letter to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B) last week, said the best investment he ever made was buying a copy of “The Intelligent Investor” by Benjamin Graham. [Charles Stein and Christopher Condon, Bloomberg Luxury]

Mason Morfit (ValueAct Capital): Lectures on Activist Investing

Mason Morfit of ValueAct Capital gave three lectures on activist investing a few years ago with Abe Friedman at the Stanford School of Law.  They were a part of the Stanford Rock Center Series on Shareholder Activism: How it began and how it’s reshaping today’s investment landscape. [Market Folly]

Funds

Boom-Bust Barometer Hasn’t Confirmed S&P 500 New Highs

The boom-bust barometer, which compares commodity prices to unemployment claims as gauge for economic activity, has had a strong correlation to the S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) over the past 10 years. [GaveKal Capital]

Hottest Links 2

Amidst Activist Opposition, Darden Persists With Plan To Spin Off Red Lobster

We’ve been quite remiss in not discussing Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)’s plan to spinoff Red Lobster and the ongoing activist fight over the company’s direction. [Inelegant Investor, Stocks Spinoffs]

Hottest links

Want to Bet on Ukraine?

Ukrainian dollar bonds can have tempting returns, if you like a bit of risk and have enough nerve. Given Ukraine’s financial situation, though, they can be a bit jumpy. [Serena Ruffoni, MoneyBeat]

hottest links 3

Xylem Transports Patrick Decker From Harsco To Be New President And CEO

It’s been two and a half years since Xylem Inc (NYSE:XYL) was spun off from ITT Corp (NYSE:ITT). Not a long time, but long enough for the company to hire its third CEO. Gretchen McClain, the CEO at the time of the spinoff, resigned abruptly last September amid poor result. [Inelegant Investor, Stock Spinoffs]

How China Buried India — A personal perspective

Twenty years ago, India, not China, was the object of my absolute and total focus.  Back then, I was living in London and working as a European bureau chief for Forbes Magazine. [China First Capital]

Think You’re Smarter than a Monkey?

BBC has an article discussing the same research we highlighted almost a year ago: Her conclusion is that these biases are so deep rooted in our evolutionary past, they may be impossible to change. [Wesley R. Gray, Turnkey Analyst]

Blame it on the Weather . . .

In response to this morning’s Polar Vortex discussion, a friend sends this in: Why Are Wall Street Economists Paid Millions Of Dollars? The answer: to be horrible weathermen. [Barry Rithholtz, The Big Picture]

Hottest Links

Man sues casino after losing $500,000 while drunk

A businessman who lost $500,000 on table games at a Las Vegas casino on Super Bowl weekend is arguing that he shouldn’t have to pay because he was blackout drunk. [Hannah Dreier, Global News]

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