mhdousa

In Pabrai's most recent letter, he states that "one CEO in particular is probably the very best we’ve ever had in any business we’ve taken a stake in (excluding Warren and Charlie, of course)." Looking at his 3/12 portfolio, he's got BAC, C, GS, TEX, POT, ZINC, CSE, PNCL. Is he referring to Moynihan or someone else?

Good point - I had forgotten about Wellington. You're right, they're good too.

At Vanguard, the only managers worth investing with are: The Primecap team Owens at Health Care Dividend Growth TIAA is a waste of time.

Seriously? You follow up a statement like "It is tough to find objectivity" with a link to The Daily Caller. A website started by Tucker f'ing Carlson. 150,000 Americans went to Mexicali for healthcare last year.(https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/health/mexicali-lures-american-tourists-with-medical-care.html). 650,000 Americans are estimated to have gone out of the country for healthcare in 2009. http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/10/28/us-medical-tourism-idUSTRE59R23V20091028

This board has be incredibly valuable to my development as an investor. I'm still nowhere near as good as most of you but I'm getting there. I check it multiple times a day and have acted on many of the ideas so wonderfully discussed and debated on here. Where this board is not successful is when discussions of politics and personal ideology predominate. I don't know of anyone who has ever been swayed to change their political views by reading a differing opinion on a message board. I don't presume to speak for Parsad, but I don't think political discussions are the mandate of this board. There's a non-trivial Supreme Court decision about to be handed down. I'd love to not have every interesting investing discussion pushed off the Corner of Berkshire and Fairfax main page only to be replaced by tens of posts decrying "YAY OBAMACARE SUCKS" or "DUDE SCALIA IS A FAT IDIOT". Feel free to disagree. Many thanks. -M

NY Life has something like this. It's packaged as a life insurance plan but you can "borrow" against the plan. http://www.nylamn.newyorklife.com/amn/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=d51684345e6e6210VgnVCM1000001f3c1cacRCRD The investment options (mutual funds) aren't great but there are some decent options.

It's unclear to me what makes hedge fund managers think they are in any position to comment on macroeconomic policy. As an analogy (I recognize analogies are just that), even if I consider myself the world's greatest surgeon, it doesn't mean I know s**t about effective health care reform.

When you say your friend has "a lot of faith" in Icahn, do you mean he follows Icahn into his positions? Is an owner of Icahn Enterpirses (IEP)? Both. Thanks for the insights. -M

Either of you have anything readily accessible to back up your statements about Icahn? A good friend has a lot of faith in Icahn so I'd like to make him aware if he's making a big mistake. Thanks in advance. -M

Hi Packer - you elucidated my thoughts much more effectively than I could, and it's exactly why I'm considering each of these managers. Also, I had asked you about this in your Exelon thread but you must not have seen it. Are you adding to your EXC leaps at their current prices? Thanks. -M

Hi all - Thanks for the replies. Sanj - I agree with you that trust and ethics are huge. Not that Bruce isn't trustworthy, but I've heard you repeatedly say just how unique Francis is in the industry. Mr. B - AUM is certainly a huge consideration, especially given the timeframe I'm looking at. Bookie71 - I've heard you mention the underwater after 5 years on a couple threads. I don't think that's true though. http://quote.morningstar.com/fund/chart.aspx?t=FAIRX&region=USA&culture=en-US (click on the 5-year tab) Thanks again and I'd love to hear more opinions if people have them. -M

11 months ago Doug Kass tweeted "repeating for emphasis - msft is a value trap". MSFT closed at $25.50. This one not working out so well either. I guess the question is why anyone listens to Doug Kass: http://www.businessinsider.com/doug-kass-just-bought-shares-of-berkshire-hathaway-2012-3 A while back, someone I knew was considering investing with Seabreeze (Kass's firm) and showed me their results. It essentially matched the market.

2 contrarians. The US vs Canadian mutual fund managers of the decade. You have one to give your money to for the next 30 years (in their available open-end mutual fund vehicles). Who do you pick and why? This is a real exercise in that, while I personally manage my non-qualified account, I prefer to invest my retirement money with managers and am trying to decide between Fairholme and Chou America. -M

Man do you move fast. What strike/term hedges did you buy? Vinod March $7 and April $6. I simply don't trust the Greek drama. Just for clarification as I'm relatively new to options: is your thinking that if Greece causes a panic in the markets and BAC drops, you can sell your position at $7 or $6 and buy more at the panic price?

Only when I was a kid and wasn't sure if it was big enough....

I was definitely going to have them covered--I was only thinking of doing this sort of strategy when I was unable to find deals and I had cash around, but it does make sense that I probably wouldn't be paid much for the puts. I think selling puts is a good strategy for a value investor. but just make sure you have the downside considered. People have blown themselves to smithereens by selling puts. I've had the best luck selling otm long dated puts on strong undervalued blue chip companies that are building value over time. You can take in more premium with the long term put. Hi Peter - Can you give an example (with numbers) of this (real or hypothetical)? Thanks. -M

well,... i guess, you were rolling eyes over this letter... ::) ;D We should thank Andrew Ross Sorkin for getting a hold on this letter. Cheers! No...more over the discussion that will ensue...

Oh boy...

Not that there's anything wrong with that... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLi75niRjpo

Congrats Tariq! I really enjoyed reading your blog posts and you were one of my favorite posters here. Good luck!

3 stocks FFH owns. Care to elaborate? I'm not the one you asked, but I'll make a quick analysis of the three. - LVLT...FFH owns the notes, so they will make their money back one way or another. - RIMM...I think it will get taken out...MSFT should spend the money and buy it (more patents)...cash flows are good, but tough business and getting tougher for them. - DELL...I don't own it and not going to buy it, but they are betting on Michael Dell's overhaul of the business, as well as the cash flows generated. Cheers! Sanj, while you're reading minds, care to delve into what Chou's thinking is with having a large stake in SHLD? Thanks. -M

Sanj, I can't place where I read it, but I thought I read somewhere that insider buying tends to go up at exactly the wrong time (i.e. when the market is overvalued). In 1998 (the last time insider buying was this high), the PE10 was in the 30s.

CHOEX (Chou Equity) most recent top holdings. Cash is down from 65% last quarter to the 30s now: As of June 30, 2011 Holdings percentage of assets Overstock.com 13.4% Sears Holdings Corp. 8.5% UTStarcom Inc. 7.1% Sprint Nextel Corp. 5.8% Asta Funding Inc. 5.2% Goldman Sachs Group 4.8% Berkshire Hathaway-A 4.8% The Gap Inc. 4.6% RadioShack Corp. 4.5% Office Depot 4.4%

What? Stocks don't follow a random walk?!?!?!

I don't understand. I thought asset prices represent all publicly available information.