Hottest Links: Undermining Gross, Animal Spirits, And Sharp Objects

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Hottest links for Friday, March 7th, 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.  To kick off your weekend, we’ve got some great stories, including big idea’s from Buffett’s 2014 letter, Bill Gross throwing around some heavy accusations, and how you’re different than George Soros.  I can think of a few reasons myself…

Hottest Links: Stories

Value Investing

Avante Logixx Update: A High-End Security Roll-up in the Making

First up, on January 17th Avante Logixx Inc (CVE:XX) (OTCMKTS:ALXXF) reported their latest financials for the third fiscal quarter (possibly the fastest preparation of a financial report in the history of micro-caps). [Mackie, Moatology]

10 Big Ideas from Warren Buffett’s 2014 Letter

Buffett’s latest annual letter to shareholders is out, and here are ten important ideas I have pulled out for you from the same. I learned most of the thoughts in this investment discussion from Ben’s book The Intelligent Investor, which I bought in 1949. My financial life changed with that purchase. [Vishal Khandelwal, Safal Niveshak]

You Call Yourself A Contrarian? Then Buy Russia

I’m one of those weirdos, those “contrarians.” I happen to believe that it is both safer and more profitable to be a contrarian. Not everybody agrees with that, and that’s OK. [Jeffrey Dow Jones, Seeking Alpha]

How to stop news from ruining our lives – By Alain de Botton

Every day the news gives us stuff that is both interesting for some people and irrelevant to you. So one reads a very insightful article on the prospects for political reform in Pakistan, meaning that if you were wondering whether Pakistan was a good place to locate a new factory you’d be able to make a better-informed decision. [Joe Koster, Value Investing World]

The Difference Between You and George Soros

When asked about the most important lessons that Stan Druckenmiller learned from George Soros, he says the following: I’ve learned many things from him, but perhaps the most significant is that it’s not whether you’re right or wrong that’s important, but how much money you make when you’re right and how much you lose when you’re wrong. [Ivaylo Ivanhoff, Ivanhoff Capital]

Funds

JPM Investor Day 2014

Here is the usual table of BPS growth.  Note that the BPS growth exclude dividends. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) paid $1.44/share in dividends last year, so tangible book growth with dividends included would have been 9%. [KK, Brooklyn Investor]

Hottest Links chart

Most of Nakamoto’s Neighbors Haven’t Heard of Bitcoin

The home was quiet for most of the morning, with the curtains drawn. But outside, a modest media scrum was forming after Newsweek reported that Mr. Nakamoto, a 64-year old man with a passion for model trains, was the shadowy creator of bitcoin. [Tamara Audi, MoneyBeat]

Biotech: What the Heck Happened?

There’s no obvious news catalyst, and yet the charts have weakened steadily as the session wears on. Gilead Sciences (GILD) is down more than 4%. Sought-after ETFs iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (ETF) (NASDAQ:IBB) and SPDR S&P Biotech (ETF) (NYSEARCA:XBI) are down 2%-3%. [Brendan Conway, Focus on Funds]

Stock Crashes and the Damming of Bad News

A forthcoming publication in the Journal of Banking and Finance will make the case that corporate social responsibility mitigates firm-specific crash risk (or, for our quant readers, that it lessens the conditional skewness of return distribution). [Christopher Faille, AllAboutAlpha.com]

SEC Examiner Warns Alts Are a ‘Sharp Object,’ IN Reports

Investment News’ Mark Schoeff, Jr. reports on a top regulator’s caution for advisers when putting clients into alternative investments. [Brendan Conway, Focus on Funds]

How animal spirits drive the market

When John Maynard Keynes famously said that “animal spirits” drive investment and market sentiment, he didn’t specify what these spirits were, as he didn’t have any training in biology. [Jill Margo, Financial Review]

Staggered Boards and Firm Value, Revisited

Staggered boards have long played a central role in the debate on the proper relationship between boards of directors and shareholders. Advocates of shareholder empowerment view staggered boards as a quintessential corporate governance failure. [R. Christopher Small, Howard Law School Forum]

Exclusive: Pimco’s Gross declares El-Erian is ‘trying to undermine me’

Bill Gross, the co-founder and co-chief investment officer of Pacific Investment Management Co, has accused departing CEO Mohamed El-Erian of seeking to “undermine” him by talking to The Wall Street Journal about deepening tensions between the two executives who have been jointly running the world’s largest bond house. [Jennifer Ablan, Reuters]

Due diligence questions

Given the thousands of due diligence questionnaires (DDQs) filled out by consultants, institutional investors, and investment advisors about PIMCO, how many of them identified the issues in advance? [Tom Brakke, Research Puzzle Pieces]

Hottest Links: Not The Onion

16th-century manual shows ‘rocket cat’ weaponry

You’re a 16th century German prince plotting to crush a peasant rebellion, or perhaps you’re leading an army against the Ottoman Empire or looking to settle the score with a rival nobleman. What’s a guy looking for a tactical edge to do? [Michael Rubinkam, AP]

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