Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
Reply to @hank: " What feeds these "stampedes" in and than back out by the larger investing public? I have no idea."
Continued psychological effect of 2008? Possibly the desire to participate in rising asset markets but not the confidence to stick …
Reply to @dryflower: I take it - to some degree - as a look at investor mentality. People used to hold stocks for years, the average holding time is now days. Over the last few years, any volatility has been met with selling. You have many people no…
Reply to @cman: I agree with you, but I'll also add whoever came up with the name "Coffeehouse Portfolio" sucks. Hey, I'm going to start an ETF called the Quirky Name Fund. People will say,
"I'm a couch potato who likes investing, but doesn't like…
I still have a positive long-term view on EM, although Marketfield's quarterly letter (linked in another post recently) makes some good points about EM (among a number of other things.)
I've been buying, but really only things that I can see holding for years and primarily things that I can see holding for years that provide a nice dividend yield.
Reply to @Shostakovich: I think Berkowitz has a tremendous track record. I've disagreed on Sears for a while. The AIG/BAC combo are more the annoyance of labeling a company "too big to fail", which effectively gives them the ability to play the arma…
Reply to @Ted: The John Hughes house in the North burbs was also sold, apparently.
http://www.realtor.com/news/john-hughes-lake-forest-home-on-the-market-photos/#.UvPeePldUud
Reply to @Crash: "And forget about buying a house. Totally out of reach. If you managed to get a mortgage, it would be an albatross around your neck. "
I think the thing also becomes college debt. You have people who are graduating with so much col…
lol at that clip and those accents. "Socca is supposed to be fun, aaaight?" It's like the real "Real Housewives of New Jersey". Watch at about 1:31 for one to trip stepping off a sidewalk and then she looks back like, "Who put that sidewalk there?"
Reply to @STB65: He was adding.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/1842602-tracking-bruce-berkowitzs-fairholme-portfolio-q3-2013-update
"Last two quarters saw a combined stake increase of ~10% at prices between $40 and $60. The pattern continued thi…
Reply to @Ted: 3D printing is actually, unlike social media, something I find rather fascinating. I do think it is a legitimate industry that is in many ways groundbreaking and probably going to lead to a lot of changes in various industries. That s…
Ok. Book value of SHLD is about $18 (yahoo finance - it's $17 and change, but lets round up.) The company has about $500M in cash and over $4.5B in debt.
The inventory? I don't assign much value to the inventory. If it's not selling at Sears, I don…
Reply to @bee: I hope that Sears (somehow) does well. I hope that Fairholme shareholders do well. However, I don't think there's been honesty about the failures at Sears (don't pay attention to the insane losses, look at the buybacks - almost certai…
"u.s. fiscal responsibility"
And I'm Santa Claus. Will the US ever act fiscally responsible? Ho Ho No.
"they are too important to fail"
Oy.
"Sears spin-offs"
Hopefully those that got the spin-off for Orchard Supply Company (which went to zero)…
54.00-11.97 (-18.14%) # daammmmmmmnnnnn
Will we see -20%?
I just think hype on social media was too high. Yelp is the other one, although that did okay after hours. OpenTable, too. OPEN is already seeing competition from Groupon's Reserve.
Amaz…
I completely agree with you. There will be a couple of these social media companies that stick around but they're all overhyped. People love investing in fads, but I continue to think that it all comes back to things that are needed and aren't "sexy…
Somewhat interesting neither here-nor-there Whitebox note - there was a discussion under a couple of articles on Whitebox regarding their owning grain silos at one point. Those assets were sold a few years ago to Canadian co Ceres Global Ag (CERGF.P…
Here's a reply that might get some upset, but here it goes. If someone does well, that is great for them. They can do what they want. Is it great when they help their fellow man? Absolutely.
The government has spent the last 5+ years focused almo…
"If a correction of between 10 and 20% is unbearable to you mentally or financially, that means you’ve either got more money than you should invested in stocks or you’re kind of a fairy. Make the adjustment you can live with and remember this feeli…
There have been all of these articles talking about how they are a buy. Ooops.
CNBC just now: PR downgraded to junk.
CNBC: Roughly 70% of US bond mutual funds own PR debt.
Reply to @PopTart: The other healthcare fund suggestions are terrific and are well worth consideration. I happen to like HQL (and sister fund HQH) from the standpoint of private equity (a significant amount of the funds can be in PE) and the distrib…
One area that I am a little concerned about is telecom. You have what are effectively price wars (come over to us and we'll cover the penalties for leaving your current carrier!) and it does not appear to be good for any of the major carriers. Maybe…
Reply to @MOZART325: The whole "once a month at the same time" thing is concerning to me, as well as the potential that a company that has become big enough to have articles that they are frontrunning others is a company that can get caught if somet…
Epic Meal Time: "Snack Stadium" (at the Bud Light Superbowl Hotel) (Note: some language, one or two guest stars.)
Meal made in video: 10, 504g of fat, 276,380 calories.
Added to Fidelity Nat Information Services (FIS), Oaktree (OAK), WP Carey (WPC) and Diageo (DEO). May add a little more tomorrow.
Sold short position in nasdaq.
I agree on a bunch, including this comment: "There really is no point in evaluating the future prospects of a liquor or toothpaste company on a near-weekly basis." (I own a few booze co's.)
Reply to @Daves: I have no hesitation towards recommending a healthcare fund for a long-term (even 5 years, which is an eon in terms of the investment time-horizon that many people have these days) holding. Maybe average in to some degree and know t…
Reply to @Crash: "Why is boom/bust taken to be inevitable?"
Human nature, I suppose, among other things. Politics plays a part, perhaps?
"Why on earth don't people, governments, policy-makers and everyone else create circumstances by which the "bu…
