Hottest links for Tuesday, February 18th, 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. Some great stories today, including a book endorsed by Warren Buffett, the fascinating transition of activist investors from villains into heroes, and a piece that asks the question, should you actually listen to people who comment on the market?
Hottest Links: Stories
Value investing
Portfolio Management: Emak SpA (BIT:EM), SOL SpA (BIT:SOL) (OTCMKTS:SOSPF), Rhoen-Klinikum AG (ETR:RHK) (FRA:RHK) (OTCMKTS:RHKJF) & Concentrating ideas
As I have said before, once the share price of Rhoen approaches the initial bid price of 22,50 EUR, I will sell this “special situation” investment which I did last week with an overall return of +32%. [Memyselfandi, Value And Opportunity]
Roger Lowenstein reviews the book “Harriman vs. Hill“
“I first read about the Northern Pacific Corner when I was ten years old. When I opened my office on January 1, 1962, I put on the wall a framed copy of the New York Times of May 10, 1901, describing the fateful prior day. Larry Haeg now tells the full story, and I enjoyed every word of it.” —Warren Buffett [Joe Koster, Value Investing World]
The Best and Worst Thing About Investing
A lot of new investors assume that managing money is like golf – where Tiger Woods whips the amateur who steps out on the course with him 100 times out of 100. [Joshua M Brown, The Reformed Broker]
Funds
China : The Emperor Wears no Clothes
It turned out, there was more to the story. Allegations surfaced of overspending and under-reporting on cost; lip-syncing of the opening song; forced cheering and state monitoring of crowds; erratic gymnastics judging , and finally, cheating by using underage girls to win the showcase event – women’s gymnastics. [HistorySquared]
How activist shareholders turned from villains into heroes
Shareholder activists such as Carl Icahn (pictured) used to be seen as capitalist villains, known as “corporate raiders” and “greenmailers”. [The Economist]
The Pursuit of Useless Information: Does this apply to Stock Picking?
Many in the investing world feel that, when assessing securities for purchase, the more information that can be assembled, the better off the investor. [David Foulke, Turnkey Analyst]
One-Percent Jokes and Plutocrats in Drag
Venture capitalists are comparing the persecution of the rich to the plight of Jews at Kristallnacht, Wall Street titans are saying that they’re sick of being beaten up, and this week, a billionaire investor, Wilbur Ross, proclaimed that “the 1 percent is being picked on for political reasons.” [Kevin Roose, New York Magazine]
PwC Faces A Trial For SemGroup Audit
PwC, the former auditor of SemGroup Corp (NYSE:SEMG), a Tulsa, Oklahoma oil-and-gas service company, is scheduled to go to trial in August, almost six years after SemGroup’s bankruptcy, for malpractice. [Francine McKenna , re: The Auditors]
Should you listen to market commentators?
Financial news consumers are bombarded with sentiments around various trends and in the case of market commentary, it often involves opinions about short-term movements. [Ingé Lamprecht, Money Web]
When to Bet on a New Mutual Fund
Scoreboard In 2010, Arvind Navaratnam joined Fidelity as an analyst covering life sciences, but quickly carved out a niche finding mispriced securities related to spinoffs, index changes, and other special situations. [Sarah Max, Barron’s]
Hottest Links: Not The Onion
Crazy Amazon Seller Threatens the Wrath of Scientology on People Who Give Negative Feedback
I have to admit, I’m kind of thankful the Church of Scientology exists. I mean, between their inability to photoshop their own rallies and their dedication to using IP laws to simultaneously silence criticism while Streisanding themselves into internet oblivion, the jokes practically write themselves. [TechDirt]
