CONeal

Nice $3.50 special dividend for Sears Canada holders. Also making a short term loan to parent company. http://www.reuters.com/article/idCAN1010295820100910?rpc=44

Do a search on the board and I'm sure you'll find all the information you need on this company. CEO likes to use shareholder money to support his bizarre hobby.

Loved the video... now i have an idea why I lost money trying to short this company.

Whoa, I thought Garmin had their own mapping software. This changes things a bit

I have started to look into this company, just from a very high level this is my irrational thought regarding the viability of the company. I’ll admit I am technology challenged so take this with a grain of salt but if you see issues with my thoughts please feel free to speak up. The first thought that comes to mind is everyone is so worried about the PUD not being a sustainable business due to smart phones overrunning the segment. Supposing a worst case scenario in this market wouldn't Garmin still be able to sell their service as an app on smart phones? Thus, alleviating some of the loss if completely forced out of this segment. Then again a company like Google or Apple would have to spend a lot of time and money too really compete with Garmin and that doesn’t even guarantee success. It would be far cheaper for them to just buy Garmin. Garmin has a good moat and people recognize them as a leader in GPS. I really don’t see the company being threatened by smart phones. A Garmin device would still be cheaper than paying for the data plans only using it for GPS. Most people are not on the bleeding edge of technology. The aviation and automobile segments seem fine in my view as manufactures will be placing these directly into cars with screens large enough to assist the driver in navigation. Currently the screen on a smart phone would be a hazard in my view for use during driving. They could make the screen bigger but then it really no longer a phone since it’s too big to carry around. The business was booming during easy credit, wondering how people view the value of the device while living within their means.

I'm intersted in how people set these accounts up also and what kind of fee being charged. For me personally the AUM is so low that I do not charge a fee or anything. This is mainly so they can get a real feel of what I'm like regarding investments and if our temperment is a match with each other. Everything stays in individual names and I just have access to the accounts through a power of attorney. The accounts are small enough that if I completely blow it, the loss doesn't cause any real damage to their overall net worth or standard of living.

We are supposed to have interest other than investing? At times it seems like between reading books and research it sucks up most of my free time :D My day job consists of working in Marketing for a Drug company. Also help manage the family farm on the side. For fun I love watching football, Arkansas Razorbacks for college and the Carolina Panthers for the NFL (gotta root for the home team). Every chance I get I head to the mountains for camping and hiking.

Curious on what others on the board are holding. Currently holding CBOE, HSY, NC, NEOP, SD, SSW You?

While there are plenty of companies that look cheap in the shipping industry, I can't help but wonder if the containers themselves are a better investment. With shipping companies going towards 'slow freight' this would require more containers being used at any particular time. Not sure if this is a fad but something I've been thinking about.

I use to own a bit of ATPG. They have a sizable debt load and was basically banking on Titan working out fairly smoothly. Any issues/delays with the Titan pumping oil and they could be in over their head. With the unknown regarding what happens with the gulf, ATPG is a little to much risk for my blood at this time.

My first question would be is your friend even willing to put any money in the market? My dad hated the stock market (mainly fear) and never put a dime into the market, no matter what approach I gave him.

If your concerned about ruining your kids due to money (a very legitimate worry) you might want to set up a trust that makes the money available to them once they have established themselves in life. I have never really understood why someone would give alot of money when someone is 18 or 21, it ruins a person very early in their life. In my view a more approperate age would be a minimum age of 30, then again thats just me. On a side note, I have two cousins that came into a couple 100k when they were under the age of 21. Both of them burned through all the money and have nothing to show for it. They also do not have a concept of living within their means. Of course a legal professional would be able to help address your concerns better.

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052702303912104575163891292354932-lMyQjAxMTAwMDAwNDEwNDQyWj.html

I took a look at SALM, they paid off some debt that would come due in 2010 at the end of 2009, the interest rate on the money used to pay off that debt is 2% higher than before. The swap occurred on December 1st, so the full interest expense was not reflected in Q4 but will on Q1. Mentioned they expect expenses to be up 1 - 3% in Q1 over last year not sure if this is referring to the interest expense or other expenses. My thoughts if I was going to play this trade, I would wait till Q1 results are out and let me market react to the results. Officials will probably start buying air space starting this summer for the elections. This way I could see what kind of shape the company is in before the election push and avoid a possible earnings disappointment.

It's very funny that you mentioned this b/c I have been working on something along these lines. To my knowledge, I haven't been able to find anything like what you are describing thus far. If you don't mind, please shoot me an email b/c I would like to ask a few questions. My email is oneal.charlie@yahoo.com

I was wondering if anyone on the board had read "Applied Value Investing: The Practical Application of Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett's Valuation Principles to Acquisitions, Catastrophe Pricing and Business Execution" by Joseph Calandro? Since it’s not at the local library, hoping someone who has read it will let me know if there is any value to the book. Thanks.

You took the words right out of my mouth. ;D In addition: After they pay off the deferred rent the cash on hand is approx $7.14 per share. They should have enough cash to last till volume picks back up. I really don't pay attention to the other assets on the balance sheet such as the properties they own and are undeveloped. Because of the position TA is in, they are able to weather this downturn while competitors are shutting down. Once the economy is up and going this should help TA pick up more market share and also increase fuel volume. It is in the best interest of HPT to work with TA and lower the rent if needed for this company to be profitable. Since most of these locations are in the middle of nowhere, it would be very difficult if not impossible for them to rent out these locations to another company. I think HPT would rather take a little less in rent than no rent if TA asked for it. The relationship between the two is a two way street b/c they both depend on each other through their agreement. Sure they could take TA back over, my understanding is HPT would lose their REIT status if they did. I'm not sure where oil will be 1 year from now, if its back up to $150 anytime soon there will probably be a revolt. When oil is that high it hurts the economy, with everything that happened the last go around goverment officals will try to take the steps necessary to avoid this again. Please feel free to pick apart my logic.

I had my first experience at 5 Guys yesterday. Needless to say the bill was a little under $10 for a burger, fries, and drink. In my mind SNS is 10xs better for half the cost.

How is the best way to analyze a bank? What are the important things that we should look at and what numbers are pretty much meaningless when determining value. An example would be extremely helpful.

For those of you interested in oil and gas... you might want to take a look at ATP Oil and Gas Corp (ATPG). They have just announced capital raises to shore up their balance sheet. They have some really good presentations on their website explaining the company. Disclaimer: Of course I own shares.

The best way to invest in option activity will be through CBOE. Last I heard they were still in the process of being split from CME Group. Last I heard they were planning to list CBOE so it could be publically traded. I've had the same thought about being able to invest in the activity of options. Although, with all the volitity in the market its making option volume skyrocket, it seems like options are in bubble mode.

I've seen in past court documents where the Finova investment was referred to as Berkadia and also Berkadia II. If anyone has any background why the two seperate companies were involved in Finova please let us know.

Prince Al-Waleed of Saudi Arabia

My asset allocation SNS 19.75% ISRG 16.23% LUK 16.02% BOOM 12.95% HUN 9.41% XTXI 6.94% CSE 6.72% TA 4.50% LVB 4.41% NEOP 3.06% (Speculative position) Cash 0.01%

One book in addition to the list above is "Fooling some of the people all of the time" by Einhorn. The book is about Allied Capital (ALD) and how they are basically a fraud. It goes into pretty extensive detail about how the numbers can be nothing but a lie. The thing that was enjoyed most out of the book was in regards to how much detail Einhorn goes into reviewing a company (in this case a short sell).