gfp

High voltage transmission lines are already aluminum - it would cost a fortune otherwise. They put steel in there to make it strong but the conductor is Aluminum

Just to get this straight, if you are a MSTR and BTC maximalist / bull / whatever, you want the SEC to not approve the ETH ETF because everything except Bitcoin is a security and that means BTC is unique as digital property and "there is no second best." - right?

Most copper used in new home building in the US is the Romex-style NM cable - the 10, 12 and 14 gauge type stuff. This could be substituted with aluminum but I think sheathed copper NM cable is pretty well entrenched in the code books so it would persist for a long time. When we put in a big cable for a 100 amp sub panel or something, we already use aluminum. That must be like 2 AWG aluminum cable or something like that - they are some big thick cables. I would assume solar installations still use copper wire for most everything. Plumbing in the US has switched away from copper water supply lines to pex a long time ago. There are still some brass fittings, which use copper. The rest of the copper is just general electrical stuff like appliances, air conditioner motors, etc.

Both of those were Warren's positions. It turns out he's not perfect.

Well you can criticize Todd all you want but I wouldn't accuse him of "missing" Visa or Mastercard. He also boldly told both Charlie and Warren that Progressive was the better business vs. their beloved GEICO. Warren has said for many years that MSFT was on the 'do not invest' list because of this close friendship with Gates. Maybe that has changed more recently. Warren and Charlie met a lot of investors over their lifetimes. It was very hard to impress them. I can only think of 6 or so that they ever let touch any of their capital. Everything is going to be OK.

black is Visa, a Todd pick from his first day at BRK. Apple was only Warren’s pick after it was Ted or Todd’s pick and he was convinced

This chart is not super scientific but not a ton of permanent capital loss on the chart.

Just keep in mind that interview is from late February. Not particularly recent.

There are so many people like that. I've known several that made huge but variable incomes and could never come up with the cash to pay taxes in April. They would go to the boss or owner of the company asking for a loan to pay their f'ing taxes. Embarrassing.

Oh man Greenberg is is feeling the heat from this new activist showing up in his shares and he's upping the dividend on day one to keep the old man happy https://investors.chubb.com/News--Events/news/news-details/2024/Chubb-Limited-Shareholders-Approve-31st-Consecutive-Annual-Dividend-Increase-Chubb-Limited-Board-Declares-Record-Date-for-First-Dividend-Installment/default.aspx

That's right - this is mostly ACE Limited and ACE management runs the place (Evan Greenberg, Hank's son). They have been very acquisitive over a long period of time. It looks like Warren started buying it in 2023 at maybe $80 billion market cap and around 1.5x book value. News of the Berkshire investment pushed the market cap to around $110 Billion this morning so this is one of the short list of companies that was big enough for Warren to consider. Props to the person over at Barrons that narrowed down the list of potential candidates and guessed Chubb. I suspected it was insurance and not banking but didn't root around too much trying to figure it out.

When I worked in the Insurance Brokerage business (as a 15-17 year old), Chubb was the carrier that insured all the rich people in my town. The ones with huge files of scheduled items and artwork. Among other important responsibilities, I was in charge of all of the files. Part of my duties was producing auto insurance ID cards on a typewriter. One mistake on a VIN number and you had to start over... The typewriter whiteout stuff made it look like the customer was trying to be shady so no whiteout allowed.

He already had over 20m shares of Chubb at year-end so he will have a good gain on the position before tomorrow's 'Buffett halo' pop.

Yes they did, but that's not news since they put out a press release each time they bought shares. https://www.fairfax.ca/press-releases/fairfax-announces-acquisition-of-additional-orla-shares-3/ https://www.fairfax.ca/press-releases/fairfax-announces-acquisition-of-additional-orla-shares-2/ https://www.fairfax.ca/press-releases/fairfax-announces-acquisition-of-additional-orla-shares/

There was somebody at Barron's who guessed Chubb and that person was correct.

I guess Chubb - do I win??

If you are really looking for some confirmation bias just check in on David Tepper

After a brief technical delay, the NAIC website is functioning again and the Q1 reports are trickling out. So far, for Odyssey Re, it looks like they sold $60m worth of Micron stock on 3/26 and purchased a Digit 10 year bond yielding 9.75% and an IIFL Finance 3 year bond yielding 9.5%, among other trades like Orla that we knew about. This is not for consolidated Fairfax like a 13F, this is just for the Odyssey Re entity Not sure if these will be legible so I am attaching the whole document. Trades are at the end. Purchases Sales 23680.2024.P.Q1.P.O.1.4769174.pdf

Huh.. That's a hot take. As an example, if the market cap of the company halved but the freely traded float stayed the same would that also be just optics or at some point does the share count of the company matter to you?

Here's some news: https://www.fairfax.ca/press-releases/fairfax-announces-purchase-of-275000-subordinate-voting-shares-for-cancellation-from-chairman-and-ceo-prem-watsa/?utm_source=press-release&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Mon+May+13+2024&utm_campaign=Fairfax+Announces+Purchase+of+275+000+Subordinate+Voting+Shares+for+Cancellation+from+Chairman+and+CEO+Prem+Watsa

I like how the debt is structured and termed out. Fixed rate at a very attractive rate. First maturity is $268m in 2026. This visual is helpful to get comfortable with the debt -

Here is the Atlas Q1 report - https://app.quotemedia.com/data/downloadFiling?webmasterId=101533&ref=318311121&type=HTML&symbol=ATCO&cdn=724594abd25878a3690de8060552477c&companyName=Atlas+Corp.&formType=6-K&dateFiled=2024-05-10

The dog that caught the bus. At least it came with a snazzy name.

I never post on this thread but I will today. I am buying JACK shares here at $1 Billion market cap with all of the negativity surrounding the California fast food minimum wage law and challenging times for restaurants in general (and a horrible chart breaking down to new lows). I actually think Darrin Harris is a very good manager and JACK is back to their share-retirement ways (the long term record of share retirement is very good, it was paused for a bit following the Del Taco acquisition). Refranchising company owned restaurants frees up capital for share repurchases. I would hope they increase repurchases, but even at the recent $25 million per quarter you can take out 10% of shares a year and pay your 3.3% dividend on top of that. Earnings are next week. Similar negativity resulted in a short-covering freak out in El Pollo Loco recently, which has an even heavier weighting to California.

The article I linked to above was quoting Kamesh Goyal so I would say that is a credible source. This is all very similar to how a US IPO works. Leaks and rumors about pricing, subject to change leading into the final announcement, IPO prices set a bit low to hopefully get a nice enthusiastic pop on day one, etc. etc..