Mephistopheles

Sanjeev, as others have said, thanks for everything you've done on this site, and I too have learned more here than I have anywhere else. Just wondering whether those of us who are registered users but not lifetime members, will we be charged as well?

Bought some as well, today. Do you see anything interesting with the options, ERICOPOLY?

Interesting thread. I don't have a short idea, but I have a question about lending shares. Is there a way for me to get paid when the shares held in my account are lent to short sellers, or is it only the broker that will make that money from lending my shares?

Thanks, this seems like an interesting idea. But I have a general question in this case. If someone has already written about it, like in this case, can I really talk about the same idea, even if it's paraphrased? Wouldn't I have to add something new and significant to a piece like this in order to keep it original?

Thanks for the ideas and gluck wishes, I'll try to look into all of them. Hopefully I find something simple and understandable.

The posting specified that they are looking for someone with little to no experience. They want a beginner. While I am a beginner in the sense that I am not great at coming up original own ideas, I have read Graham, Greenblatt, and others. I also read a lot of financial press, including the WSJ, and value sites/blogs. The stocks I usually invest in are ideas of famous investors (AIG, BAC, JCP), so I can't really write about them.

Good point. Actually, I don't think I know anything that well really. I'm fairly new to the game. In that case, can anyone lead me to a way I can generate a simple idea for a write up? Like I said previously, I only have a week, so I can't do anything big.

I saw a job listing for an analyst position at a hedge fund through my school's alumni career services network. They are accepting applications for another week. I thought I should submit an investing write up along with my application in order to stand out. The fund's description says they focus on merger arbitrage, capital structure arbitrage, and relative value investing. So I was wondering if anyone has an arbitrage idea that maybe I can do a quick write up about? Or if not, can you recommend how I can generate a good idea, that is fairly simple (as I only have 1 week). Thank you for your help!

I agree completely. I'm currently a student, so if I were to bet the farm on something like this, it would be a very tiny portion of my lifetime earnings.

Interesting stuff. So how much of your portfolio did you put into these options? A very large % I assume, since it was enough to help you retire. At what price did you end up selling the option? This is interesting because I was just looking at AIG 2014 $50 calls, which are selling for about $1.50. I'm wondering what you think of them? 17 months till expiration, and the strike is $10 below current per share book value. If BVPS is $80 by then, as some people predict, and the stock sells for 1.0x, then these options would make out very well. But this is all coming from a beginner, so I'd be curious to know what you think of it.

I keep hearing about how people made a killing in 2006 betting on Fairfax options. Would anyone like to share the story of what happened, and what was the situation with Fairfax and it's stock at that time?

He's got about $500M in AUM, and Dataroma only shows $240M, so while he's more concentrated than in the recent past, it isn't as concentrated as Dataroma would have you believe. I'm glad he's gone back to more of the 10X10 structure...more volatile, but it will work better over the long-run. Cheers! What's a 10x10 structure? 10% positions each in 10 securities I assume

I understand protecting against a sellout, but what do you mean by protecting against a stock buyback at a suppressed price? Buybacks are supposed to be done at suppressed prices, and PB has teased us about it several times this year, but has never gone ahead with it.

I know that it's been over a month. But thanks for this very informative post. I will read through the AMZN letter now.

+1 I started to see way too many articles about Facebook. And not even about the stock, just articles about the website. It was strange.

There doesn't need to be an adjustment for foreign earnings, because GNP, if I recall correctly, measures total goods and services produced by American businesses, both foreign and domestic. So that would account for foreign earnings. This is an appropriate measure because it accounts for worldwide production of publicly listed companies and therefore is a better indication of stock market valuation.

Really, did this need its own thread? Writser is correct, he does have a computer at home and not only does he play bridge on it but also reads newspapers, shops online, and goes on YouTube. It's confirmed that he does have a desktop at home, so I guess it shouldn't be that unusual if he has a laptop too. Parsad, I may be mistaken, but the slides he brings on CNBC are all printed out. I don't think he brings his laptop to the interview.

Ah, makes sense, given that the lady behind him is wearing a MSFT shirt, so it was probably at some PC event. Still surprised though to see him carry a laptop.

http://img.brothersoft.com/screenshots/softimage/w/warren_buffett_and_others_wallpaper-400599-1283146147.jpeg Anyone know the story behind this?

Hm, good point. So are you referring to their use of "free money" through payables and unearned revenues?

Parsad, on 1.5-2% net margin, which I was assuming as well, how cheap do you think the stock is? $1 billion in revenues, and assuming a $175mn market cap ($7 stock X 25mn shares diluted), that works out to a P/E range of 9-12, which doesn't look to cheap. I know I'm not assuming any growth, but that is far from a sure thing in such a competitive industry. If we back out net cash of $65mn, then it works out to an EV/E of 5.5-7, which looks attractive. If revenues were to grow by 25%, then that range decreases to 4.5-6, but again, that isn't a sure thing.

I feel like Byrne is too emotionally involved with the company to want to sell it, especially not at a bargain price. Those prime broker lawsuits show how he's willing to spend money on his principle beliefs, whether or not it makes sense economically.

Now it would be a great time for OSTK to announce that massive buyback that they have teased us with the idea of on two separate occasions so far.

Did you read the annual letter this year? He admitted in plain English that gold will probably increase in value going forward, whereas he always says the exact opposite about the USD. If he's trying to protect the USD from a mass exodus, he's doing a terrible job at it.

I wouldn't be surprised if there is some major clawback measurement as well, and that will be their downside.