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.
I agree with Mark on the pipeline companies. I hold a number of individual stock positions with a long-term view. While most are plays on resources or EM, in the "pleasantly boring" slot I like Reckitt Benckiser (RBGLY), a sort of junior Procter and…
I like the infrastructure companies, although particularly Transcanada (TRP), Enbridge (ENB) and Kinder Morgan (KMI) - if there is going to be considerable energy found, there's going to be a need to move it efficiently. In the meantime, all three (…
Reply to @BobC: Please keep us updated with what you find regarding Whitebox. I'm pleased with WBMIX so far, but would be curious on what you discover about the company.
As for the thread, a very excellent presentation by Charles, and quite useful.
Reply to @fundalarm: Yep - I noticed that earlier, as well. I like how Herbalife is called a "multi-level marketing" company. lol - what a term.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_scheme#Connection_to_multi-level_marketing
CGM Focus is one of th…
Janus Overseas (JAOSX). Small position - an admitted attempt to bet on the fund turning things around. While it's done better recently, a number of disappointments with the concentrated fund's core holdings has me selling into strength. Thankfully …
I was watching futures last night and they were down about 5. I then refreshed a few minutes later and they were down 180 (and that was after they'd rebounded from a much lower level). What I find remarkable is that the market seemed to believe the…
I don't think your prior post created much of a storm, personally. I'm open to reading people's thoughts and opinions that do not necessarily have a glowing CXO Advisory score. I like reading younger people's ideas (such as a number of writers on S…
I think it really depends on your age, risk tolerance and other factors. I would not dump all bonds and some bonds may continue to fare well. I'm not going to call bonds a bubble, but I would be aware that bonds have - or are probably not that far f…
Reply to @Mark: Didn't mean to sound (and wasn't) upset, but I was rather dismayed with the way that a thread on a particular alternative fund devolved into a sour discussion a few weeks ago and - not saying that your comment was taking it in that d…
"Andrei and Scott, just so you know, I'm not calling you stupid or judging your sanity or saying that you shouldn't go here because only you two know about your personal finances. "
It's okay, although alternative strategies seem to result in a lev…
Reply to @Maurice: I thought when David Einhorn was in discussion to buy some degree of ownership in the Mets that fundholders would consider it a potential distraction (he never went through with it.)
I don't have an issue with managed futures as a strategy - there are some remarkably successful managed futures hedge funds - but the managed futures mutual funds have not appeared to be nimble/flexible enough. Where this fund veers off - and why it…
"Well here we go again as we expose ourselves to the market forecasts for 2013. "
Well, yes. People offer their opinions every year for the next year; the way financial media is, people offer their opinions and predictions every day about things ma…
As for college education, I think it's going to be a tremendous issue, although I don't think it will lead to a crisis, but a handful of considerable problems. I know at least a couple schools who thought the "tree" would grow to the sky and bought …
No changes. Some moderate additions to current holdings likely but this year I did less changes than last year and I see next year as likely even less changes than this year.
I definitely wouldn't call myself brilliant, but I continue to learn and continue to research. As for common sense, while common sense is certainly a terrific trait to have, I think it's not entirely able to be applied to today's ADD (or better yet,…
I think one has to be something of a futurist in an attempt to try and have views on long and short-term trends, a dedicated researcher in terms of looking into specific investments and there's a significant portion of luck.
Reply to @bee: The Canadian version of Buffett, Prem Watsa, remains the largest RIMM holder and added recently - he also got on the board of RIMM.
http://www.valuewalk.com/2012/11/fairfax-financial-buys-new-oriential-still-largest-holder-of-researc…
There haven't been many options strategy funds that have seemed to work all that well (the Allianz Income/Growth fund has a portion dedicated to options), but the Rivernorth fund seems interesting. As Ted noted, Eaton Vance has had options funds (se…
I thought maybe this was in regards to a new low in ratings. As for "lows", "Fiscal Cliff Countdown Clock" is silly - I don't think there won't be a market reaction, but a "clock" would suggest the channel doesn't have much else to do to inform its …
Not a mutual fund, but I own Brookfield Asset Management (BAM), which recently paired with Berkshire Hathaway on a new realty venture.
http://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-brookfield-asset-managment-housing-2012-10
Brookfield also owns re…
Reply to @bee: The EU recently Approved the Glencore merger after a long, strange trip that lasted several months (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324352004578134711402620652.html) (I do own Glencore as a long-term holding.)
Singa…
Reply to @MaxBialystock: It's not entirely doomsday talk - in some regards it's very equity positive, just not for positive or "organic" reasons.
I don't think it's difficult to invest in hard assets via various stocks, etfs and otherwise. There…
What % of daily market volume is SAC? I believe it's quite a bit (around 10%) - will be interesting if they really go after SAC (which I doubt will happen.)
I think agriculture is absolutely something to look at and - personally - it's definitely one of my long-term themes. Personally, I think it's best played for many by a broad ETF. (MOO, PAGG) Be careful with the commodity futures ETFs, such as DBA …
"I'll challenge anybody on this site to produce a better stock-picker than Bruce Berkowitz or Cliff Asness."
David Einhorn and Dan Loeb (and Bill Ackman, although he's had the occasional large mis-step - Target, whether or not he'll be eventually p…
I remain curious about Japanese retailer Fast Retailing and their expansion plans (FRCOY.PK), but that's more of a fundamental case. Seven and I (7-11's parent company) also continues to do well.
A number of Japanese electronics firms (Panasonic,…
lol.
And yet, more, with Reid now playing the "it's not our fault" card:
REID SAYS `WE'RE NOT GOING TO KICK THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD'
*REID SAYS HE HAD `NICE MEETING' WITH GEITHNER
*REID SAYS STILL WAITING FOR `SERIOUS OFFER' FROM REPUBLICANS
A few points:
I like the fact that the Fairholme website now has some case studies on a few of the larger positions. They don't really move my views (especially Sears, which I think is unfortunate, given the history of the company, but I detailed t…
" I wouldn't buy a gold fund at these levels"
Not that you may not be right, but people have said the same thing at 800, 1000, 1200, etc. It becomes a matter of what are the conditions that have gotten it to this point and whether or not one believ…
This is how Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer feel Microsoft being included in the list (I don't like the stock, but that's just me.)
The below video is not as classic as Ballmer's psychotic "Developers" video (there's also one with Ballmer pushing Gate…
It's not just asking why hasn't the category done well (it's not as if there's many successful long/short hedge funds - Third Point, Greenlight and many others - calling it a failed strategy, as if it's never been successful, is absurd), but trying…
Reply to @Charles: I agree to some degree with Marc Faber, especially the bolded part.
: "Look at the history, for example, of Germany, for the last 100 years. They had World War I. They had the hyper-inflation in World War II. The bond-holders …
Reply to @GregFromBoston: From the article: "Your portfolio is concentrated [see chart, above]. If you get new money to invest, will you buy different stocks?
Are there other investments out there? Yes. Better than what's in the fund today? No."
"N…
I'm not looking for a tablet, but if anyone is, the Kindle Fire is $129 (w/sponsored content) and $144 (w/o sponsored content) today only. coupon FIREDEAL takes $30 off at checkout to get those prices. As noted above, use the MFO link.
Reply to @claimui: My view is that funds like Marketfield and the Robeco funds play a little more loose with the definition of long-short and are able to dial up/down risk in a much more flexible fashion than many long-short funds. Many funds I've …
