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 @TSP_Transfer: Thank you for your comments - I definitely make mistakes, but I love the research and looking globally for ideas.
The infrastructure funds are going to vary in their returns, I think, because of what they choose to consider …
Reply to @hank: "Also ... there's the Internet now where so much is available"
I have an app called Taptu on my phone. The App takes sites like Seeking Alpha and Bloomberg and allows one to easily browse through all of the news stories, as they ar…
"Tyler Mathisen of CNBC." Yeesh, CNBC takes over and they bring in their most lackluster (and that's saying something.)
Viewership is down across the board for these programs, and CNBC (which is doing terribly but still large in comparison to its …
Berkshire Misses Q4:
http://www.foxbusiness.com/business-leaders/2013/03/01/buffett-berkshire-hathaway-logs-4q-miss/
On an adjusted basis, the company earned $1,704 a share, trailing the Street’s view of $1,755.12.
Reply to @Maurice: Living Social is probably not going to last either, or one or the other doesn't.
"In the latest round, LivingSocial sold 7.5 percent of the company for $110 million. That suggests the company is worth almost $1.5 billion now. In …
Reply to @hank: I believe there was an internet sales tax bill introduced the other day.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865574219/Internet-sales-tax-bill-advances-in-Senate.html
I agree with you that if the sales tax thing goes through it will…
Thanks. :)
I think I'm particularly comfortable with the pipelines; I like the tollway aspect of the pipeline companies and I like the idea that no one could come in tomorrow and replicate what many of them have done. The 6% yield on some of them i…
I suppose my other view regarding gold is that it's just an element of protection in terms of what I think are long-term trends - I think people should also have some exposure to water (the Allianz fund or one of the ETFs) and Agriculture (MOO, PAGG…
Reply to @Hogan: Yeah, and I think the monthly dividend is a real plus, in that you can just reinvest at lower points on a fairly frequent basis if the market heads lower.
HP, Nokia, Xerox and Sony are all examples of thinking that these companies were values without looking at the possibility that they were becoming dinosaurs and/or irrelevant. (and had problems beyond that). Technology is moving so quickly; these co…
Rather than start a new thread, more re: retail -
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323478304578332761320845552.html
Best Buy Founder Ends Talks Re: Buyout (earnings tomorrow AM)
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-02-28/barnes-and-…
Reply to @Art: It didn't start off well, but INF from Brookfield Asset Management is an interesting closed end infrastructure fund that pays a monthly div.
Reply to @hank: More from Fisher:
*DALLAS FED'S FISHER FED HAS BEEN `SOURCE OF FUEL' FOR RECOVERY
*DALLAS FED'S FISHER SAYS IT'S TIME TO TAPER OFF BOND-BUYING
*DALLAS FED'S FISHER SAYS FISCAL AUTHORITIES HAVE CREATED 'FOG
http://www.zerohedge.com/…
Thursday, February 28, 2:46 PM ET
"Ackman has given us the opportunity to buy a company at a discount ... and for that, I thank him," Carl Icahn tells Bloomberg following news of him gaining two board slots at Herbalife (HLF +6.3%). Asked if he woul…
" But not to be out-gunned by Fed President Fisher."
Fisher's investments (at least a year or two ago) look like someone who is expecting inflation. I tend to be curious if some of these Fed governors are not simply acting a role to appear as if th…
I'd say no. Private equity is highly volatile and, to some degree, open to outlying risks (sentiment about the industry, political, etc) and I question how shareholder-friendly companies like Blackstone (BX) are. Beyond that, on an ETF level, I can …
I continue to have concerns regarding fixed income and how it will perform down the road (as well as if the perception of its "safety" will change), but I think it can continue on longer than anyone would think. If you are in/near retirement, I thin…
Reply to @Maurice: I don't buy that much from Target either, although their Archer Farms chips (7 Layer Dip, Spring Roll, Baked Potato, all manner of other, similar flavors - Grilled Cheese and Tomato) are really phenomenal. I suppose there's an asp…
Reply to @scooter: I've shifted a good deal to single names because I've been looking at specific themes and ideas, but I think having funds is what I'd recommend for most people and I think it's easier in ways and probably less time consuming.
Reply to @scooter: I like real, productive assets, but I think my likes have been too specific for broader funds. Brookfield Infrastructure (BIP) remains a very large holding and which was just upgraded by Raymond James (link) I like MLPs, but own K…
A fund that offers a unique point of view, has flexibility, is not heavily correlated to the market and has a demonstrated track record of success (in this case, with the company's hedge funds) is appealing. I view this fund as part of a second gene…
Reply to @scott: " Waiting to add to WP Carey (WPC), and after WPC, that's about it for a while in terms of the shopping list."
I guess I'm not going to get the chance to add to WPC as soon as I'd hoped.
Adding to WASCX, MFLDX.
If he owns 23% of the shares, I'd say he has a strong interest in seeing that the fund does well. I don't always agree with Berkowitz (see SHLD - I still believe Berkowitz should have taken the profit when he had it when SHLD was over $100), but I w…
I think really becomes what are you looking for in terms of gold - a short-term (more of a trade?) or long-term (maybe a year or more?)
I wouldn't think there would be a substantial difference in terms of retirement or non-retirement and am not su…
Reply to @BWG: Er, what? There's Farmland in FPA Crescent? Hmmm I had no idea. Not that I'd buy it for that (there's SCPZF, AGRO and LAND, as well as a few others for farms), but just interesting.
Not really a surprise that no one wants austerity. People and countries would rather live beyond their means - politicians can give out all sorts of promises and the people like it, at least until the bill comes due. However, we live in a world wher…
Slightly hedged, but it didn't make up for losses. Not a real follower of technical analysis (nothing against it, but the way the market is, rumors and BS can continually invalidate patterns), but I am going to keep an eye on what would appear to be…
Russell 2000 moving under 20 day MA and uptrend that started in November. Same with SPY. I don't know how much faith I put in technical analysis in a market where rumors can turn things around, but thought I'd throw that out.
http://stockcharts.co…
Reply to @CaryRaleigh: You are hit with withholding (I believe 15% - foreign income, although I'm guessing you may be able to get that back at tax time. Yields over 5%, pays monthly and is a mix of pipeline, energy infrastructure (owns crude oil st…
Reply to @CaryRaleigh: Own KMR, BIP.
I'll note that Enbridge also has a Canadian-listed "MLP-like" spin-off, Enbridge Income Fund (EBGUF.PK in the US), which pays monthly divs.
I'll also add a link to this article:
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=217892
Don't always agree with the author, but article offers some projections in terms of spending/interesting graphs and thoughts about the thread subject.
Reply to @hank: Not really expressing a particular point of view, just - I suppose - noting that, for all of the worry over the sequester and the resulting fallout, it is one of many such financial issues and maybe not the largest in terms of scale.…
As former Soros second-in-command (and highly successful fund manager on his own) Stanley Druckenmiller noted the other day on CNBC: "If you normalize interest rates, i'm not talking about a spike, just normalize where they were before QE and took t…
Faber's ETF that does something similar (I honestly forget what day MA it uses) has not done well, although it's picked up a little lately. I like his work and blog but the ETF (GTAA) is (although there has been a few distributions) less than where …
