ValueMaven

Came out yesterday and I cant put it down - I basically agree with everything he has written. Wow this guy and his views are so interesting. Too bad PLTR trades at 400x p/e and insiders are selling billions of stock ...

really interesting thank you @gfp - Ted has a $350M personal position in DVA. Wild.

@rohitc99 yes and no. I do see the start of a dividend over the next 5yrs as highly likely, and large outpeformance has low probability. Frankly, I'd love to learn more about how Ted/Todd/Greg/Ajit work together. Between those 4 I feel very confident in BRK going forward.

The guy has been on some of the largest public company boards for decades (KO, ADM, etc) ... Is the son of the most successful investor of all-time, and is being hand-picked as a non-executive chairman. I dont see why people are getting so upset. When I hear Howie speak - I personally have no issues at all.

Mercury General is getting crushed right now .. down -25%. They are a very large auto insurance, with very sizable CA exposure and the CEO is well over 100 years old at this point (he owns 45% of O/S). Seems like it would be a great acquisition for GEICO, given the near-term distress. Anyone have thoughts on this?

TPL at $1200

Was surprised to see DJCO over $500. I dont follow the company - but its had a great run recently

Thank you. But need since inception to include the 80s and 90s!

Does anyone have an interesting chart of FFH shares outstanding since inception? I know it went from like 3M in the 80s to 12M in the late 90s ... back down, then peaked near 27M from Allied ... and is around 22M or so? I'm sure others have this at the tip of their fingers.

Added to Heico

Truly pathetic if you ask me. This guy is a total joke.

Start of the new year is soon. One of my goals is trade a lot less and let ideas work. Here is my current portfolio. I plan on owning all of these - and adding if there is material weakness. Some of these are fairly well known. Others are not. BRKB CSU TPL FCNCA TYL MKL FICO HEI.A FLR

I bought some CACI down -20% in 5 days. This whole DOGE thing is a massive overreaction. Plus, I think over the next several years the govt will use CACI services MORE not less. They just had their annual investor day as well. I'm guessing at these levels they've ramped up repurchases.

FCNCA

Fairfax has been selling off - yet most of the manager reinsurance companies have bounced back a bit over the last day or two. Any reason why?

What I dont like about this article is the miscommunication ... specifically this: The railroad hired industry veteran Ed Harris, a proponent of precision scheduling, an operating model that is prized by investors and that executives at BNSF have resisted. Harris has told people that Abel recruited him as a consultant for BNSF, according to people familiar with the matter. A BNSF spokesman said Chief Executive Kathryn Farmer has known Harris for years and the company has a history of seeking outside perspectives to ensure it is delivering the best service possible. The spokesman disputed that Abel initiated the hiring of Harris. Abel didn’t respond to a request for comment; Harris declined to comment.

I think we'd all agree that Constellation has the gold-stand for compensation among its managers. No restricted stock units, options etc, and yearly 75% of a operating managers bonus has to go into buying CSU shares which they cant sell for 5+ years. Shares outstanding has remained FLAT for 15+ years. Berkshire is another GOLD STANDARD here. Someone mentioned Watsco as having very shareholder aligned comp structure (have to be retired before you can sell etc). What other companies are worth studying in this regard?

People who say that Berkshire would acquire Markel for Gayner's insurance knowledge really dont know Berkshire at all! Berkshire has the deepest senior talent in the P&C industry period. This was only enhanced by the addition of Joe Brandon of Alleghany less than 12 months ago! What would be really cool is if Weston Hicks joined the company, or even the board!

Think about how weak the Russian military is! This has truly been an amazing insight for NATO/China and even Iran! Poorly trained, weak chain of command and very poor operational expertise. This has been one of the best investments for the USA. Not a single American solider has died - yet the Russian Army has been weakened/killed by at least 300-400,000. Regan would never have believed it! I wonder why other anti-Russian areas like Georgia, Chechnya fighters, and even some of the former Soviet countries have yet to rally together publicly agaisnt this and even start to attack Russia directly!

No. With National Indemnity (think very large complex P&C policies), GEICO (US Auto), Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (former AIG team - P&C, much smaller and faster book of biz), Alleghany (P&C and reinsurance - more internationally focused) we have it all mostly covered. Which is why floating Chubb as an M&A target wont happen either.

we dont need more P&C subs ... we recently bought alleghany

Starter position in ASML. It's down a lot and very cyclical. Will add more in the $600s.

Great post @Viking - thank you. Personally, I think Prem & Team will be buying back a lot of stock similar to Teledyne 2.0 ... Leon Cooperman once wrote an article on Teledyne and I believe was on the board of directors. There was once a negative piece written on Teledyne in Barrons and Cooperman wrote a wonder reply to the editors which was published. Let me see if I can find it.

Trump was just shot at a rally in PA - he lived. His polls will spike now. I'm guessing FnF preferreds will move higher in the coming days.

This is actually a really stupid and illquid piece of paper. I'd much rather - and do own - the GS fix-to-floating 7.5% Capital Trust's issued a few months ago. $1,000 par, so you dont get idiot ETF holdings owning it, it's now trading at $103 - but you could have easily bought these at par a few months ago. $2.25B issue size and is very liquid.