Friday, August 30, 2013

A Major Gafisa

As recently discussed by a broker who has been reformed, the Brazilian market has been absolutely rocked as of late. Its PE10 sits at a dreamy 10, likely offering up a bunch of value opportunities.

Thursday, August 29, 2013

#thirdworldproblems

How To Get Filthy Rich In Rising Asia tells the story of a boy who grows up dirt poor and rises through various means to become rather successful. The methods by which success are attained are the book's primary focus, as the key success factors by which success is attained in the developing world are quite different than what they are in the developed world.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Surging Towards Intrinsic Value

Just eight months ago, Surge Components traded at a massive discount to its net current assets, as discussed here. Furthermore, the company was profitable! More recently, the company has traded within a hair of its net current assets, which is a much more appropriate valuation, allowing shareholders the opportunity to realize a gain in the high double-digits over the course of a few months!

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Mathletics: Same Title, Different Content

A few weeks ago, I reviewed a book by the title Mathletics that was a total snoozefest. A reader alerted me to the fact that I probably had the wrong book! Wayne Winston's book Mathletics is exactly what I was looking for.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

PineTree Offers Debt Holders A Bone

One month ago, the debt of Pinetree Capital was brought up as a potential value investment. The company's debentures had fallen to barely over 60 cents on the dollar, as the company was in violation of a covenant which specifies that its debt to assets may not exceed 33%.

Yesterday, the company requested that the maximum ratio allowed under the covenant be temporarily lifted (for nine months) from 33% to 50%. In return, the company has offered the following:Read more...

Friday, August 16, 2013

Lexmark Hits The Mark

I just love catching falling knives, and last year at this time, Mr. Market gave me the opportunity to do so on shares of Lexmark. As discussed here, Lexmark fell a whopping 25% after a pre-earnings announcement that missed expectations, and then led the decliners list *again* after its actual earnings announcement. (I guess Mr. Market doesn't believe in double jeopardy?) Today, Lexmark's shares have more than doubled from where they were then.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Coast Distributes Some Gains

Less than two years ago, Coast Distribution Systems (CRV) was brought up on this site as a potential value investment. Following the release of the company's results yesterday, the shares went flying, having doubled from their 2011 and 2012 lows.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Nortech Systems' Properties And Profits Offered For Free

Nortech Systems (NSYS) is a contract manufacturer of electronic products such as circuit boards and medical devices. The company's customers are original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in industrial, medical and aerospace/defense markets, in order of importance. The company serves its customers through its facilities in both the US and Mexico.

This is not a glamour industry in any way. The key success factors for electronic manufacturing services (EMS) are efficiency and low cost. But it is often in the boring and mundane industries that the deepest value can be found, particularly when it comes to small caps. Read more...

Friday, August 9, 2013

Obvious Adams

What it takes many writers hundreds of pages to say, Robert Updegraff can do in just a few. His book, Obvious Adams, is just seventy pages long, but its worldly wisdom could fill an encyclopedia.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

The Unwinding

In The Unwinding, George Packer makes his case that America has begun to unwind from its apparent glory days in the 1960's.

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Strayer Shines In The For-Profit Black Hole

A few short months ago, the negativity in for-profit stocks appeared to be at a peak. But many of the issues have hair on them, so even though I wanted exposure at those appealing price levels, I couldn't get comfortable accepting many of the individual risks. So as discussed here, I took a basket approach. That is, small positions in a lot of hated firms. Since then, many of those issues have exploded upward in price, as my timing was pretty lucky. There is at least one notable exception, however; shares of Strayer University are even lower now than they were then. Read more...