LC

I donate to: Cobalt: https://cobaltadvocates.org/ The Alexander Foundation: https://www.thealexanderfoundation.org/ and Colorado Parks & Wildlife: https://cpw.state.co.us/donate These are Colorado centric but I think they are great causes.

Best of luck, friend. I read your posts when you post in the Ideas section. I am rooting for you.

Talking my book here but Aecon recently bought into US utility repairs (Michigan/Detroit): https://www.aecon.com/press-room/news/2024/07/02/aecon-utilities-xtreme-powerline Their Utilities division does work in the US in terms of building out electrical distribution, broadband/telecom distribution, that type of stuff.

Agreed. I am impacted by the EU AI Act and let me tell you, I have never seen a more poorly devised, poorly written, and ultimately useless regulation in my career. It is such a waste of time even reading it, much less complying.

That’s awesome- I’ll order a copy. i found the early partnership letters are great - these case studies will be very useful for beginner/smaller/PA investors.

Agree with above. All should be disclosed. Will it? Unlikely.

Interesting to see the valuation differences between those companies. And Diamondback Energy - anyone familiar with this biz? Seems like the an oddball there.

Need to keep ego in check to play this game. Feel free to post this individual's market crushing moves

Yeah I've picked up a share here and there on slight dips. I've learned from CLPR though ultimately is the market which needs to be convinced - not me, not management, not the "enlightened few" true believers. So I am real strict with the position limits on stuff like this.

@rohitc99 I've always done it individually because it's usually just me + 1, and I like the flexibility. And it's always a bit of an adventure figuring out how to get from the airport, to the car rental, to an ATM, to the hotel, to here, to there, etc... I think if I were going with a family/bigger group, and less concerned with cost vs. ease of managing a bigger group...certainly easier to book everything together and have it simple and straightforward. Depends on how you like to travel. But really it's not too difficult to book flights and rent a car near the airport. From there you can drive to the hotel. I usually find an ATM in a not-sketchy area and take out some colons, but you could also just go straight to the hotel and ask them the best place to take out cash. Really though most places take credit card. Tamarindo is another area I like, and if you go into the high country in Guanacaste it's a mix of beautiful landscape and a bunch of wind turbines - very cool to see. Rincon volcano by liberia airport is a great area - have stayed a few days there and there's lot of nature-stuff to do, ziplines, waterfall hikes/swims, etc. Tons of resources online to build an itinerary - have fun

Not sure if you've booked already - but I love Nosara. Playa pelada there is Olga's a cool cafe/restaurant owned by like 8 french people, Playa guionnes has great fantastic surfing.

Sorry you didn't like it - I must've been in a mood I thought the pacing was good but in retrospect I can understand that criticism Glad you liked Slow horses. Gary Oldman is so good.

Hi Gary- best details for Aecon are in the dedicated thread in the Investment Ideas forum - but to try and summarize: Yes I am familiar with WSP & Stantec - Aecon is in a similar business, and was (and is) trading at a depressed price. Why depressed? They were engaged in a bunch of lump sum/fixed price projects entered into pre-COVID. During COVID they were subject to cost inflation, difficulty with managing employees, etc. They have been in/out of litigation to retrieve some relief (to middling success). But the important part: These LSTK projects (lump sum turnkey) generated cost overruns, which were weighing on the bottom line and clouding the profitability of the overall company. As these projects push to completion, those clouds get lifted - and the market sees true profitability. That is the main thesis. Other industry participants did not have this type of clouding of their P&L, and were already trading at higher valuations - hence the attraction to Aecon and not something like Stantec. Other tailwinds in the company's favor: -a high-quality concessions business, -decaying western infrastructure and political will to stimulate the 'real' economy via infrastructure spend, -renewed interest in nuclear builds (which Aecon has experience), -they're a national/industry darling, with a long history and deep connections to both Canada and Quebec (so you get some benefit of national/provincial protectionism), -industry moving away from LSTKs to progressive design contracts.

@Spekulatius Yeah it’s a good point - and I guess now that I think about it, it’s less about the absolutely performance but rather the lack of ability to size up/down the position. I wind up not having enough confidence to make these smaller positions bigger and really capture some gains, nor trim them if they don’t really perform (because they’re such a small %). I sort of let them linger. And it’s usually stuff that is at least a decent or good business, that I buy a bit on a big dip. Some examples: MSCI: bought at 472, it’s performed well but I never did enough work to build the position size. LW: similarly bought on the dip, it hasn’t performed, and so it’s just sitting there because it’s too small to really matter. In both cases I should probably either: 1) do the research to determine if it deserves a meaningful investment, or 2) just sell it and redeploy into something I know well. MSCI is a good example because it has performed about as well as Aecon, in the same period of time. But Aecon I know well, I follow the company, I can explain why it’s doing well (and why I think it will continue). MSCI I have a cursory understanding. Sure it looked cheap so I bought some. Is it still cheap? I dunno. Maybe? Maybe not? Is it one of those great businesses you can hold forever? Maybe? I guess? So then it’s the question of, what do I do with this tiny position?

Been a minute since I looked at my active portfolio: Fairfax: 36% Aecon: 14% JOE: 6% NTDOY: 4% FRPH: 3% MSGE: 3% CLPR: 2.5% Citi 2.5% STNE: 2.5% DFIN: 2% HSW: 1.5% BRK: 1% 35 tracker positions/weird stuff makes up about 9% And a basket of Japanese net nets is about 3.5% Cash 3% Probably I need to be more competitive with concentrating into stuff I like (either eliminating random small positions or making them bigger) and actively trimming stuff as it approaches fuller value (Citi in the high 60s for example). Otherwise it gets too burdensome to keep up with everything.

Yes but the "right price" is the difficult part here. Handicapping the possibility of windfall taxes, regressive policies (with potential far-reaching and long-term effects) is very difficult (at least to me). So it becomes a quick(er) "no" or "too hard" pile type of decision. Of course there are always going to be exceptions - but as a whole I am more comfortable investing in North America vs. Europe.

Slow Horses is absolutely fantastic. Gary Oldman really has created a great character in Jackson Lamb. Highly recommended to anyone who likes spy stories and good dialogue.

To put the topic another way: If you had a great business idea - where would you want to start it? US would be close to the top: low regulatory barriers, strong rule of law Europe would be towards the bottom: high regulatory burden but you do have rule of law China would be also be tough: rule of law exists only as long as the CCP wants it to India? Can't even start there without citizenship/nationality S. America? Low regulations but also not a lot of faith in the legal system

Thanks both - BG I will take your advice. And deleuze, thank you for forwarding.

You know, I think we had the same conversation over private message maybe a year ago? The concern was the same and the potential pros/cons are the same. I think that goes to show that Fairfax is doing a great job (and has done a great job) providing themselves with a lot of optionality in case X, Y, or Z happens. It's good to see as a shareholder. Part of what I didn't like about the big hedges years ago was that it kind of locked them in. They had one way to win. These days when I look at Fairfax I see a few ways they can "win" - and at least a few ways they can prevent losing.

To play devil's advocate: What if we see a soft market + lower rates + equity market drawdown? Pretty much the 3 things that Fairfax had as tailwinds the last few years? I'd imagine that would put a damper on the share price. On the flipside I imagine it would provide Fairfax opportunity to go buying (re-coiling the spring so to speak) All that said I haven't sold a share. In fact I picked up a few shares on Friday.

Those are all fair points - nobody sensible and with any self preservation instinct would disagree. I think everyone involved here would acknowledge there is a lot which can potentially go wrong, of course. The Thalidomide scandal shows just how disastrous that can be. The flip side of the argument is something like, the healthcare system is failing people. Thalidomide was created by a large pharmaceutical company. It was sold with government approval/agreement. And it caused a catastrophe. It's not the only example. I guess the more disgruntled people become with the status quo, it incentivizes projects like this. I really do think if they or someone else can dial in all the specifics that you mention, there is a market for this. I am obviously not a doctor and don't know how feasible that even is, but part of me hopes someone can do it. And you know, I think doctors would lean more in support versus against. First, because they too have to struggle against the healthcare system (at least in the US) to provide patient care they believe is right, and two because doctors are some of the most liberal medicine users I have ever met.

Hi all - are there any small REITs with only a few MF bldgs that report quarterly or annually? A friend is tasked with quarterly reporting to investors the progress of a single multifamily development, I was wondering if anyone knew some good existing quarterlies which she can use as a starting point to get a sense of what sort of info should be included. Much appreciated for any help

Rebel Ridge was surprisingly gripping on Netflix. Made me look into Saulnier's other movies which apparently are well regarded (green room, blue ruin). I'll check them out as well.

Very true - I think there are a few considerations: -Risk profile: my understanding is you are relying on (1) some software to direct the correct formula, mixing, dosing, etc. of a drug; and (2) the "lab equipment" to correctly implement these instructions. I would imagine both would improve greatly at the early stages. They could pull the formulas from academic systems/literature and patent filings? -Illegality: I am no patent lawyer. Is it illegal to mix up a patented drug for personal consumption? If there is no commercialization? What about generic formulas? It's super interesting and I agree it won't replace industrialized medicine, but perhaps one day if they can really dial in the lab process, it could be used for low(er) risk applications? Vaccines with little/no side effects?