racemize

I generally just buy stocks at prices that I like, and haven't ever done an options trade, but I've been reading about selling puts as a long term strategy in a few different articles. http://seekingalpha.com/article/296867-enhanced-income-strategy-for-colgate-palmolive http://finance.yahoo.com/news/merits-buying-calls-vs-selling-143300305.html Does anyone employ this strategy, e.g., when prices aren't as great as you'd like them and you have cash around?

So I talked to my Fidelity broker about this. Apparently, they don't do the trade OTC, so whenever I trade "FRFHF" they actually get a Canadian broker to make the trade for me rather than going through pink sheets. Doesn't make much sense to me, but that's what they do. Perhaps that it is also the case with Ameritrade/others?

Well I don't mind hearing about the 5 and 10s personally.

Thanks for the response Uccmal--I certainly haven't made it through all the messages, but I've been reading them voraciously, as well as the shareholder letters. I think I understand what's going on generally pretty well, but haven't gotten quite comfortable with everything yet. That being said, it looks like a good candidate for my portfolio (along side my recent BRK addition at the August lows), either now or at least at some point in the future. Re buying on the TO exchange, I've been using Fidelity, but they have some weird net worth restrictions on my trades--I think I'll contact them about it. I'm a little hesitant about the pink slips as I don't understand them very well.

It appears that I have the ValueLine Investment Survey Plus edition which covers at least the surveys. I generally have been avoiding the small and mid-cap companies thus far though, so I don't have much of an opinion. It has the same info as the regular reports, but without analysis or predictions.

The only thing I can think of is overpaying due to the spread. Be careful with your limit order and you should be fine. do I have any risks re selling later, e.g., if I hold for a long time? For example, could I resell back in the TO exchange if the pink sheets weren't around anymore? I really don't know what these are, other than they are OTC.

Thanks everyone--I'm somewhat anxious regarding the pink sheet question I had above--do I run any particular risks on the stock if I buy under FRFHF? Thanks!

I have access to the electronic version via my local public library. It is phenomenal and gives a lot of fundamental data going back 10-15 years. Here is a sample one they have posted for KO: http://www3.valueline.com/dow30/f2084.pdf This is also something that Buffett uses, fyi. As to what they cover, for the detailed reports, they mostly focus on the bigger/common names, but they have shorter reports for some small caps. I don't think they cover anything outside of the US exchanges though. Ycharts provides similar historical data in graph form, but isn't as reliable and doesn't provide the analysis. It is also pretty annoying re upgrading to pro data. And finally, re gurufocus, I thought it was a pretty different service than ValueLine, but I haven't accessed it, so I don't know.

Thanks mountboney, I think I'm on a similar path as you, but behind by a number of years. I'm definitely in the process of everything you mention (particularly on the valueline front, I find it invaluable). Out of curiosity, given your uncertainty due to macro concerns, what level are you invested right now? I'm full in right now, but am about to increase my portfolio size by about 40% in a couple of weeks and am considering what to do with the influx.

I noticed that in many of the past bets and that seems to be true on their current deflation derivatives. However, I thought that they are currently hedging all of their long term equities, such that they do not get significant gains in an upward market? I still need to go back and re-read, so perhaps I am mistaken.

Hi All, having just discovered this board, I also just discovered fairfax. I've been reading through various ones of the annual reports and current thinking (e.g., devaluation similar to Japan). A couple of questions: It appears that Fairfax tends to make more macro calls and/or perform more complicated investments than Berkshire, but the record speaks for itself. I find myself somewhat hesitant on the current hedging/devaluation thesis, which makes me correspondingly hesitant about buying into Fairfax currently. Are most of the current investors on board with the thesis, or just trust the management enough to go along with it? How do you reconcile the hedging with Buffett's comments re inflation and current buying opportunities? Ignoring the above, how is Fairfax's value currently? I think I read that it sometimes sells under book value, and I believe it is over book value by a bit now, correct? Any thoughts on a good/realistic entry point would be appreciated. Finally, I'm in the US, and my brokerage doesn't appear to make buying stocks on the TO exchange very easy. It appears that I can buy the FRFHF (which I think are pink sheets), but any guidance on that would be appreciated as I've never done anything outside of stocks/ADR actively trading on US exchanges.

That makes sense--do you generally try to diversify on these small cap stocks (or said another way, not take large positions)? I've been keeping my portfolio at less than 10 stocks (I'm actually more like 4 at this point), but it seems like these smaller caps are much more prone to going under than the big ones and/or it would be harder to get as much details about them. I know Greenblatt talks about having 20 or so, but he doesn't bother to analyze, so that's probably not as relevant. As a side question, does anyone know if Greenblatt's system actually works? The numbers he puts in the book are pretty high and the backtesting data from other sources I read could not reproduce them--it seemed like he cherry picked the best back test for his returns.

So, are you adding anything to his magic formula, or are you just selecting particular ones you like? Any additional criteria you use?

that sounds brilliant! I'm looking forward to it.

Forgive me if this has already been discussed (I did try searching), but I noticed in another thread that some of you guys invest mostly in small or micro cap companies. Most of my reading is based on Buffett or similar styles, which focus on large cap (e.g., since he can't really buy into small cap anymore), and I've been using ValueLine as a security blanket. I also read a Buffett quote that said he would be looking at small caps if he were to start over again (I think he also said he could guarantee 50% returns!). Accordingly, I wouldn't mind hearing any tips or wisdom you guys have in that space. For example, how active are you (e.g., turnover %)? Do you do much buy and hold at that level? What do you use for dd other than the filings?

+1 And also, you haven't lived until you read the LVLT thread. That is a FACT!! I keep hearing about that thread, but 117 pages (or whatever it is), is a bit intimidating...

Thanks everyone, as I mentioned in another thread, this board has been a great breath of fresh air and I've been reading everything in sight. I'm in a small group of value investors locally, but all of us are relatively new to it, so it's nice to be around people with more experience/knowledge in it.

Hey guys, I'm fairly new here, and was wondering what kind of investors are on this board. Is it mostly individuals? Some of the posts use the "We are..." type language, so it seems like there might be some fund/partnership investors as well. Also, if you guys don't mind, I'd love to hear what kind of long term returns you're getting (I'm only a year or so in for mine). I've only read about how good the greats are, so I'm curious as to how it's working out for some of the smaller guys (assuming that you are, in fact, smaller).

That was great, I just wish he had talked more than the lady... ah well.