alertmeipp Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Hopefully, I learned something from the tuition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Dude, what are you invested in??? The market is up a lot this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finetrader Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Commodities are good investment in the BEGINNING of a recovery. Levered companies cut both ways. Timing is everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alertmeipp Posted November 8, 2012 Author Share Posted November 8, 2012 Dude, what are you invested in??? The market is up a lot this year. As suggested by finetrader. Commodities (and the worst one like ATPG and I sold OSTK for this crap) And VXX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alertmeipp Posted November 8, 2012 Author Share Posted November 8, 2012 Commodities are good investment in the BEGINNING of a recovery. Levered companies cut both ways. Timing is everything. You are a smart man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parsad Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Dude, what are you invested in??? The market is up a lot this year. As suggested by finetrader. Commodities (and the worst one like ATPG and I sold OSTK for this crap) And VXX Doh! Alertmeipp...after everything we've been through, you sold OSTK? Don't worry, we all have rough years, but it's a marathon, not a sprint...except for Ericopoly who will be out of the game in 2015! Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watsa_is_a_randian_hero Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Dude, what are you invested in??? The market is up a lot this year. As suggested by finetrader. Commodities (and the worst one like ATPG and I sold OSTK for this crap) And VXX VXX is a suckers play. 1 word: Contango. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alertmeipp Posted November 8, 2012 Author Share Posted November 8, 2012 Dude, what are you invested in??? The market is up a lot this year. As suggested by finetrader. Commodities (and the worst one like ATPG and I sold OSTK for this crap) And VXX Doh! Alertmeipp...after everything we've been through, you sold OSTK? Don't worry, we all have rough years, but it's a marathon, not a sprint...except for Ericopoly who will be out of the game in 2015! Cheers! Yes, out at 6.. got some ATPG preferred with it. Doh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross812 Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 I've owned some PRIS.B for two years. It's not exclusive to commodities... 6% position now worth ~1% Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alwaysinvert Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 I hear you! It's been a humbling year for me too. Only just pulling back to break-even for the year after a rough ride, where my valuation skills certainly have come into question as events I never even considered have been unfolding. I guess I should have just bought Apple in January, huh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uccmal Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 alert, hang in. We all pay tuition from tome to time. a. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
writser Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Holding commodities and VXX is no "investing"; it is speculating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finetrader Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 You are a smart man Smart! maybe Wiser by learning from past mistake. Most probably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikazo Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 alert, hang in. We all pay tuition from tome to time. a. In the two years since I've started playing with stocks and only about 10 months since I started value investing, I haven't had to "pay tuition" yet. Is it only a matter of time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkbabang Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 In the two years since I've started playing with stocks and only about 10 months since I started value investing, I haven't had to "pay tuition" yet. Is it only a matter of time? Yes. You picked a good two years to start with. I started investing in 1996 and thought I could do no wrong, 4 years later I learned that I could. I kept 20 shares of Cisco that I still hold with a cost basis of $66.56 to remind myself every time I look at my portfolio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikazo Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 I kept 20 shares of Cisco that I still hold with a cost basis of $66.56 to remind myself every time I look at my portfolio. That's actually a pretty good idea. I hope for your sake and mine that CSCO goes back up above $66.56 :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
writser Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 I do a similar thing; whenever I do something stupid I force myself to put a chunk of the money invested in that into Berkshire, never to be touched again. If I'm lucky I will have only Berkshire in my portfolio in a couple of years and I don't have to bother trying to beat the market anymore :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alertmeipp Posted November 8, 2012 Author Share Posted November 8, 2012 alert, hang in. We all pay tuition from tome to time. a. Once in a while, I will have those go big or go home moments. Mostly end up going home because of my optimistic mindset.. The one I am currently looking at is FTP.TO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finetrader Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 The one I am currently looking at is FTP.TO. A levered company, selling commodities... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alertmeipp Posted November 8, 2012 Author Share Posted November 8, 2012 The one I am currently looking at is FTP.TO. A levered company, selling commodities... Bingo. Problem identified. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enoch01 Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 The one I am currently looking at is FTP.TO. A cash-burning seller of commodities where there isn't a clear supply shortage? I haven't been able to crack the Fortress Paper nut. I read the thread, but in the end I couldn't figure what it was worth. Lots of people are running away from the stock these days, so I guess it's worth keeping an eye on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin4u2 Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 alert, hang in. We all pay tuition from tome to time. a. Once in a while, I will have those go big or go home moments. Mostly end up going home because of my optimistic mindset.. The one I am currently looking at is FTP.TO. Like a moth to a flame... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross812 Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Fortress reminds me too much of another company I invested in, Imperial Sugar. I bought it for $8 after they received $14 in cash a share from an insurance settlement after a plant explosion. They ended up paying roughly $3/share in damages. They had $11/share in cash plus a second productive sugar mill, all of their corporate headquarters in Sugar Land (suburb of Houston) Texas, and 50% ownership in a natural sweeteners company growing at 30% (heard of steviacane/truia) . I watched them burn all that cash rebuilding the destroyed plant only to discover there was not a profitable market for refined sugar. I watched a 40 cent dollar destroyed by poor management and legacy pension obligations (about $3 a share I had not accounted for, always watch for an underfunded pension!). Louis Dreyfus just bought them for $6.35 a share ($210 million). 210 million for what is now 40 million worth of the Steviacane company now growing at 20%, a new 250 million state of the art sugar refinery, a second fully depreciated refinery on the books for 90 million, a 25 million dollar JV with Cargril, and 15 million of corporate HQ (397 million total). Shareholders were happy for the offer when IPSU hit $3 a share. You can do everything right, and get screwed by poor management. You may think you are holding a 50 cent dollar only to discover a private bid is only going to be for 50 cents on the dollar. I would only touch another one of these situations if you showed me a 25 cent dollar, and I would really have to think about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arbcon Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Ross.absolutely right on Imperial...the company was worth much more than the final sales price. i was able to exit at high prices because I couldn't get the numbers I needed on Stevia to stay involved. The problem wasn't the assets..they are real...but the management...good post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olmsted Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 I was in Imperial too. What a management sh**show. Thankfully was able to exit before the loss got too bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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