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NormR

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Posts posted by NormR

  1. He seems to be working harder on his letter these days.

     

    Well, he's never slacked off, but he always kept comments relatively brief and concise.  This was probably the best letter I've read by Francis in years, and one of the best letters I've read this year by any manager.  Cheers!

     

    I think it's a little more polished this year. 

  2. But wouldn't meaningful buybacks with moderate increases in earnings power from the subidiaries continue to grow operating earnings in the double digits for a considerable stretch of time?  (I'm thinking of the IBM model here)

     

    The meaningful buybacks assume a lower than current multiple. 

     

    Why do you think BRK will be able to grow operating earnings at a double digit rate?

  3. Perhaps Sanjeev might appreciate a few more volunteers to help run the FFH Dinner?

    Hi Norm,

     

    The CCFC is actually providing a couple of volunteers this year, and I will be talking to George to see if we can get a couple of students from Ivey as well.  Cheers

     

    Most excellent!

     

  4. I always recommend the intelligent investor to people who ask me first. Then, if they come back for more, I go through the value classics

     

    I love the intelligent investor, but I find the moderately archaic language to be off putting to some new investors.

     

    I think a better starter book would be David Dreman's Contrarian Investment Strategies or something similar. 

     

    A new investor should also seriously consider if they really are a value investor.  Many people are not, and it can take some time to figure that out.

     

  5. I don't see this as a big change from Sanjeev.  He has always been cautious about discussing his picks.  It makes sense because it is the core of his business.  Talking about a few picks from time to time helps on the advertising front, but it's optional.   

  6. Humm, does iShares S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats Index Fund (TSX:CDZ) still hold a huge chunk of the stock? 

    (It seems to have about $32 million worth based on the iShares website - or about 8% of its RET.A's market cap.) 

     

    Since RET.A cut its dividend recently, the stock will move out of the index and then the ETF.  So, there should be a good amount of forced selling when that happens.  Anyone have an idea of when that might be? 

     

     

  7. 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?

     

    I use terminals at work.  All databases have issues from time to time.  You have to play with them a while to figure out where they fall down.  Microcap / non-US can be problematic on occasion.  Check the data before investing.

  8. Dakshana Canada just launched, and Tim McElvaine, Francis Chou and myself are on the board, alongside Mohnish and his wife Harina.  So Canadian donors get tax receipts going forward!  Prem also has committed $1M a year for five years to Dakshana.

     

    Do you have more details on the effort / where one can give money? 

  9. Have you looked at givewell.org? They do extensive research on charities and give their recommendations on some of the best along with the reasoning.

     

    Thanks,  I didn't know about them.  IIRC, there's a Canadian outfit that does something similar.

  10. Bruce Trail Conservancy. Our family are volunteer trail captains to a 4km section of the trail, do 2-3 trail building days a year, & lend some of our time & expertise to the board.

     

    If you don't mind my asking, which section?  I walked much of the Northern part in my youth.

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