triedtestedand Posted July 1, 2009 Posted July 1, 2009 See attached link: http://www.canadianinsider.com/coReport/allTransactions.php?ticker=ffh Brian Bradstreet (one of key members of FFH's Hambin-Watsa investment team) spent >$1.7M USD for ~6900 shares in the past two weeks.
FFHWatcher Posted July 1, 2009 Posted July 1, 2009 Spending 2008 bonus? He deserves at least that. Hope he doesn't read this ;D
NormR Posted July 1, 2009 Posted July 1, 2009 See attached link: http://www.canadianinsider.com/coReport/allTransactions.php?ticker=ffh Brian Bradstreet (one of key members of FFH's Hambin-Watsa investment team) spent >$1.7M USD for ~6900 shares in the past two weeks. Now I'm in good even better company. ;)
Parsad Posted July 1, 2009 Posted July 1, 2009 Spending 2008 bonus? He deserves at least that. Hope he doesn't read this. ;D Yup, they do. Brian will probably ask for a bigger bonus now next time. ;D Cheers!
FFHWatcher Posted July 1, 2009 Posted July 1, 2009 I would hate to see the current FFH share price if FFH didn't realize $2.1B on the CDS portfolio (thanks in large part to Brian) :o
Parsad Posted July 1, 2009 Posted July 1, 2009 I would hate to see the current FFH share price if FFH didn't realize $2.1B on the CDS portfolio (thanks in large part to Brian) Prem's the best at giving out credit rather than ever taking any for himself, but our fearless leader also deserves significant credit, as does Francis Chou. As both Francis and Brian told the story at our dinner, they were dry for ideas at Hamblin-Watsa, and Prem asked everyone outright if anyone had any good ideas...anything! Francis and Brian sort of looked at each other and then brought up the idea of the credit default swaps. Prem was astute enough to take a shot on the idea considering what they expected to happen to the financial industry some time in the future. Then smart enough to hold on to them as they reaped just about all they could from them. Cheers!
watsa_is_a_randian_hero Posted July 1, 2009 Posted July 1, 2009 Maybe it wasn't just his bonus - maybe he had some of his personal money in CDS as well. Brian
Uccmal Posted July 2, 2009 Posted July 2, 2009 I am thinking that FFH is also buying back shares. The price pop at the end of the day yesterday looks like it could be them. 8 k shares were traded. This represents 25% of the ten day average daily trade in FFH shares. Just a guess. It's good to see Brian buying. If he is buying then that clearly signals the stock is dirt cheap. He knows what the Q2 results look like.
Grenville Posted July 2, 2009 Posted July 2, 2009 It's good to see Brian buying. If he is buying then that clearly signals the stock is dirt cheap. He knows what the Q2 results look like. It might be from a lack of understanding on my part, but doesn't the fact that he has material insider knowledge prevent him from trading in the shares? Book value can move substantially given the assets and significant trading activity in their portfolio. One way around the insider knowledge would be an automatic stock purchase plan of some sort. Just curious!
benhacker Posted July 2, 2009 Posted July 2, 2009 Grenville, what insider at any company doesn't have material inside info? The key is that you can't trade based on it. It's a complicated topic, but you seem to be implying that not insder could ever trade their shares.... Ben
Partner24 Posted July 2, 2009 Posted July 2, 2009 Brian or not, is pretty obvious for most of us that FFH is cheap and attractive (except for maybe the persons who sell ;) ). We have talented people here who follow the FFH investment portfolio and book value . For sure, it's not 100% accurate stuff because they do some estimates based on last data available, but anyway we get the big picture and, between the quarterly updates, that's enough to me to make my own conclusion with a high enough level of confidence. My family want to thanks Mr. Market for these interesting opportunities. We keep buying shares to hold them for the long run and we're happy with the actual offers. ;D Cheers!
FFHWatcher Posted July 2, 2009 Posted July 2, 2009 An insider can't trade if they have material information or during the blackout period. The blackout period is generally the time from the close of the quarter until the release of the results. Therefore, the end of the quarter is Tuesday June 30th and Brian's last purchase was, not by coincident, June 29th.
Cardboard Posted July 2, 2009 Posted July 2, 2009 Where do you believe that Fairfax book value ended the quarter at? Glad to see Brian buying. It really is his department that did move the needle this quarter. It is definitely not underwriting that will have moved book value. This just confirms our thinking that the market is not reflecting at all what has been going on. Insider trading or not, just use the retarded weakness in the stock today to your advantage. I am also wondering since the departure of our short friends if the stock has not returned to be a TSX driven stock. Volumes are often higher on the TSX than on the NYSE. I was very surprised to see yesterday's move in New York completely wiped out today. Also, I must admit that I did not follow that closely insiders buying at Fairfax over the years, but this seems like a very big purchase or out of the ordinary. Last time I recall really large insiders buying was in 2002. Please correct me if I am out to lunch. http://www.fairfax.ca/Assets/Downloads/Press/fpr2002-09-25.pdf Cardboard
ERICOPOLY Posted July 2, 2009 Posted July 2, 2009 I remember hearing that Brian is at the more bearish end of the spectrum. For him to buy now (with such a huge equities weighting as percentage of book at last report) suggests to me that they've put some hedges back in place, or taken some gains off of the table. Purely speculation of course.
Zorrofan Posted July 4, 2009 Posted July 4, 2009 I remember hearing that Brian is at the more bearish end of the spectrum. For him to buy now (with such a huge equities weighting as percentage of book at last report) suggests to me that they've put some hedges back in place, or taken some gains off of the table. Purely speculation of course. I hope they have done both! Plus buy back a few more shares at these prices too! My assumption is the 2Q results will be out on July 30th? cheers Zorro
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