http://seekingdelta.wordpress.com/
In the early 1990?s Sweden had a financial crisis not unlike the U.S. financial crisis of 2008/2009. With its banking system effectively insolvent Swedish officials pursued a different strategy than the U.S. bailout model. The equity holders in Swedish banks were for the most part wiped out and troubled assets were written down to current value.
Christine Song of http://www.smallinvestinginsights.com/
I’m home for the holidays (ho ho ho) after spending this month traveling through China visiting companies, factories, the Wall, and of course, stuffing my face with the local foods. My first time there and to call the country vast is an understatement – a 2 hour cab ride in off peak hours and I’m still in the same city! now a lot’s been written about China’s ”ghost towns” – rows and rows of newly constructed but empty buildings as far as the eye can see, the government’s effort to essentially, employ people. And driving around Beijing, i couldn’t help but feel like i was in Vegas.
I recently wrote an article in the International Alternative Investment Review (I.A.I. Review). The I.A.A review describes the services it provides; “delivers news you won’t read anywhere else about events in the business and financial community worldwide and the best ideas and themes in the alternative assets sector.
I.A.I Review focuses on the fastest growing segments within this dynamic sector, including family office, private equity, hedge funds, philanthropy and property. The readership includes: Hedge fund managers, Fund of fund operators, High net worth individuals, Private bankers, Law firms, Head of family offices, Trustees and Investment directors”.
The article I wrote discussed gold as an alternate investment. The article was submited only a few months ago when gold was at $1200/oz. Today, gold is trading at over $1400/oz. While I may be wrong about gold, I see signs of a bubble. However, since gold has no intrinsic value I would not take either side of the trade.
As always, John Hussman’s weekly market comment is a must read. In it he discusses what he sees as the driver of returns since QE2 was announced (essentially a transient psychological effect), the asset classes that have benefited and current valuation levels. All three areas are worthy of reading and further introspection but I will focus on the second.
Frank Voisin is a value investor and independent analyst whose site, Frankly Speaking, contains Frank’s investment theses as well as educational material to help investors avoid value traps. Subscribe to Frank’s feed here.
It never ceases to amaze me how often I come across small companies with executives who are paid excessive amounts for mediocre results. Almost invariably, these executives own a large (often majority) portion of the company, and so a potential investor must recognize that these levels of compensation will almost certainly persist. Potential catalysts for unlocking value are consequently minimized, so it is important for value investors to consider whether these company are value traps.
by Rob Bennett
I often point out that a regression analysis of the historical stock-return data shows that, at the prices at which stocks were selling in January 2000, the most likely annualized 10-year return for stocks was a negative 1 percent real. Most investors interpret this as bad news for investors. In fact, many have told me that they have found such reports depressing.
http://seekingdelta.wordpress.com
Bullish sentiment increased by a significant amount this week from already elevated levels. The NAAIM (active money managers) survey for this week showed a 7% increase in bullish sentiment while the AAII (individual investors) survey showed a 13% increase in bullish sentiment. The AAII bullish sentiment reading of 63.3% is the highest since November of 2004 and is the 18th highest reading since the survey started in 1987. There have been 1,222 weekly surveys putting the 63.3% bullish reading in the top 1.5% of all readings. See the following table for detail on all 18 instances.
Frank Voisin is a value investor and independent analyst whose site, Frankly Speaking, contains Frank’s investment theses as well as educational material to help investors avoid value traps. Subscribe to Frank’s feed here.
Value investors often seek out companies that have hit rough times, causing Mr. Market to overreact and underprice the company’s securities relative to their intrinsic value. Last month, I came across an article in BusinessWeek about Supervalu Inc (NYSE:SVU), the fourth largest grocer in the United States (with approximately 2,350 locations nationwide).
Frank Voisin is a value investor and independent analyst whose site, Frankly Speaking, contains Frank’s investment theses as well as educational material to help investors avoid value traps. Subscribe to Frank’s feed here.
Increasingly over the last month, I have been receiving emails from readers with questions about particular companies. I hope to begin instituting a regular feature where I will review these companies (after responding to the reader privately, to give him/her a chance to act). If you have a company that appears to be a value opportunity and want my take on it, contact me here.
By Robert Williams
Earlier this month the Federal Reserve announced that it will purchase $600 billion worth of bonds, in addition to it’s already existing operations, with the hopes of, raising inflation. With most rates of interest already below real time inflation rates of 3-4% per annum, why on Earth would the Federal Reserve want to raise inflation, and thereby lowering the returns of hedge funds, mutual funds, 401k(s), 529’s and other investments?
By http://seekingdelta.wordpress.com
There was a significant amount of economic data released today in advance of the Christmas holiday. There were no major surprises with 3 data points missing consensus, 2 came in at consensus and 1 exceeded consensus. The 3 missed were by a slim margin. The markets are mostly flat on the news.
Frank Voisin is a value investor and independent analyst whose site, Frankly Speaking, contains Frank’s investment theses as well as educational material to help investors avoid value traps. Subscribe to Frank’s feed here.
Lung Cancer is the number one cancer killer globally, claiming approximately 1.2 million lives annually. Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) is the most common, accounting for 85% of lung cancers. Abraxis Bioscience was a biopharmaceutical company that was recently purchased by Celgene Corp. (CELG). Abraxis developed a treatment for metastatic breast cancer called Abraxane which is already approved and being sold in 35 countries, including the United States, Canada, the European Union and China. Abraxane’s use for cancers other than metastatic breast cancer has been explored with significant results.
Greg Spreicher of http://gregspeicher.com/
In his October 16, 2008 New York Times op-ed piece, Warren Buffett wrote the following:
I’ve been buying American stocks. This is my personal account I’m talking about, in which I previously owned nothing but United States government bonds. (This description leaves aside my Berkshire Hathaway holdings, which are all committed to philanthropy.) If prices keep looking attractive, my non-Berkshire net worth will soon be 100 percent in United States equities.
Why?
Below is the latest commentary from John Hussman. Hussman gives 12 reasons to be bearish. Although, I never try to pretend to predict the market I am getting a bit pessmistic lately. While I am finding value in individual stocks (you can see my full portfolio here-http://covestor.com/jacob-wolinsky) the overall market looks rich. The shiller P/E is north of 20 and when that occurs market returns are about 2% for the next ten years.
H/T to Tim Eriksen of http://eriksencapital.com/, who was one of the analysts mentioned in the article.
Calamos provides investment management advice and services to institutional and individual investors. The firm offers more than a dozen mutual funds and five closed-end funds, as well as separately managed accounts. Calamos has expanded its fund lineup to include equity, fixed-income, and alternative investments.