Washington Post 1971, 1972 annual reports

[sswan11]

Whitney Tilson just posted these:

 

https://www.hightail.com/dl?phi_action=app/orchestrateDownload&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hightail.com%2Ftransfer.php%3Faction%3Dbatch_download%26batch_id%3DelNKUXVnUzhtUUc5TE1UQw

[Morgan]

Wow great share!

 

Thanks!

[JAllen]

Great reports.  Key takeaways for me:  Buffett's average cost was $11.37, but during the very low price times, 73' or so, he was buying for $6.50/share.  This was equal to a ~$30M market cap for a company with ~$15M in operating income.  There was $38M LT debt in 72' so EV/operating income multiple of 4.6X. 

 

 

I think this is what he means by 'punch card' investing.  A good company at a great price.

 

 

Also interesting is that the overall operating margin is pretty low at 8%.  Would've guessed it would be quite a bit higher.

[loganc]

Thanks for posting.  I love these old reports.

[SpecOps]

Interesting thanks

[LC]

Great reports.  Key takeaways for me:  Buffett's average cost was $11.37, but during the very low price times, 73' or so, he was buying for $6.50/share.  This was equal to a ~$30M market cap for a company with ~$15M in operating income.  There was $38M LT debt in 72' so EV/operating income multiple of 4.6X. 

 

 

I think this is what he means by 'punch card' investing.  A good company at a great price.

 

 

Also interesting is that the overall operating margin is pretty low at 8%.  Would've guessed it would be quite a bit higher.

 

Just read through these, at the end, I would've thought an informed buyer would like to pay in the 300m350m range, yet mr market was selling it for 80m!

[gary17]

Great reports.  Key takeaways for me:  Buffett's average cost was $11.37, but during the very low price times, 73' or so, he was buying for $6.50/share.  This was equal to a ~$30M market cap for a company with ~$15M in operating income.  There was $38M LT debt in 72' so EV/operating income multiple of 4.6X. 

 

 

I think this is what he means by 'punch card' investing.  A good company at a great price.

 

 

Also interesting is that the overall operating margin is pretty low at 8%.  Would've guessed it would be quite a bit higher.

 

Interesting WEB was okay with that much debt relative to MC - wonder if interest rate was much higher than today.

 

I also noticed that WEB's punch card buys are companies that can raise the prices -

 

 

[LC]

IMHO,  the MC was abnormally low. And the debt was probably covered by the fixed assets, and they would have no problem making interest payments given their ten year performance. Even if business slowed down and they operated at break even levels, there was relatively little downside. Margin of safety was very wide.

 

See any ideas similar to this around today? :)