Gregmal

LOL so this is all just proving my point! I don't care if they blow up, or lose money, or cook their books...I just want to know how something like this occurs! Where TF is anyone who sees any value/utility to this as an investment??? It might be fueled by Softbank, but they arent the ONLY ones propping up this valuation(at least to my knowledge). How does this happen? Its a total enigma to me because the consensus for EVERYONE Ive ever talked to thinks this thing is one giant piece of shit.

closed this out for a small loss. market reaction more muted than I would have thought.

IPO price keeps sliding. One thing I've wondered, and more so lately, is this. Has anyone here been involved in a funding round or gotten the up close pitch on this? I am super curious because I just have a tremendously hard time reconciling how enormous the valuation gap seems to be between what supposedly sophisticated institutional investors are paying for this, and what common sense and conventional wisdom seem to state based on whats readily out there. Its abnormally perplexing actually.

Grabbed a little PCG pre market on the settlement announcement. Gotta figure there's a few % to be had in there given all the volatility.

Trimmed ENDP, TEVA EDIT: closed all ENDP, didn't like the price action/reversal.

Gracias. Was able to grab a few FNMAH at a hair over $12

Yup. Ive said before that the easiest way to spin this is to throw it all on Obama. Something I dont think any of us would argue about whether or not this option is appealing to Trump.

Already looking super perky, with the commons again looking like the better performer. Personally I think at this point the preferred's should be trading at a minimum at 65-70% of par. This has all but been derisked.

Probably yes. However arent there quite a few scenarios where the preffereds are worth way more? Off the top of my head some of these things have like 8% yields at par, no? So in a scenario where the capital structure is not completely rearranged, or the dividends get turned back on, or paid in arrears, in even preferred get converted to common, there would be scenarios where FMV is significantly in excess of par, or so I would think.

For those of you who don't believe the game is rigged, is it odd that the same trading day of the announcement to release comes out, a court decision now emerges that gives even those most opposed to the release a reason to compromise?

Well, it is all about what suits your personality. While this one would have worked out better trading, there will be plenty others that you wished you would have been investing. Making the decision to switch should be entirely based on your personality, not looking at one particular stock and draw the conclusion in hindsight. The same applies to FA vs TA. It about making money, that's it. The preferred have long been anointed the security most certain to have a favorable outcome when its all said and done. But the commons have been a much better vehicle to date. I think that changes once we start seeing some material developments, as the commons are more of a retail investment, but nevertheless how many 1-5-2-4-2-4-1-3 moves have we seen? So if its all said and done and this is a bust, who's worse off? The guy who sits on commons at $0 but made $5 per share trading? Or the guy who bought and held and now has nothing to show and 5-10 years of wasted time? If reform gets done pretty much everyone wins anyway. Thats why trading around a core is also a way to mitigate loss and permanent impairment. That’s all hindsight. You wouldn’t have known ahead of time. Of course it is about money. Who here doesn’t have the goal to make money? But you can only make money when you use a strategy that suits you. If you make this switch merely based on the common share movement in the past, you may be more disappointed in the future Yes, ones job is to make money. Hindsite evaluation of ones performance is crucial. There really isn't an argument that if you've been a buy and hold investor in this name for any substantial period of time, that you wouldn't have been better suited trading vs holding. No one knows for sure but as an investor your job is to decipher/read situations and if you chose to hold you simply got it wrong(as I did). Thats not to say you didnt make some money. But missing the gravy train is an opportunity cost and most here probably wouldn't waste their time for, lets say a 50% 5 year total return given the known downside risk. As I said in a different post, moving from common to preferred at this point in time, probably de-risks this a bit if indeed they do start taking action. Which isn't to say the commons still can't be the better performer. Thats my read on this... as always we'll see who's right and wrong eventually...the beauty of the markets.

Well, it is all about what suits your personality. While this one would have worked out better trading, there will be plenty others that you wished you would have been investing. Making the decision to switch should be entirely based on your personality, not looking at one particular stock and draw the conclusion in hindsight. The same applies to FA vs TA. It about making money, that's it. The preferred have long been anointed the security most certain to have a favorable outcome when its all said and done. But the commons have been a much better vehicle to date. I think that changes once we start seeing some material developments, as the commons are more of a retail investment, but nevertheless how many 1-5-2-4-2-4-1-3 moves have we seen? So if its all said and done and this is a bust, who's worse off? The guy who sits on commons at $0 but made $5 per share trading? Or the guy who bought and held and now has nothing to show and 5-10 years of wasted time? If reform gets done pretty much everyone wins anyway. Thats why trading around a core is also a way to mitigate loss and permanent impairment.

After "investing" for nearly half a decade here, I made this decision to start trading today. Sold half my common at 2.60 to buy FNMAS at $11.45. Already paying off and frankly given the volatility here over the years, I'm kind of pissed at myself for not being more active with it. I know plenty of people who have already round tripped this thing several times over, meanwhile even if you had a nice entry, buy and hold has not yielded all that much.

Trimmed 25% of ENDP position started last Friday

Little more DDS. The longer it takes to get the 10Q out the bigger the potential infinity squeeze.

I actually did swing half of my common into preferred this morning. More of a risk management move, but I agree with Bove.

The stocks didn't move much headed into this because they plans are adulterated garbage. They say nothing new or binding, and continue to leave this an ambiguous mess where everyone can read the material and form whatever conclusion continues to suite their purpose...

Its the only way. 3 guys. Average income in US in something like $70K a year. Each are miraculously thrifty and save like there is no tomorrow. Each save $20,000 a year. Guy 1 is a pussy and just puts it in a savings account yielding 0.1%. After 20 years he has ~$425K and as a result, has to continue slaving away because he can't afford to retire. Guy 2 is also a pussy, but a little more adventurous. He buys bonds yielding ~2.5%. After 20 years he has ~$550k and shares the same fate as guy 1. Guy 3 is a savvy investor and aware that cash is trash and bonds are the equivalent of picking up pennies in front of a freight train. He invests in quality companies and averages 10% a year. After 20 years he has ~$1.4M, is retired, spends half his time in Florida, and owns the business that employs guys 1 and 2.... Owning quality assets(even on margin) has time and again been a wise decision. Keep it simple. Figure out how to value businesses, and let time take care of itself. They should teach this is high school rather than home ec and wood shop...

Bought some FIZZ $40 calls...If anyone is due for a bounce, its them. If not, the calls act as a stop loss.

Paired down some CVS at $63. ~18% total return in about 6 months... still think its got some upside, but looking to raise some cash. Just another example of a super obvious, not going anywhere/will be around forever, blue chip with an above average yield and single digit pe....right there for the taking.. but yea, the markets overvalued...

Taking DDS for a ride @59

Why is the stock down 15% today? Been on the go today operating from my phone but all I saw was the special dividend and continued plummeting of Iron Ore. Company did ~300M Ebitda at 2015 low prices.... despite the drop from $120-$80 we're still nearly double those levels. Maybe I'm missing something though. Who knows?

CLF

Depends on price point. Under 500K is moving nicely, probably in the 0-5% range with added supply from a few Ryan Homes projects coming online. Over 500K and especially 600K, is no man's land. Taxes are just way too high. Commercial is very, very area dependent. Some ghost towns, some newer developments seeing nice activity and demand.

Greg, To me, you've got this wrong. Why do you think that Mr. Jain & Mr. Abel are paid by Berkshire USD 18 M each annually [as far as we know, so far]? I mean : USD 18 M each for "delegation, bordering to abdication" [ref. Mr. Munger]? To me, it simply does not work that way anymore at Berkshire [and hasn't for a long time]. Yes, cyclicals are cyclicals, but then cyclicals aren't really all alike. I mean, there are stand-one-cyclicals, and then there are cyclicals-under-an-umbrella [, perhaps under the Berkshire-umbrella], and their operating conditions with regard to access to capital during a full cycle aren't nowhere near similar. Indeed I'll admit there is some hyperbole there to make my point. Everyone is terrified but they still find it OK to buy BRK...why? I think because they(hopefully) understand the business well enough to be comfortable owning it in a drawdown, and have seen how that story plays out before. BRK isn't the only security that's ownable, and I think a lot of the dilemma for most is a combination of fear and just not knowing enough to own a business without certainty. I remember when I first started out, reading a book, I think it may have been Minding Mr. Market or something like that, where the example Im shooting for came up. Essentially stating that investors often leave much by the way of returns, on the table because they rather be sure before doing anything. And that there is a very inverse relationship between certain types of certainty, and the types of returns one achieves. Another example of this is Cornwall Capitals play of Capital One during the subprime crisis in (I think) 2003 or so. Todays scenario is no where near as uncertain, but I constantly run into people who act that way which baffles me. Ive definitely seen reason to get more cautious the past year or so, and definitely want to be weary over the next 18 months. But "global growth" and "recession" fears to me have been for a long time, and continue to be poor reasons to earn 0-2% annually on your money... But yes John, in regards to your specific point, I think Berkshire is A-OK with Jain and Abel and if anything, am of the personal opinion that they will do better AFTER Mr. Buffett passes the torch.