Parsad

I clicked on the name of the site that posted that...TTI@TikTokInvestors. I watched some of the videos on there...oh my God! As a value investor, all I can say is that I'll be able to take advantage of inefficient markets forever, since there are a lot of morons out there doing very stupid things! Cheers!

I haven't bought anything since I was buying tech stocks. Now I'm starting to nibble on a few different retailers. Why? Many retailers remain significantly undervalued due to the pandemic, interest rates, evolution of retail, etc. But, a lot of them have paid down debt that they accumulated during the pandemic, sales have rebounded back closer to pre-pandemic levels, employment and incomes remain strong, and inflation/interest rates are slowing. Some pay very decent dividends, are trading at single digit multiples and remain battered because of commercial real estate risks. But if you own the land and buildings, commercial property risks mean little. They've also made huge progress in underlying operating expenses and inventory that had to be reduced over the last couple of years. Many have also increased their online sales during that same time. They are also not exposed to the same type of margin compression that say restaurants would be exposed to where food costs continue to be very high. Cheers!

No...that is rational. But they are essentially moving capital from FDIC insured accounts to money market funds that aren't insured. If you are concerned about a bank run, that might not be rational. You can still get 4% in bank GIC's. Also, not all money market funds are the same...many invest in more riskier short-term fixed income instruments to boost yields. Investors don't understand the difference because they don't look at the underlying securities of funds. I just don't understand why people don't buy treasuries directly. Cheers!

I agree. I think a ground and sea assault favors Russia presently, but that will change over the next decade. Russia will need China's support in virtually every way...economically, politically and militarily...now that NATO has added Finland and will probably add a couple more European countries. Cheers!

Nothing will come of BRICS. Too disjointed, distant and each individually vulnerable. I could see RIC, but they are each wary of the others. But if they ever did get together... Cheers!

After visiting China in 2015 and India in 2019, what I've been saying ever since then is that the Western world better hope that China and India don't find a way of putting aside their border issues and historical disdain for each other. Because if they ever put a free-trade agreement into place and worked together with the rest of the Asian region, it would dramatically tilt global economic, political and military power! The manpower, brainpower and capital available would dwarf any other free-trade market! You would then have a serious challenge to the USD. Thankfully, it is very unlikely that will ever happen. India and China have a hard enough time keeping their own jurisdictions in line, they would not be able to take a stiff arm approach to other countries like that. Cheers!

Good interview! Cheers!

I think the primary criticism isn't what they are doing right...which has been noted for the last 15 years...but what they are doing wrong, such as arbitrary property rights, political interference in other sovereign nations, human rights abuse, pollution, etc. They aren't alone in this, nor are Western countries any less culpable in similar or dissimilar circumstances. But it is worth noting what are the pros and cons of investing or dealing with China. As someone who watched a cash cow disappear overnight because Beijing decided to do something else with no recourse, and someone who has visited China and has enormous respect for what they have done, I think it's important to understand the risks of investing there. Cheers!

Wintaai's Annual Letter Stonetrust is now A- rated by AM Best...I'd certainly like to see Fairfax take a page from Chou and work on getting investment upgrades. LRIE should be very interesting! Cheers! Wintaai Letter 2022.pdf

Apple, and even Google, could do serious damage to credit card companies if they simply changed Apple Pay Later to an interest bearing loan that can be repaid exactly like credit cards at a lower transaction fee for merchants. It would have a huge impact on the Visa/MC/Amex payment system and move more transactions off their network. Cheers!

Look at David Rosenberg and Grantham...two very smart guys. But you get stuck on your bias and they have been screaming bloody murder that another Depression is around the corner for over 10 years. In the mean time, opportunity after opportunity passed them by. History is a good guide for markets long-term, but markets can do extraordinary things for longer periods than people think. If you wait for cycles to come and go, you could be very wrong on both ends of that timeline. Cheers!

There was a crew around Einhorn when he would short. Whenever he would put out one of his huge research presentations on a target, that would suddenly be one of the investment ideas for a handful of other hedge fund managers that would promote it...one rhymes with "Wilson", who no longer manages a fund. Wilson would run with any idea Einhorn or Ackman threw around. Now that many of those hedge fund managers have retired or closed their funds, Einhorn's ideas don't generate as much interest as in the past. Cheers!

Those times will come and go...I just hope posters stick around for the long-term like you John...and everyone else! We've got a special community here...pimples and all! Cheers!

Now they are fighting for their survival...energy and input costs are killing French bakeries. Cheers! https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2023/03/business/french-bakeries-cnnphotos/

At the very first Value Investing Conference held in New York, I watched Einhorn talk about a stock he was shorting for 45 minutes with like 150 slides. While he was talking, I could see tens of hedge fund managers in the audience dialing their Blackberries and putting in orders to short the stock he was talking about. At the same meeting, Herb Greenberg and Jim Chanos talked about what a crook Prem Watsa was and how Fairfax was a fraud. They each went on for at least half an hour. After his talk, I cornered Herb Greenberg and asked him about his research on Fairfax...if he had even read an annual report. He said, "no, but that he had two guys tell him all about it and he believes them." I then asked again, so you've never actually done any of your own research on Fairfax. He once again said, "no." I have nothing against short-selling, but I have big problem when people call out a person or company as fraud, but do zero research. As we know now, there was a lot of coordinated shorting of Fairfax, with unethical/illegal distribution of analyst reports before release to various hedge funds. I'm sure there are shenanigans on both sides...long or short. But Einhorn's moral high ground on shorting and naming Fairfax, Biovail and Overstock is kind of bullshit! He never talks about New Century...never...and he was head of the audit committee! Talk about "Fooling Some of the People, All of the Time!" Cheers!

Investor's yanked more money from banks and put it elsewhere including a significant amount into money market funds. Remember when no one thought money market unit values could drop below par...well 2008 changed that! Investor's have a lack of knowledge when it comes to how underlying securities work and what outlier events could cause to happen to security classes. Cheers! https://finance.yahoo.com/news/depositors-yank-another-126-billion-from-us-banks-210851940.html

Yup...if there is no "cheers" then it is either a discipline post or somebody died. Otherwise the "cheers" have been ending my posts since February 20, 2002 when the COBF first started! Cheers!

Yes, and SHOP 2025 $35 Calls. See you didn't even need me to post them! Cheers!

I think everyone on this thread owns way more stocks than me...I've never owned more than 10 stocks at any one time in my life...currently 6. They make up 60% of the portfolio...40% cash makes up the rest. My belief is if you can't put at least 5% of the portfolio in it because of valuation...don't bother putting anything in it. Cheers!

23 Year Old Canadian Crypto Prodigy Files Bankruptcy https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11905531/I-dont-know-live-Victim-slams-crypto-prodigy-lost-36k.html Was a crook! Cheers!

And the hits keep coming. Not sure why the SEC only steps up when the shit has already hit the fan! Cheers! https://www.yahoo.com/news/lindsay-lohan-jake-paul-among-212045827.html

Good forethought by your father...and good on you not selling any! Cheers!

So 20% is all those other stocks...many must make up less than 1% positions. You might want to sell some and consolidate into the ones you have more conviction on long-term. Cheers!

Shit that's a lot of stocks! I would lose my mind managing that portfolio. Cheers!

The combination of the debt with the asset to equity leverage...it's not built like Berkshire to survive a 500-year event and be around for 100 years. We barely survived Hugo and Andrew...I want Fairfax to be around 100 years plus like Berkshire. Cut the debt in half and keep another billion in the holdco. Cheers!