Hottest links for Thursday November 21st, 2013 the very late edition (see Wednesday’s edition of hottest links). Get our free daily newsletter (which HAS BEEN RECENTLY UPDATED) 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. The focus of the day is the cheekily-named Robin Hood Investors Conference, which began this morning and features an All-Star lineup. Other great stories include a paean to Warren Buffett’s tactics compared to “swindlers”, some interesting hires at investment banks, and the latest chapter of Mark Cuban vs. the SEC.
Hottest Links: Stories
Robin Hood Conference Gathers All The Stars Of Hedge Fund Industry
The Who’s Who of the investment industry has gathered in the Sheraton Hotel, New York, today. The first Robin Hood Investors Conference kicked off in the morning and will end Friday evening. This is undoubtedly the best lineup of hedge fund managers that we have ever seen; like David Saltzman put it, ”Its the mother of all investors’ conferences.” Make sure to check out ValueWalk for coverage of the event. [Tabinda Hussain, ValueWalk]
Value Investing
Lombard Risk Management: A 2016 Free Cash Flow Story
The company has found itself at the forefront of a booming industry in the wake of the financial crisis. Despite growing revenues 30+% over the last few years, Lombard Risk Management plc (LON:LRM)’s stock trades at just 8X its last full year earnings, though the bottom line got a boost from a recent change in their accounting policies. [Mackie, Moatology]
Warren Buffett vs. the Salad Oil Swindler
The Great Salad Oil Swindle was carried out by Anthony “Tino” De Angelis, who traded vegetable oil (soybean oil) futures which was an important ingredient in salad oil. De Angelis had previously been involved in a swindle involving the National School Lunch Act and the Adolph Gobel Co. [Michael, The Reformed Broker]
Ten Things I’ve Learned From Ten Years Of Actively Investing
“Back in late 2003, I decided I wasn’t ready to gamble all my savings on what seemed to me to be a crazy house price bubble. Instead, I decided to invest most of my money in the stock market.” [The Investor, Monevator]
Funds
Frontier Bonds Ride Out Fed Debt Squalls
Kyle Bass, a hedge fund manager who made a fortune betting against Greek bonds and US subprime, dropped a bombshell.. [Robin Wigglesworth, FT]
BOBS, Taken Private Offer Voted Down By Shareholders
Brazil Fast Food Corp. (OTCMKTS:BOBS) (the “Company”), the second largest fast-food restaurant chain in Brazil with 1,085 points of sale, today announced that the investor group (the “Investor Group”) has withdrawn its offer to acquire all outstanding shares of the Company not owned by the Investor Group. [Jason Rivera, Value Investing Journey]
This Market Is Going Higher, Warns Jeremy Grantham
2008—after a torrid stretch for emerging markets and raw materials, oil went as high as $145. You called it and then some: The U.S. melted down and completed its worst stock market decade since the days of Herbert Hoover. [Roben Farzad, Bloomberg]
The Short Selling Playbook
Most pure pump and dump stocks reside on the OTC Bulletin Board and on Pink Sheets. In rare cases these are listed on NASDAQ Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC), NYSE AMEX COMPOSITE INDEX (INDEXNYSEGIS:XAX), and the NYSE Euronext (NYSE:NYX) (it’s mainly Chinese reverse mergers that account for the bigger frauds). [Glenn Chan]
Legal Cannabis Company Growlife To Receive Up To $40 Mln
Growlife Inc (OTCBB:PHOT) has secured a commitment from private investment firm CANX to receive up to $40 million. Based in Woodland Hills, Calif., GrowLife develops, markets and deploys products and services that meet the needs of legal cannabis growing and retail operations. [Iris Dorbian, PEHUB]
Misc
SEI: Fears Overblown About Mark-to-Market Accounting
Changes to mark-to-market valuations of defined benefit pension plans’ liabilities have a negligible impact on corporate finances, despite sponsors’ concerns, according to SEI research. [Sage Um, aiCIO]
Five Freaky Recent Hires At Deutsche, Goldman Sachs, Barclays and UBS
Hiring freezes are erupting in investment banks. However, hires executed earlier in the year are still coming through the pipeline. Here’s the pick of interesting/curious hires to banks in London such as Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE:DB) (ETR:DBK), Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) (LON:BARC) and UBS AG (NYSE:UBS) over the past month according to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Register. [Paul Clarke and Sarah Butcher, eFinancialCareers]
A Question For Tile Shop’s Institutional Shareholders
The management of Tile Shop Hldgs, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTS) have spent the last few days in New York and Boston talking to institutional investors mainly to reassure them after the “hit piece” published by Gotham Research. [John Hempton, Bronte Capital]
| Income Statement | |||
| For the Fiscal Period Ending | 12 months Dec-31-2012 |
Restated 12 months Dec-31-2011 |
Restated 12 months Dec-31-2010 |
| Currency | USD | USD | USD |
| Revenue | 182.7 | 152.7 | 135.3 |
| Other Revenue | – | – | – |
| Total Revenue | 182.7 | 152.7 | 135.3 |
| Cost Of Goods Sold | 49.6 | 40.3 | 36.1 |
| Gross Profit | 133.0 | 112.4 | 99.2 |
| Selling General & Admin Exp. | 94.7 | 78.4 | 68.1 |
| Stock-Based Compensation | – | – | 0.5 |
| R & D Exp. | – | – | – |
| Depreciation & Amort. | – | – | – |
| Other Operating Expense/(Income) | – | – | – |
| Other Operating Exp., Total | 94.7 | 78.4 | 68.6 |
| Operating Income | 38.3 | 34.0 | 30.7 |
| Gross margin | 73% | 74% | 73% |
| Growth – year on year | 20% | 13% |
Maduro’s First Socialist “Decree”
Days after being granted omnipotent “decree” powers, and a week after the Venezuelan president wielded his mighty Marxist sword and jailed 100s of “bourgeois, barbaric, capitalist parasites”; Maduro has unveiled his latest “keep the masses happy” trick… [Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge]
Billionaire Mark Cuban takes on the SEC
The effort marks the latest twist in a saga that began in 2008, when the SEC accused Cuban of trading on non-public information when he sold his stake in a Canadian firm. Cuban balked at the allegations, refused to settle and claimed that the SEC targeted him because he’s famous. A federal jury cleared Cuban of the charges last month. [Dina ElBoghdady, The Washington Post]
Hottest Links: Not The Onion
Utah Town Forgets To Hold Election — Again
In the Wasatch County town of Wallsburg, the city employee responsible for oversight of elections brought new meaning to the job description by overlooking the election altogether. [Robert Gehrke, The Salt Lake Tribune]
