Cash Burning A Hole In Your Pocket? Jump In A LAKE

It has been a disastrous year for Lakeland Industries (LAKE), and its stock price reflects this. While the rest of the market reaches for new highs, shares of Lakeland are getting bent over; shares are down 70% from their 2012 highs! But has the market overreacted?

A Universe From Nothing

I recently had a chance to read A Universe From Nothing, a Charlie Munger book recommendation.

On Selling Microsoft

A few years ago, I recommended Microsoft (MSFT) as a potential value investment. Since then, this cash cow has continued to generate enormous returns on its capital. But two unrelated developments now make it a 'sell' candidate in my opinion. Read more...

Manhattan Bridge To Somewhere

The oldest member of this site's Stock Ideas page is Manhattan Bridge Capital. In the last six months, however, this company has seen its shares rise some 65%! As a result, it becomes the latest stock to move to the Value In Action page.

The Charisma Myth

Charisma is something non-founder CEOs are simply born with...or is it? Most people believe CEOs rise to the top of their fields because of some innate quality that makes people follow them. But Olivia Cabane argues that charisma is learned; some may pick it up more naturally, but with the right tools anyone can learn it. In The Charisma Myth, she describes how.

Cisco: Let Me See That LONG

Cisco has a dominant market share in an industry where scale is advantage. Considering this, its market price a couple of years ago was laughable. But it only looks laughable in retrospect. When I brought up the stock as a potential investment at that time, though commenters on this site generally agreed that the company was undervalued, commenters throughout the rest of the web (e.g. through Seeking Alpha) saw the company through Mr. Market's eyes. Here are some of the bewildering comments I received after arguing the stock is undervalued:

IFON You Up With A Deal

InfoSonics (IFON) was already a deep net-net when it reported results earlier this week. But after reporting an EPS loss of 5 cents, the shares were pulverized, causing the company to lose almost one-third of its market cap, or 16 cents per share. Blood in the streets.

My Years With General Motors

Alfred Sloan became CEO of General Motors in 1923, and stayed on for several decades. In that time, he transformed GM from a rag-tag collection of unfocused, poorly-performing businesses into the largest company in the world. In My Years With General Motors, he discusses how he did it. Bill Gates calls his book "[P]robably the best book to read if you want to read only one book about business."

Hammond Manufactures Value

Hammond Manufacturing (HMM.A) makes products like transformers, racks, enclosures and casing for the electrical products industry. You might expect a company in this industry to barely earn its cost of capital - and you'd be right. What you might not expect is that this consistently profitable company is a net-net and trades barely over 1/3 of it's book value!

hhgregg Management Rips Off Shareholders

hhgregg has always struck me as a rather shareholder-friendly company. So it caught me off-guard when hhgregg's management decided to re-price its underwater options. Such actions are a huge red flag for investors.

Alco-Stores: Large Shareholder Disappears

As previously discussed on this site, shares of Alco-Stores (ALCS) trade at a deep discount to the company's net current assets. While that discount started to narrow late last year, it started to widen again over the last few months. At the same time, a large shareholder (who previously owned more than 15% of this illiquid stock), started to sell piecemeal! My guess is that the latter may have been causing the former.

Walking to Value

I recently watched Jim Chanos' April 5th presentation. He provides the latest update on his China thesis, including some great commentary in the Q&A session that follows the presentation...