mcliu

Does anyone have an easy way to look at the historical fundamentals of an ETF? Specifically, I'm trying to look at how something like XMA has traded on a P/E and P/B basis and the aggregate earnings, etc etc..

A couple of issues on our bins: 1) the poll started before the year ended; 2) There is a dividing line that was right on the S&P returns. So, ours is fairly poor sampling I believe. For example, when I answered, I was at 24.6% or so, and I finished at 28.89%. I think many people ended higher, and that dividing line has some impact. Regarding Packer's comments, of course we are above average. This is CoBF which means we are from the Graham and Doddsville school. And the school does yield superior returns. Or we take more risks..

Yeah same issue here. Is there an easy way to buy a basket of cheap O&G?

That's sort of my impression too of most Asian companies. They're still run like family businesses despite being public entities. Seems tough to be minority investors. Would like to hear some ideas though of companies with good governance and shareholder-minded owners.

Given how that sector's been hammered in 2013, what are your best picks for 2014?

You guys are all amazing. I'm only +9%

Seems like a losing battle for SCU. There's no real competitive advantage or brand loyalty for SCU, if Starbucks opens a location across the street from each Second Cup, which will probably happen eventually, it's game over.

This worries me... Reitman's isn't exactly fashion forward.. ???

EPS Accretion! Probably the first model you learn as a banking analyst.

Very interesting discussion! I think the problem is that you can't really spend "alpha" in Chanos' sense. Even though a portfolio incorporating Chanos' fund will have a higher Sharpe, you'll still be worse off in $ terms if you're invested without his fund. I guess it comes down to whether you believe portfolio volatility is a measure of risk.

I used a Bloomberg terminal which is a little $$$ for most investors. Also, even Bloomberg isn't perfect when it comes to very small stocks - particularly in Canada. Do you have a study that shows F-Score works for Net Nets? If -ve earnings helps (still trying to get my head around this one) then F-Score might hurt. Oh, if you've links to Net-Net studies, please share :) Btw, I've been following Graham's Simple Way for years. It is a high volatility method. So high, I'm not sure many would be able to follow it. Oh, and the value premium seems to persist for ~5 years at least but I've not seen a study on it for Net Nets. I'd also opt for an equal weighting method (at least approximately). Ideally, lots of small bets. Hi NormR, I was wondering, how much does a Bloomberg subscription cost and what do you think of the data integrity? Does Bloomberg have a team vetting the financials (for the larger companies) in their databases like CapitalIQ does?

Why does it matter who's better? This feels like comparing whether Michael Jordan or Michael Phelps is the better athlete.

Is there a reason they bought the restaurants and not the income fund?

I wonder how the underwriters will sell this stuff now that share prices are below the bought deal..

It's quite interesting to see human nature at work here. People are getting all upset over a little turbulence when the company's survived thunderstorms. 1) The BBRY trade is a just another merger-arb gone wrong, why blame the acquirer? Mergers fall through all the time. Rather than investing based on what Prem says and blaming him when it doesn't work out, it probably makes more sense to do adequate due diligence. 2) FFH has their own investment style that's different from BRK/MKL and it's worked for them. Why shouldn't they stick with what they're comfortable with?

You probably shouldn't extrapolate recent performance (past 2 years) into the future. FFH's equities will not be hedged forever. As the company has said once the economic conditions stabilize, the hedges will be lifted.

Isn't it a little early to reach that conclusion? Show me how, given their present style? Well to begin, nothing has really changed at FFH, it's the same investment people, similar (if not, better) collection of insurance business and operating companies. So if it worked for the first 20+ years, I don't understand why it won't work for the next 20.

Parsad, sorry, today I am bothering you… But I don’t think my expectations that FFH can grow BVPS at a CAGR of 15% for many years into the future are completely extravagant and unfounded… People on the board say “I am living in a bubble”, yet no one has convincingly explained why FFH should fail to achieve that goal. They must return circa 7% on their portfolio of investments, when historically they have returned 9.4%. I am not saying it will be easy, I am not saying they will succeed. All I am saying is I think my expectations are reasonable and don’t see why I should temper them. Here is, I think, something important: when you really want to invest in a business for the long-run, I mean you want to own a business for years, you can be neither too optimistic nor too conservative. Instead, you must be (at least vaguely) right. Why you shouldn’t be too optimistic is plain to see for everyone. Maybe, why you shouldn’t be too conservative, is less well understood. Yet, if you think of it, this also is clear enough: because, if you don’t know the true potential of a business, as soon as the stock rises, you will sell it. --TITAN giofranchi Gio, Sanj. said to temper your expectations ahead of the earnings when the stock was 10% higher. Gio, CAGR of 15% is nothing extraordinary. The Canadian banks have been doing this for 15 years. If you buy them at respective low points you could easily exceed 15%. And its not lumpy, and yu get paid well to wait. FFh used to outperform. There is no indication it will ever do so again. Isn't it a little early to reach that conclusion?

Why's there only one real analyst on this call?

Any experts on thermal coal here have a perspective on the market? Does anyone have any pointers/research reports that I can use to quickly catch up on the industry? Thanks!

Does anyone know the two HK firms that they mentioned?

I disagree, from the POV of the continuing shareholder, on a per share basis, a buyback would yield a different value. Only if the buy-back is done below the fair value of the company. I think if you build a DCF, all of this should be pretty evident.

Only if the company is repurchasing at prices below fair value. You should think of it as a dividend.

That makes sense.

Why??!?! :o