Book Review: The Most Important Thing Illuminated
I previously reviewed The Most Important Thing. Great book, but can a great book be made better? Yes, but only by a little bit. The illumination of this book comes from comments from Christopher Davis, Joel Greenblatt, Paul Johnson and Seth Klarman, an estimable bunch of investors and investment thinkers. Howard Marks offers a few...
A Brief Note on Earnings Yields (2)
My last post on this focused on trailing earnings. Trailing earnings have the advantage of being objective, but analysts try to estimate the future. To some degree they succeed, and that becomes the bar by which we measure the progress of companies. Now fewer companies have analysts following them, and the database that I use...
Sorted Weekly Tweets
Valuations High Yield Closed End Funds 68% over NAV, 3% avg premium. Loan Participation CEFs 40% over NAV, -1% avg discount. Conditions r medium hot $$ Apr 07, 2012 Why Stocks Look Too Pricey http://t.co/TWqZzGg3 Various Indicators Suggest the Market Is No Longer a Bargain, at best fairly valued $$ Apr 07, 2012 Contra:...
Book Review: The Indomitable Investor
Most books that I don’t ask for are lousy. This one isn’t, and I love the title, because it indicates the long hard slog that it is to persevere in investing. IT IS A BUSINESS!! Without hard work it will not yield good results. Indomitable means persistence, and a lack of persistence will give a...
A Brief Note on Earnings Yields
I debated briefly (between my ears) how to present this data. I settled on this method, because if you want to play with it you can do so without too much trouble. Here are the earnings yields, dividend yields, and payout ratios (what percentage of trailing 12-month earnings have been paid out as dividends) by...
When Correlations Rhyme
Before I start this piece let me give you a blast from the past, the columnist conversation comment that I most frequently reprint, from this post: David Merkel Make the Money Sweat, Man! We Got Retirements to Fund, and Little Time to do it! 3/28/2006 10:23 AM EST What prompts this post was a bit...
Sorted Weekly Tweets
China China’s first bond default could be good market medicine http://t.co/8ShFniYM Bond trader: “We don’t really have a credit risk culture.” $$ Mar 31, 2012 Is China’s slowdown worse than previously estimated? http://t.co/CkZw8tLK Could b business conditions that are worst since 2009. $$ Mar 31, 2012 China Banks Said to Underestimate Local Government...
The Rules, Part XXXI
The offering of liquidity through limit orders is a real service to the market, and on average gets rewarded in lower overall execution costs. In choppy markets, it can really add value. I urge all investors to place limit orders as a normal practice. Better not to get filled on a few orders every now...
Book Review: Accounting for Value
Before I start this evening’s book review, I would like to ask a favor of my readers. If you like my reviews, maybe you can say that they are helpful at Amazon. I rank in the 2000s at present, which was a challenge to get to, because not many reviewers of finance, investing, and economics...
Book Review: Accounting for Value
Before I start this evening’s book review, I would like to ask a favor of my readers. If you like my reviews, maybe you can say that they are helpful at Amazon. I rank in the 2000s at present, which was a challenge to get to, because not many reviewers of finance, investing, and economics...
Industry Ranks March 2012
I’m working on my quarterly reshaping — where I choose new companies to enter my portfolio. The first part of this is industry analysis. My main industry model is illustrated in the graphic. Green industries are cold. Red industries are hot. If you like to play momentum, look at the red zone, and ask the...
Sorted Weekly Tweets
Central Banking Norway Faces Housing Bubble as Krone Steals Policy Agenda http://t.co/15hzb0So By cheapening the currency Norway gets an asset bubble $$ Mar 17, 2012 Unintended Consequences http://t.co/eLrKtCJc Sprott suggests that the financial system has a chemical dependency on the Central Banks. $$ Mar 17, 2012 Is the bond market tightening for the Fed?...
