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cwericb

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cwericb last won the day on February 26

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  1. Luca, let's face it, any of the thousands of members can say they have XXX million shares no matter how many shares they actually control, so it really only takes a couple of posters to say they control 100,000,000 shares to throw the numbers way off. You have no way of knowing if they even have any shares at all in the company. And that's just members of the board never mind guests, who may enjoy screwing with the numbers.
  2. 55.1% Fairfax, 2.3% Fairfax India. Relative to my stock portfolio.
  3. Just my personal opinion, and I have said this before, but I think a 10 or 20 to one stock split would open up Fairfax to a whole lot of smaller investors and I also believe it would have an immediate positive impact on share price. However it is probably not in the cards, perhaps due to misplaced ego? Share price for Canadian banks split every so often and mostly run in the $75 - $150 range, so why shouldn't Fairfax? I have not seen any negative effect on the banks. Most small investors eventually become larger investors, but when one single share runs in the $1,500 range one would expect that a lot of people just give Fairfax a pass. With a share price in that range it makes it difficult for the little guy to adjust his holdings up and down because you have to do it in $1500 increments. A split would also make it easier for an investor to divide their Fairfax holdings between their different accounts - TFSA, RRSP, RESP, etc. I bought my first Fairfax shares at around $200, but if the shares were in the $1,500 range at that time I am not so sure I would be a shareholder today. A lot of people on this board hold Berkshire shares, there probably would be a lot fewer shareholders here if there were no ".B" shares. Doesn't the same principle apply?
  4. Bottom line here, right after the MW report was released there were several posters who did not regularly post on this board, if ever, and who crawled out of the woodwork who argued that MW was a very reputable firm and were legitimately exposing the shady practices of Fairfax. One could go back and supply quotes, but why bother.
  5. Alright, I know most of you guys are probably way too polite to point this out but I’m not, so here goes.... I am sure that some here noticed a sudden influx of new posters on this board immediately after Carson Block came out with his ill-informed garbage about Fairfax. Seemed like these new posters just couldn’t restrain themselves in pointing out that Muddy Waters / Carson Block had confirmed and exposed their ‘suspicions’ that obviously there was something shifty about Fairfax. Carson Block was beyond reproach and a force to be reckoned with. Some suggested that the $160 share price drop was only just the beginning. One even suggested he wanted nothing to do with FFH as the price drop had a ways to go yet. Well, if their appearance was driven by jealousy from not buying FFH sooner, it seems their error was compounded by not taking advantage of that substantial and very temporary dip. Unfortunately, as Fairfax once again set new highs, the rest of us will just have to bite the bullet and put up with the fact that ... well ... we will have to pay more income tax on our Fairfax profits. Meanwhile Mr. Block's insights remain ... let's say, Muddy.
  6. I agree, I doubt they would have the balls to actually confront Fairfax on the facts. However. I believe at the last quarterly meeting only one question was received and recent meetings haven’t drawn a lot of interest from analysts. Fairfax has built up a bit of an image of being just a boring old insurance company so perhaps MW has done us a favour. Because, the MW report has actually focused a lot of international attention on Fairfax right before the annual meeting. As BNN said “...the whole saga makes the company’s next earnings report, scheduled for Friday of this week, a must-read. So, we will.” As Oscar Wilde put it: “There's only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”
  7. Putting things in perspective, isn't share price presently back to where FFH was about three weeks ago?
  8. I was wondering the same as he previously admitted he didn't know much about Fairfax - which I found surprising given the name of this board and the fact that he has been a member for a couple of years. He seems to have formed a snap opinion of Fairfax based simply on the MW report. There is a wealth of information on these pages if he really wanted to offer an educated and informed opinion on the subject. It is always good to see contrary opinions, but when they are obviously and admittedly ill informed then they serve little purpose.
  9. Many Fairfax shareholders are now concerned about FFH being overweight in their portfolios. Obviously the reason we are overweight is primarily due to the excellent performance of the share price. Unless one believes Fairfax shares are going to suddenly reverse direction, being overweight is not necessarily a bad thing. I have owned shares in Fairfax for 17 years, not sold a share and added over time. Looking back over the years, yes there have been periods when the market surged and FFH shares did not. But people tend to forget that there were also quite a few periods when the market nosedived while FFH shares surged or maintained their value, and that often helped me sleep at night. I am just a dumb average joe and by no means a sophisticated investor. Had I traded in and out of Fairfax over the years, there is no way I would have been able to predict when to have bought and sold to my advantage. So for me at least, I am not going to sell my shares simply because the company is doing so well. JMHO
  10. New high ($1302) this morning and high volume (nearly 200,000 shares traded). So far.
  11. YES! Great little company and stellar results. Acquired this in 2020 @ $11-12 and today sitting around $44. Up nearly 50% in the last 5-6 months.
  12. Stock portfolio: Not including dividends which probably add a couple of percentage points to the numbers. 2021: + 33.9% 2022: + 15.0% 2023: + 27.1% Biggest loser: ALS.TO Altius Mineral Resurces, Down 17% & I am holding way too much. Biggest contributors: FFH.TO - Fairfax Financial +52% ARTL.TO - SNC Lavalin +79% TVK.TO - Terravest Industries + 60% Biggest surprise: The number of board members who have not been invested in Fairfax given the coverage on this board.
  13. I voted 'NO', only because I have concerns about future climate change and how that will impact the industry - and I too, am a little afraid to anger the investment gods. Of course 'No' is the safe answer because I hope I am wrong and that the industry and Fairfax will find ways to cope with climate change and potential future disasters that may occur. However, since FFH is now about 55% of my stock portfolio, I am still reluctant to lighten up and am confident that Fairfax will continue to produce satisfactory results. Even if it misses that $2000 mark by a bit I wouldn't be too disappointed I am just a small investor compared to many here, but I first looked at Fairfax back in 2006. I followed it closely on the predecessors to this board (Thanks Sanjeev!) and made my first venture into the markets with a substantial (to me) purchase of Fairfax in 2007 at about $220/share. AND, at the time kicking myself that I didn't buy earlier when it was about half that price. Seems to me one of the posters I followed closely back in the early days was Crip (above and thanks) and a surprisingly high number of others that are still around here today. I have yet to sell a share and have added throughout the years and only stopped because it is uncomfortably overweight in my portfolio. My biggest concern at this point is the Capital Gains Tax should I ever decide to sell. Ouch - but a nice problem to have I guess.
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