Walker's Manual of Unlisted Stocks - Harry Eisenberg

[infinitee00]

What's the interest level in an actual physical book? I say this because with the help of a board member I realized its very easy to publish my site in book form. I could get the data and have it available on Amazon pretty easily, is there any interest in this?

 

Oddball,

Just to clarify, is this regarding the information on the site unlistedstocks.com? I would be interested in the physical book, although it would help if we can get a sense of what we can expect for the book. Maybe you can put a poll on your blog or this board and get a feel for how many would be interested.

[watsa_is_a_randian_hero]

What's the interest level in an actual physical book? I say this because with the help of a board member I realized its very easy to publish my site in book form. I could get the data and have it available on Amazon pretty easily, is there any interest in this?

 

if you are talking about the same content available online, I think your time would be better spent creating new content rather than figuring out how to republish the same content in an antiquated medium to satisfy the personal preferences of some of your followers. 

 

1.  the content is always changing; the shortly after it is published in written form it will already be outdated. 

2.  The internet is by far a cheaper medium of content communication. 

3.  Because of 2 and 3, most followers would prefer internet. 

4.  You will have high fixed costs in delivering the content through print.  Not just explicit costs, but hidden costs in your time.  It is unlikely those few that desire print content would be willing to pay high enough prices that would allow you could recoup these costs and a reasonable profit.

 

your time is very valuable.  i'm surprised you are even using your time to consider this. 

[ericd1]

Put the information in a subscription service or sell a PDF book. I have no idea if there's a market for the info

 

 

[oddballstocks]

On the book, I realize that online is superior, that's why I went online first.  All the stats on the database are updated every 30m, prices update from Yahoo! and are "fresh", or as fresh as they might be given the illiquidity in these stocks.

 

Watsa, I agree with you on the book and time spent, the thing is I realized it would take almost no time.  My site is already digital and there's a simple script I could use to extract the information and autogenerate the PDF's.  It might take an hour or two of programming and the book would be generated.  I could create it once a month or whenever I wanted by just clicking a button going forward.

 

The simple thing is to just grab the data I already have, put it in print and dump it on Amazon using self-publish.  It doesn't cost me anything, Amazon prints a book on demand when someone purchases it.  I also considered writing up an analyst note per stock as a way to enhance value in a book form.  The problem is not everyone sees the world the way I do, and something that might be attractive to me might not be attractive to someone else.

 

I get the distinct sense that there is a subset of investors who like these unlisted stocks who are oldschool.  A book might appeal to them, and as a bonus I could sell this thing to libraries too.

 

[Guest hellsten]

Here's a video of Warren talking about "old manuals" and what to do with "a small sum" of money:

http://www.neatvalue.com/2012/05/one-of-best-bargains-i-stumbled-upon-in.html

 

If you're working with a small sum, you have thousands and thousands of potential opportunities.

…

Somebody sent me a handbook of Korean stocks and told me that the market is interesting, so one Sunday afternoon I did read through a couple of 1000 pages of Korean stocks. I was sort of reliving my youth. Other people look through old Playboy magazines. I look through these old manuals of stocks.

I bought a number of stocks in small amounts from companies whose names I couldn't pronounce, but the stocks as a group where so cheap you had to make money out of them. They were Graham-type stocks. That's what I would be doing. I would be combing that sort of a list.

If I found a wonderful company that Graham wouldn't have bought, but I was really convinced about it's future, I would have bought that also. Incidentally, I have written in the last annual report about GEICO. I bought that stock in 1951 when I had about $10,000 dollars.

[rmitz]

On the book, I realize that online is superior, that's why I went online first.  All the stats on the database are updated every 30m, prices update from Yahoo! and are "fresh", or as fresh as they might be given the illiquidity in these stocks.

 

Watsa, I agree with you on the book and time spent, the thing is I realized it would take almost no time.  My site is already digital and there's a simple script I could use to extract the information and autogenerate the PDF's.  It might take an hour or two of programming and the book would be generated.  I could create it once a month or whenever I wanted by just clicking a button going forward.

 

The simple thing is to just grab the data I already have, put it in print and dump it on Amazon using self-publish.  It doesn't cost me anything, Amazon prints a book on demand when someone purchases it.  I also considered writing up an analyst note per stock as a way to enhance value in a book form.  The problem is not everyone sees the world the way I do, and something that might be attractive to me might not be attractive to someone else.

 

I get the distinct sense that there is a subset of investors who like these unlisted stocks who are oldschool.  A book might appeal to them, and as a bonus I could sell this thing to libraries too.

 

I just wanted to point out that if you have contributors right now, making and profiting off the book is a bit much unless you reduce their costs further or give them a percentage cut towards their fees.  I'm not sure what if any legal agreement you have contributors sign now.

[Morgan]

I ordered Walker's Manual of Penny Stocks 3rd Edition and it came in so I looked through it last night and found some very interesting companies.

 

All data is old. The newest is from 1999. Interesting to see companies for these valuations, but is absolutely just a start off point. I didn't have chance to look at many of the companies - maybe only 30 or so out of the 500, but there is some good stuff there. One thing I did notice is that many, almost all of the companies I looked at, had very small margins and relatively volatile earnings despite consistent revenues. Getting sued or some other issue seriously kills the bottom line with these companies.

 

Whitney American Corporation

  Market Cap: $213,301

  P/E: 0.24

 

In 1998 they earned 112k, with 575k in FCF and in 1999 they earned 999k with 1,579k in FCF. So you could have (theoretically) bought this company for 213k and earned a million dollars in the first year. Ridiculous.

 

W W Capital Corporation

  Market Cap: $325,224

  P/E: 3.0

 

In 1998 they earned 87k with 283k in FCF and in 1999 they earned 105k with 258k in FCF. In 1996 they lost 718k but were profitable for 1997-99.

 

The Coeur d'Alenes Company

  Market Cap: $694,904

  P/E: 6.5

 

1998 they earned 251k with 22k in FCF and in 1999 they earned 142k with 720k in FCF.

 

Health Power, Inc

  Market Cap: $6,512,785

  P/E: 1.67

 

This company had some losses in its past, but 1999 had net income of $3.8m with FCF of ~$4.3m. The market cap was only ~$6.5m in 1999, but was taken private in December 2000 for $36m (I think).

[oddballstocks]

On the book, I realize that online is superior, that's why I went online first.  All the stats on the database are updated every 30m, prices update from Yahoo! and are "fresh", or as fresh as they might be given the illiquidity in these stocks.

 

Watsa, I agree with you on the book and time spent, the thing is I realized it would take almost no time.  My site is already digital and there's a simple script I could use to extract the information and autogenerate the PDF's.  It might take an hour or two of programming and the book would be generated.  I could create it once a month or whenever I wanted by just clicking a button going forward.

 

The simple thing is to just grab the data I already have, put it in print and dump it on Amazon using self-publish.  It doesn't cost me anything, Amazon prints a book on demand when someone purchases it.  I also considered writing up an analyst note per stock as a way to enhance value in a book form.  The problem is not everyone sees the world the way I do, and something that might be attractive to me might not be attractive to someone else.

 

I get the distinct sense that there is a subset of investors who like these unlisted stocks who are oldschool.  A book might appeal to them, and as a bonus I could sell this thing to libraries too.

 

I just wanted to point out that if you have contributors right now, making and profiting off the book is a bit much unless you reduce their costs further or give them a percentage cut towards their fees.  I'm not sure what if any legal agreement you have contributors sign now.

 

Not sure if you have an axe to grind, or just think I'm greedy or something with this project.  My hope is to get this information out to the widest audience possible.  For some the thought of paying the website cost yearly is too much, but a one time book purchase is more stomachable.

 

In terms of the site I'm satisfied with where it's at, but I'm not exactly rolling in cash.  Given the time and effort I've put into this thing it's probably more of a non-profit once you consider my time investment.  There really isn't much money in the book, I just want to do this to get information out there.  Maybe I'm crazy, it's possible, I also write an investment blog where I give away ideas constantly.  Some investors hold all their cards close to the vest, I've gained more value by throwing everything out for free.  But I love digging into these unlistedstocks.  I first and foremost built a site that I wanted to use and then gathered the information to get it there.  There is a charge because this information is valuable, at times very valuable and rare.  Yet it's also a very niche thing.  There's a reason there have been two publishers of the Walkers Manual, and it's not around, it never made money, the audience just wasn't big enough.  By going digital and self-publishing on a book I've eliminated most costs, making this feasible.

 

In terms of contributors the guy typing this post is the biggest by far.  I have some, but most subscribers are consumers, which is what I expected.  I have some plans with the book, I'm not worried about stepping on toes, I think subscribers will be happy with what they receive.

 

 

[oddballstocks]

I ordered Walker's Manual of Penny Stocks 3rd Edition and it came in so I looked through it last night and found some very interesting companies.

 

All data is old. The newest is from 1999. Interesting to see companies for these valuations, but is absolutely just a start off point. I didn't have chance to look at many of the companies - maybe only 30 or so out of the 500, but there is some good stuff there. One thing I did notice is that many, almost all of the companies I looked at, had very small margins and relatively volatile earnings despite consistent revenues. Getting sued or some other issue seriously kills the bottom line with these companies.

 

Whitney American Corporation

  Market Cap: $213,301

  P/E: 0.24

 

In 1998 they earned 112k, with 575k in FCF and in 1999 they earned 999k with 1,579k in FCF. So you could have (theoretically) bought this company for 213k and earned a million dollars in the first year. Ridiculous.

 

W W Capital Corporation

  Market Cap: $325,224

  P/E: 3.0

 

In 1998 they earned 87k with 283k in FCF and in 1999 they earned 105k with 258k in FCF. In 1996 they lost 718k but were profitable for 1997-99.

 

The Coeur d'Alenes Company

  Market Cap: $694,904

  P/E: 6.5

 

1998 they earned 251k with 22k in FCF and in 1999 they earned 142k with 720k in FCF.

 

Health Power, Inc

  Market Cap: $6,512,785

  P/E: 1.67

 

This company had some losses in its past, but 1999 had net income of $3.8m with FCF of ~$4.3m. The market cap was only ~$6.5m in 1999, but was taken private in December 2000 for $36m (I think).

 

I had a similar experience paging through the book my first time as well……..safe to say you're hooked!  Welcome to the club!!

[rmitz]

Not sure if you have an axe to grind, or just think I'm greedy or something with this project.  My hope is to get this information out to the widest audience possible.  For some the thought of paying the website cost yearly is too much, but a one time book purchase is more stomachable.

 

In terms of the site I'm satisfied with where it's at, but I'm not exactly rolling in cash.  Given the time and effort I've put into this thing it's probably more of a non-profit once you consider my time investment.  There really isn't much money in the book, I just want to do this to get information out there.  Maybe I'm crazy, it's possible, I also write an investment blog where I give away ideas constantly.  Some investors hold all their cards close to the vest, I've gained more value by throwing everything out for free.  But I love digging into these unlistedstocks.  I first and foremost built a site that I wanted to use and then gathered the information to get it there.  There is a charge because this information is valuable, at times very valuable and rare.  Yet it's also a very niche thing.  There's a reason there have been two publishers of the Walkers Manual, and it's not around, it never made money, the audience just wasn't big enough.  By going digital and self-publishing on a book I've eliminated most costs, making this feasible.

 

In terms of contributors the guy typing this post is the biggest by far.  I have some, but most subscribers are consumers, which is what I expected.  I have some plans with the book, I'm not worried about stepping on toes, I think subscribers will be happy with what they receive.

 

Please don't misunderstand; I have no axe to grind at all; sorry if it appeared that way.  But I do spend a fair bit of time dealing with some areas of intellectual property (though I'm not a lawyer).  All you need to make that work properly is to note in your agreement with contributors which indicates there are more ways their input/data/contributions may be used.

[Morgan]

I had a similar experience paging through the book my first time as well……..safe to say you're hooked!  Welcome to the club!!

 

Yes. Yes I am.  ;D

 

 

[Scuttlebutt Plunger]

Hi - struggling to find this book, let alone at a reasonable price.  Prices have tettered on margin of safety prices.  I get the supply/demand dynamic. Any suggestions for how to procure at a reasonable price

[DTEJD1997]

Hi - struggling to find this book, let alone at a reasonable price.  Prices have tettered on margin of safety prices.  I get the supply/demand dynamic. Any suggestions for how to procure at a reasonable price

 

Years ago, I bought every single one...even the "special bank editions"....I started buying them from the actual company...but I think they were $125 a book.

 

I then wised up and got on the interweb and bought off Ebay.  The ones off of Ebay I paid almost $10 a book for!

 

Guess that might have been a good investment?

[tede02]

As with others, I'd suggest ebay.  I bought one a number of years ago just out of curiosity.  I think I paid like $25.  Gosh, its probably been ten years as I think about it. 

[Scuttlebutt Plunger]

Hi - struggling to find this book, let alone at a reasonable price.  Prices have tettered on margin of safety prices.  I get the supply/demand dynamic. Any suggestions for how to procure at a reasonable price

 

Years ago, I bought every single one...even the "special bank editions"....I started buying them from the actual company...but I think they were $125 a book.

 

I then wised up and got on the interweb and bought off Ebay.  The ones off of Ebay I paid almost $10 a book for!

 

Guess that might have been a good investment?

 

Looks like it paid off bigly.  Will scour the internet.  Thanks

[vikx01]

Just wondering if any of you guys have looked at Mergent news reports and if so, what are your thoughts.

http://www.mergent.com/downloads/news-reports

 

 

The reports are replaced every week.