LC

Asked a friend...attached is the report Do_Wonderful_Companies_Remain_Wonderful_Full_Report.pdf

No, don't keep a zero cash balance, you might have some fees to be paid to IB and then you might get liquidated if excess liquidity is not enough (IB do not issue margin calls, they just liquidate). It's less of an issue with p.margin due to how excess liquidity is calculated but anyhow just play it safe if it's something you are worried about. You might also have payable interest from previous trades or on foreign currency etc. Fair enough...I think though they would just take the fees on margin. That is how my broker handles it. Usually the fees are pretty small AFAIK...not enough to trigger a margin call/liquidation I wouldn't think. I may be wrong, though!

Not a bad idea! I would say, I am sure a google hangout meeting would garner many more attendees...it could be difficult to follow. Perhaps a useful idea would be to "register" times to present an idea, pose a situation, etc.

We have cable: my girlfriend's choice more than mine...I will say I do enjoy the educational channels (Nat'l Geo, Nova, etc.) but everything else is pure trash.

Also a good exercise is to think about the business connotations when this question is inverted. As well, when this "self-fulfilling" trend breaks down and reverts.

I think at some point, competition will eat into their margins. I don't think the LEGO brand is all that important...especially for parents who don't want to pony up for "premium plastic blocks". I think their only defense of their castle is the licensing deals with popular brands.

I think great historical records are only useful as a gauge of whether management and operating structure can properly monetize favorable business/industry conditions. Take two companies, both with equally favorable future business prospects. One has a ten year track record of exceptional operations. The other has only been in existence for two years. That situation is when the track record is important. But the most important thing is having favorable future prospects. "If past history is all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians"

You can do it in the same poll... 1mm and under 25 1mm and 25-40 1mm and 40-50 Etc

lot of 'bam' usage in that post :)

Cheers to all my fellow Canadians! I am missing you all! :)

I agree. "Value" investing is simply the rationalizing of why one should buy low and sell high

I'll throw my hat in the ring: I ignore buybacks in "modelling". I just calculate FCF or Owner Earnings or whatever you want to call it. What the company does with that cash afterwards I treat as a different story. So I separate the analysis into two sections: what the business operations generate, and what management does with those proceeds afterwards.

Average ROA do Mediterranean banks from 2005-2010 was .8%

The only way to kill Starbucks is to make the mass consumer think coffee cafe's aren't cool.

I also thought it was very sensible. Underdogs rarely win. They win more often when the favorite errs, not from their own transformation. The favorite is the favorite for a reason! It either has better technology, more scale, etc. etc. David wasn't the underdog, in fact according to Mr. Gladwell's analsysis, an intelligent observer would place his bets on David given the advantage in weaponry and maneuverability! Apply this concept to both moats and challengers with superior technology/operations/value proposition.

Thank you LC and wachtwoord. My only worry is what would happen if IB's real time margin algo went wrong and thought I would need real time liquidation, but I actually didn't even buy on margin? Or what would happen if I mistakenly put in one more zero for the number of shares to buy, and caused a big margin call? Perhaps I was just being too extreme and frightened myself. Yes these things could happen. To take it to the extreme, the entire SIPC could shut down, our brokers could raid our accounts, and we'd all be left penniless. Obviously an extreme example, but this is a question of where your limit of reasonableness is. As far as I know, they are a pretty reputable broker.

Exactly. Having a margin account and going on margin (i.e. a negative cash balance) are two different things! Just open a margin account but keep a positive (or zero) cash balance!

Honestly....aside from mistakes of omission, my largest mistake has been entering limit orders on my leveraged positions. Take Sears of example. I had 50 strike calls that were underwater. I was sick of holding them, it was a huge percentage loss. So I just threw in a limit order at a 25% gain or so and let it sit. Then of course I forgot about it, wound up buying more calls as the topic became more popular here on the boards, and then when the runup recently happened, 25% of my options hit that forgotten limit order in the first day. It was a case of short term emotions crowding out rational decision making!

you can probably remove WBMD, as far as I know the interest in that was due to the odd-lot tender, which has been completed.

Packer, Eric, Uccmal, SD, Plan, Sanjeev...I mean the list goes on and on. Thank you guys :)

I thought I would start a small discussion on unique/eccentric places to source investment ideas and discover interesting companies. I'll start by contributing this sub-reddit on reddit.com: http://www.reddit.com/r/BuyItForLife/ This "BIFL" community posts products and brands which have stood the test of time...essentially companies which have built up a strong level of brand value and customer goodwill over decades. Then the community votes and comments on these products...essentially doing much of the "filtering" for free. I would love to own some of the companies posted there! What other obscure sources for ideas are there?

Wow, I was (or more accurately, my ego was) secretly hoping it was fiat. I will have to take care not to allow confirmation bias to get the best of me now!

Sanjeev, you are a friendly fellow! I hope to meet you one day! I have a few guesses...I remember there was a thread a few months ago where you mentioned (in the context of a rising market) there were still opportunities to buy whole companies at great prices. You mentioned some small-cap Canadian company I believe. I am thinking it is along those lines...a 500m-1.5b Canadian company.

Thank you!

In other words, asset prices are up but earnings power is still low.