mpauls

Other than the arbs and a handful of control situations he typically did not.

77%

I hated the acquisition. Terrible deal for what were the current investors. I disposed of a lot of shares. I started buying around $0.28 with an average purchase price of about $0.40, so yes I did quite well. I will probably advocate for a spinoff of the core business down the road, but lenders would have to agree-which will be tough.

Company-Y in my annual letter to investors was CRH Medical.

He did about 12% annually through the great depression largely investing in US rails.

FYI, ~60% of Greek companies lose money.

I hear he sold out of that position at a 35% profit in early 2011, right around the time of the second letter, b/c the risk of Greece leaving seemed too high. lol Did however start buying again in July 2012 after price fell through the floor.

There are two very good companies in Greece, the maybe three. Helenic CC is not one. In fact they are moving abroad and price isnt cheap. The rest are garbage.

For one thing, Coke is not even close to losing it's moat. If they don't sell sugar, they will sell water or some other form of drink. If you can't ID a moat, you certainly can't ID when a moat is eroding. By definition only a small (~1.5%) will truly be able to consistently ID moats and know enough to buy or sell when appropriate. Cheers, MP

I am trying to compile a list of the best "Warren Buffett" sites for someone. Any help is much appreciated.

Sorry about that-I allocate so little time for this site, I rarely, if ever, check the links. Try right clicking, "save as" and play in VLC or Quicktime. let me know if you still have problems.

There are so many red flags with him (e.g. extent of his self dealing at the expense of "his" investors), I think anyone invested along side of him should seriously reconsider.

Um or you could just watch it here? http://investinginknowledge.com/info/2010/05/munger1-harvard-westlake-school-video/

Biaggio, I don't mind one bit that you posted those scans, that's why they are there after all. I read (briefly) some of the comments here on Ben Graham's interview. What he is saying is partly true. In B.G.'s early years, finding FCC filings that show a company holds $xx in treasuries wouldn't have been disclosed nor would these assets have showed up in the price. In the interview, he was implying that most people would not be able to do as will as he did by just digging through the basic numbers within financial statements. He wasn't saying that the playing field is level. Also, as suggested by someone already, Graham was bored by investing and wasn't interested in it late in life. General comments are almost always taken out of context and I am certain that this is the case with this particular question. If they would have continued in greater detail we would not be having this conversation. Moreover, does anyone need proof that systematically high returns are impossible to come by or otherwise the consequence of pure luck?

Just like advertising spend, you would be wise to use goodwill as a test of the competence of management in terms of their use of owner funds. Are the acquisitions adding, maintaining or diminishing incremental value?