Hottest links for Wednesday October 16th, 2013 the really late edition (see Tuesday’s edition of hottest links). Get our free daily newsletter (which is being updated to make it even better) and never miss a single linkfest.
Top stories for today include; Liberty Media shareholder notes from the always great brooklyn Investor; The default now appears unlikely but were hedge funds preparing? Some were by switching their treasuries with bonds issued by GSEs; BRICs are killing it this year (at least in the market), and I am not surprised to say the least; Sotheby’s and connection between Loeb and Cohen. That and much more below.
Hottest Links: Stories
Value Investing
Lessons on Portfolio Management: A Case Study of Sevan Drilling
Sevan Drilling AS (OTCMKTS:SDRNF) is a Norwegian operator of ultra-deepwater drilling rigs. In June 2011, Far View started researching the announced rights offering of Sevan Marine, Sevan Drilling’s parent company. [Brad Hathaway, BeyondProxy]
Federal Screw Works, Engineering A Turnaround?
Federal Screw Works (OTCMKTS:FSCR) is a Michigan company engaged in the manufacture and production of machined parts. An incredible 97% of their sales is to the automotive industry. [Nate Tobil, Oddball Stocks]
Liberty Media Investor Day 2013
So Liberty Media Corp (NASDAQ:LMCA) (NASDAQ:LMCB) had their investor day last week. I wasn’t there but the investor day webcast is available with a slide presentation at the LMCA website. [kk, The Brooklyn Investor]
BRIC Bash: BRIC ETFs Trouncing U.S. Stocks
The “laggard” of the trio is the iShares MSCI BRIC Index Fund (ETF) (NYSEARCA:BKF) and why BKF is trailing its rivals is easy to put together: The ETF may allocate too much of its weight, 42.6%, to China. Over the past 90 days, the iShares MSCI Brazil Index (ETF) (NYSEARCA:EWZ) has been the top-performing country-specific fund offering access to one of the four BRIC nations. [Todd Shriber, ETFTrends] Related, we told you so!
Hedge funds
High Frequency Trading Increases Investors’ Costs
The latest effort concludes HFT is a drag on institutional investors, and not a source of liquidity, as is often claimed. [Brendan Conway, Focus on Funds]
Sotheby’s And A Tale Of Two Hedge Fund Managers
Steve Cohen is selling several high-profile artworks from his art collection, according to a story Monday in the New York Times, and he has given the task of selling the works to Sothebys (NYSE:BID) – the 269-year-old auction house currently in the firing line of activist Daniel Loeb. [Katya Wachtel, Reuters]
A Default Play Appears Too Risky for Hedge Funds
The United States government is edging precariously closer to a default, an event that world leaders have warned would cause widespread disruption of markets around the world. It is the kind of potential for turmoil that hedge fund managers often view as ripe for exploitation. [Alexandra Stevenson, DealBook] Related; Some market participants said that while uncertainty persists, investors may prefer to swap Treasury securities for triple-A rated debt issued by federal agencies such as Fannie Mae / Federal National Mortgage Association (OTCBB:FNMA) and Freddie Mac / Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp (OTCBB:FMCC). [Reuters, The Economic Times]
Funny
Emerging Marijuana Player, or Disaster Waiting to Happen?
If all you read are the PR headlines, Medbox Inc (OTCMKTS:MDBX), a little company in West Hollywood, Calif. seems on the brink of carving out a handsome niche for itself as a key service provider in the medical marijuana industry. [Yahoo! Finance]
Deutsche Bank Swaps E-Mail Said No One Likes Being ‘Screwed’
The employee’s comment was disclosed in an e-mail filed in U.K. court documents on the first day of an appeal hearing in London. Indian property firm Unitech Limited (NSE:UNITECH) is seeking to invalidate an interest-rate swap and loans with Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE:DB) (ETR:DBK) because of alleged rigging of the London interbank offered rate. The case is being heard with a similar case Guardian Care Homes filed against Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) (LON:BARC). [Kit Chellel, Bloomberg]
Citigroup’s Not Looking Like Such A Joke These Days
As those of you who’ve been with Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) since at least 2007 know, analyst Mike Mayo has never really had any very nice things to say about the bank. [Bess Levin, DealBreaker]
Sad
The Russia Left Behind
When word gets out that the head of Russia’s state railway company — a close friend of President Vladimir V. Putin — is aboard, the station’s employees line up on the platform standing at attention, saluting Russia’s modernization for the seconds it takes the train to fly through. Whoosh. [Ellen Barry, The New York Times]
Misc
Machines Trading $400 Billion of Bonds
Investment-grade volumes on MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)’s electronic system are on pace to exceed $400 billion in 2013 after surging 45 percent to $44 billion in September from a year earlier, according to data from the company, which estimates it captures about 90 percent of electronic trades among the dollar-denominated notes. [Lisa Abramowicz, Bloomberg]
Important Step Towards The Truth About Herbalife
It is only denial of a Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) motion to dismiss a suit from a former salesman, Dana Bostick, but there are some significant judicial thoughts that add useful perspective on what we have been reporting about the pyramid scheme case law as it applies to Herbalife. [Dan McCrum, FT Alphaville]
Hottest Links: Not The Onion
‘Fukuppy’ firm rethinking mascot after Internet ridicule
Fukushima Industries unveiled “Fukuppy” in April, blending the first part of the company name—Fuku—and the end of the English word “happy”, saying it represented the corporate philosophy of being a happiness-creating company. [JapanToday]
