peter1234

Yes, afaik. Basically I always more or less ignore the company level. Is there anything that you can learn from or look at the company level numbers?

Thanks for posting. Let's not forget that some esteemed value people called the deal very expensive at the time. ;)

They have also been defensively positioned for quite a while with low net exposure.

I think it is. However, this would probably classify as a private brand with lower margins for the maker. Tom Russo would like you to buy the original. ;)

Thanks for these graphs, they are great. ;)

Neither did MIT. ;D

The power of brands. ;)

Maybe this sheds some light on the issue http://business.financialpost.com/2014/08/01/fairfax-financial-and-ceo-prem-watsa-probed-for-insider-trading/

This is a real gem. Thanks Kraven. :)

I like the value mindset of reading in B&N. Agree, a truly deep book. Excellent synopsis. :)

It might be helpful to read up on Guy Gottfried as he understands real estate. He talks about hotel valuation in the latest Graham and Dooodsville. Also discussed the same stock at the Sep 2014 Value Investors Congress. ;)

Public companies acquiring private companies can work very well. Private company multiples are usually much lower. ;)

Ballmer makes slam dunk on Clippers deal Google the headline, it might work. ;)

That's my understanding as well. I remember him saying that this is part of his tail hedge. An asymmetric bet that pays off hugely when bad things happen. Don't remember how he does it but it would be an option like instrument (maybe CDS on country or so). ;)

Thank you Norm and Keith! :)

If I'm not mistaken, I believe this is separate from any ETF that Tobias Carlisle may or may not launch with him as the fund manager. I think you are right. They wrote the book together but lead separate investment firms.

Agreed. Maybe size of headquarters gives you an indication of how lean the company is.

Thanks, great article. :)

Ackman pitched this 3 years ago (September 2011). Might be an interesting presentation if you can find it.

Agreed, good points. Chanos gets paid on relative 'under'-performance vs. the index (If SP is +10% and he is +8%, he gets paid on 2% relative performance).

Tough way to make a living. Stocks tend to go up. One of the best short sellers (Jim Chanos) has returns in the low single digits over a long time. ;)

So it will generate rental income or you will use it as your weekend retreat?

Gio, it is hard to compare the two. Sounds like you might have fallen in love with a beautiful object. Why it might make sense: diversification, leveraged investment depending on what kind of mortgage you can get. You will not have to look at prices until you sell. Is it land you plan to develop since that is where the big payoff in often is? Just some random thoughts. ;)

One thing that comes immediately to mind is desalination plants for abundant fresh water in any location reasonably close to the ocean (i.e. California, much of the middle east, India, China, Africa, etc). The predicted future "water wars" never occurring will be almost as large a benefit as anything else. This will devastate the oil industry and completely shake up the auto industry as Tesla takes over the world. Space travel and even intra-planetary travel on Earth will be easier with gigantic nuclear powered jets that can fly between any two spots on Earth without refueling. The prices of cloud computing will plummet as electricity becomes cheap. There are probably a million other things that no one has thought of yet. These are good insights! :)

Thanks for the link, did not realize chapter 2 was out. ;)