Ross812

With the volatility adding to the warrants premium, would it be a good idea to trade the warrants for the common?

Next big idea... BP? P/E of 6 instead of 9 like every other oil major. P/E of 5.5 expected next year. 4.5% dividend while you wait. Also, Seth Klarman bought 5.5 million shares at a price 15% higher than today's price.

Buffet and presumably the real Munger decided to pour 5 Billion into BAC today... http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Berkshire-Hathaway-to-Invest-bw-287435668.html?x=0&.v=1

Sorry here is the same chart comparing Warrants and Common with various Puts. I switched it to percentages. It makes a lot more sense.

Oddballstocks, Here is a break down of warrants/common with puts in 2013 My scenario is BofA has major problems and goes to the $1-$2 range or the market figures out BofA is going to be alright and we see $15 easily. Cmn_Wnt_Put_Break_Down.bmp

Whatever the value. We agree bac is miss priced. Bac is either insolvent, needs to issue equity, or is worth far more than $7. Why not buy the warrants and hedge your exposure with puts? The worst will be realized by 2013. And this will be worth much more than the cost of the puts. Or the bank will fail and you will lose little to nothing because of your puts. Either way, this is going to move hard when the market receives some clarity...

For stocks and options use I use Interactive Brokers. I don't think there is anyone better. $1 trades and $0.75 options. Minimum charge per month is $10. It's really nice being able to average into a position slowly and not have to worry about racking up trading fees. I use Scottrade for mutual funds. Many funds have no transaction fee and the funds which charge a fee are $17. I use Scottrade for quotes because streaming quotes are expensive on IB. Also, IB's smartphone application is top notch.

Its sold out at Barnes and Noble now. DCG, I'm hoping to be able to install android on the touchpad http://www.zdnet.com/blog/mobile-news/what-the-hp-touchpad-needs-is-an-android-player/3888

Hey txlaw, I just ordered one from Barnes and Noble thanks to you!

I was busy yesterday: Bought some Petrobakken, I was going to add to Petrobank but I wanted the 9% yield from the subsidiary Added to BAC warrants Bought BAC 2013 $12.50-$15.00 call spreads Rotated HPQ 2013 $30 calls down to $25 calls Rotated CSCO 2013 $12.50 calls down to $8 calls Today: Sold BACpL position bought Monday. The preferred shares are worht $1k but I couldn't sleep with a 30% concentration in BoA with '13 $10 leaps, call spreads, common and warrants. I feel much better with my 15% allocation. Cash is at 25%

I've been buying BAC Class A Warrants. And some BAC common today. (I got the common at 7.40, market timer I am not) I've also been buying Alere (ALR) which is Klarman's 4th largest stock holding. ALR has been on my watch list since last December and has never been quite cheap enough for me. Now it's trading at a 7.8 P/E. $22.57 is cheaper than Baupost bought the stock; so at least you know it passed Klarman's FOS. http://www.dataroma.com/m/holdings.php?m=BAUPOST

I've been adding ALR, and BAC Warrants. Power Corp of Canada Pow:TO or PWCDF.pk is getting really cheap. I would really like Bidvest (bdvsy.pk) to go below $40.

I really like: http://shortsqueeze.com/ For short interest data

What do you think of the "A" warrants as opposed to the common stock? The warrants capture a future dividend and allow you to leverage your position. I got interested in them when I watched Francis Chou buying them for his fund.

This sounds like a knee jerk reaction to me. I am not familiar with the lithology of the rock in the U.K., but geologically shale should always overlay the continental crust made of granite which rests on a tectonic plate made of basalt. Earthquakes generally occur in deep in the basalt layer. The shear strength of shale is extremely low and it would be impossible to build enough stress within the shale layer to contribute to a quake of any significance. The quakes were recorded with magnitudes of 1.5 and 2.3 which is almost imperceptible to someone standing over the epicenter. I suppose shallow earth movements are possible; Earthquakes do not cause damage and are nearly imperceptible below a magnitude 4.0. A magnitude 4.0 quake is ~350 times ((10^x)^(1.5)) more powerful than the 2.3 magnitude quake measured. In short, earthquakes are not a reason to discontinue fracking.

The discussions on the board have taught me a lot. I wouldn't want to ignore anyone. An ignore button is just a step toward a yahoo message board. Eric, I really like your approach to risk. All your chatter has helped me!

I would not take the bet that Bing is going to hurt Google. My argument is Microsoft has the clout to throw around some money and see what sticks. They are not going to have a huge share of the tablet market aside from people who want windows 7 on their tablet out of habit. Microsoft will continue to rule the corporate space because the make the software that business runs on. I cannot see this changing anytime in the foreseeable future. They will grow slowly as their software is implemented overseas. They have an amazing moat and are selling at an attractive price. Sign on to DATAROMA and see where Microsoft falls on the list of top buys.

Bing is a good search engine. Microsoft has the advantage of Internet explorer autoautomatically routing to Bing which gives them some defacto market share. With that said, I think google is going to keep a dominant position in search. I am predicting a bit of a fight between google and Apple in the next couple years which might benefit Bing if apple sets Bing as their new default on Safari. I am just trying to think of catalysts...

I think apple's advantage is erroding rapidly with the growing popularity of the android os. Apple is going to have a really hard time competing wwith free. I look at Microsoft in the same way I look at Google. Microsoft has a great moat just like Google's search and they are going to continue to throw money around until something sticks and they can move the needle. Msft is undervalued right now. The opportunity will not last forever.

Apple has a great business model. They lock the consumer into buying new hardware to continue to use their apple software. Apple makes even more money by offering over priced but convenient media. Apple is sexy and I believe it to be a fad. Their business model relies on coming up with the next greatest thing... how long can they keep it up? They have a one year moat. Other companies are already producing tablets superior to the ipad, the iphone, and you can buy a music player at a fraction of the cost of an ipod. Microsoft is boring but they make the software that runs the economy. You can use an apple at home but when you have to get some work done you are going to sit in front of a windows pc. That is a real moat, and it won't go anywhere anytime soon.

Diversified south African Berkshire: Bidvest

I was not promoting a twinkie diet at all. I am just stating that it is possible to lose weight by calorie reduction regardless of the food that is eaten. The blog you directed to states two groups of mice that ate "industrial" high caloric food gained weight regardless of whether they were on a calorie restricted industiral diet or an unrestricted industrial diet. The mice that were on the unrestricted diet were less active and gained the same amount of weight as the mice who were more active and ate more industiral food. Their internal weight homeostasis had been increased due to the kinds of food they ate. I agree eating poorly and weight problems go hand and hand. I am stating that a commercial diet plan is not necessary to lose weight. It can be done with will power and twinkies. Yes, your internal weight homeostasis will not change and it will be easy to put the wieght back on when you stop (which happens with many of these diets, ex. Atkins). The way to bring down your internal homeostasis is to exercise and there is no shortcut around that. If you exercise regularly you will notice that you actually crave foods that are good for you; you desire good foods because you feel terrible if you eat a cheeseburger then work out. The diet choices are easy for you because you eat foods that make you feel good. Simply eating healthfuly is not enough. Maintaining a healthy weight and being physicaly fit are two different things.

I'm not convinced all the diet plans are necessary to lose weight. I believe the reason they work is they make the dieter aware of what they are actually eating. Dieting forces calorie counting and avoiding foods that are easy to eat to excess like foods high in carbohydrates. Calories are king; here is the twinkie diet: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html The most healthy way to lose weight is to begin an active lifestyle. Exercise 5 days a week, get 7-9 hours of sleep, avoid fried foods, cut down on the sweets, and drink only water. Dieting can take the weight off, but a change in lifestyle will keep it off. Many are posting about the weight they have lost from a change in diet and that is wonderful, but there is a difference between being light and being healthy. Exercise is an investment in yourself. It is going to pay dividends your entire life, carries little risk, and extends your time horizon...

I am buying some PRIS.B today.

This is a pretty relevant post to me because I just bought a condo a couple of months ago. The way I looked at it is what is an apartment going to cost you compared to the monthly payment on a mortgage? In my case buying was about 150 dollars cheaper a month than renting. Over a 5 year period this is nearly 10000. I bought into a nice area and believe I bought the place for 10% under what I can sell it for today. I really don't see a lot of risk in buying if you are patient and find a place at the right price. With the condition of the realestate market those deals are plentiful. If the choice is to rent or buy and buying is significantly cheaper and the area you are considering is a good mature market then I think it makes sense to buy.