tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50117322008-07-26T12:40:10.543-04:00Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.comBlogger210125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5011732.post-57137279551389207512008-07-16T06:29:00.000-04:002008-07-16T06:38:21.517-04:00

“Dear Bill….”: A Letter to Bill Miller, Manager, Legg Mason Value Trust Dear Bill, I hope you are well these days, I understand it’s been a difficult time for you lately, and I’d imagine you’ve had many sleepless nights. I trust that there are better days ahead for you. I hope for your sake, as well as for others who have trusted you with their money, that this is indeed the case. When I

Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5011732.post-13208886405146520972008-07-15T09:04:00.003-04:002008-07-15T09:18:06.568-04:00

Premier Exhibitions (PRXI) Update In our last post regarding Premier Exhibitions, we reported that Sellers Capital had recently increased their stake to 10.84%. On 7/10, the day prior to the release of this piece, Sellers Capital filed a new 13D/A, reporting a 15% stake in Premier.

Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5011732.post-42404963921962930552008-07-11T07:01:00.002-04:002008-07-11T08:02:04.177-04:00

Premier Exhibitions Update: The Controversy Continues (PRXI) Premier Exhibtitions can't seem to steer clear of contoversy these days. A few months back, the issue was the source for bodies used within the company's "Bodies...The Exhibition" show (see our March 29th post). Now it's a generally disappointing quarter, and a shareholder calling for action. Premier Shares fell 17% on Wednesday

Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5011732.post-67999144022150836542008-06-28T07:25:00.002-04:002008-06-28T07:37:33.188-04:00

Blyth: Punished Value Stock or a Trap? Home goods company Blyth has fallen on hard times recently, and is down more than 50%in the past year. In fact, the Greenwich Connecticut based company has not traded at its current level since 1995. Unfortunately, in an economic environment where inflation is rearing its ugly head, housing has been in the toilet in many areas of the country, and

Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5011732.post-39415265573471160582008-06-24T16:17:00.009-04:002008-06-25T09:19:34.282-04:00

US Airlines: A Put on Oil? Having grown up around aviation, (with a father who was an air traffic controller and private pilot) it's always been a fascination. As an investor however, I've typically stayed away from airlines: its just a fundamentally difficult business, to put it mildly. Heavy capital requirements, and typically strangling levels of debt don't mesh well with fuel costs rising

Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5011732.post-34777651145112191792008-06-14T07:50:00.004-04:002008-06-14T08:25:23.705-04:00

Getting Caught in the Trap Part II: Silverleaf Resorts In part one of our piece on Silverleaf Resorts (SVLF), we discussed some of the risks associated with this tiny timeshare company. These risks centered on the high interest rate loans the company makes to its customers, some of which have less than stellar credit, as well as the method by which Silverleaf finances these loans, primarily

Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5011732.post-11063889113529611102008-06-05T08:29:00.004-04:002008-06-05T08:47:20.449-04:00

Getting Caught in the Trap? Part I Evaluating Silverleaf Resorts (SVLF) As value investors, many of us know what it’s like to be caught in the veritable “value trap”, when a name looks cheap and enticing, but there’s more under the hood then we bargained for. Most of us have been caught here a time or two (being generous in my case), and hopefully experience brings with it the benefit of

Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5011732.post-3947004788733488532008-06-01T19:29:00.003-04:002008-06-02T17:44:09.342-04:00

Clyde Milton Revealed One of the most frequent questions we receive at Cheap Stocks is the identity of the site's phantom editor/writer/founder Clyde Milton. We've made no secret that the site has been written under a pseudonym since it was launched in 2003, in fact we've also revealed the meaning behind the name. My name is Jonathan Heller, CFA, aka Clyde Milton. I started this site as an

Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5011732.post-84508366410047988032008-05-29T17:40:00.005-04:002008-05-30T06:41:48.041-04:00

PICO Rising Since hitting a 3 year low in the sub $29.00 range back in March, shares of PICO Holdings(PICO), which we've called the "Poor Man's Berskshire Hathaway", are up 45% on normal volume with little news. The company held a call with investors on May 19th-a first for PICO- and perhaps this is another step to take this previously under-followed company mainstream. Certainly, there's more

Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5011732.post-37614232482483619662008-05-26T08:57:00.003-04:002008-05-26T09:18:48.933-04:00

Who Ate All the Ice Cream?: The Hidden Inflation Factor Like many Americans, our household enjoys a dish of ice cream now and again, but rising milk fat prices, and the commodity run-up in general has pushed carton prices skyward. We continue to buy the frozen treat, but have adopted the "only on sale" rule. So, last week, when your Cheap Stocks editor was accused of single handedly devouring

Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5011732.post-84116917435343291772008-05-18T12:05:00.002-04:002008-05-18T19:10:05.024-04:00

JG Boswell Update (BWEL) Shares of cotton and farming giant JG Boswell, owner of an estimated 142,000 California acres, and another 30,000 in Australia, have bounced around quite a bit this past year, from $760 in June to $1175 in November, closing last week at $980. The stock still trades "by appointment", so if you don't like illiquidity, this company is not for you. The appeal of Boswell (

Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5011732.post-20562775667613004862008-05-12T17:47:00.011-04:002008-05-13T06:22:10.640-04:00

A Brief Review of David Einhorn's book: "Fooling Some of the People All of the Time" One of the tangible things (and there were also a multitude of valuable intangibles) we walked away with from the Value Investing Congress West was a copy of David Einhorn's new book "Fooling Some of the People All of the Time". A long wait at LAX before a Wednesday night redeye back to Philly left plenty of

Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5011732.post-32511931848111234392008-05-09T07:46:00.002-04:002008-05-09T07:51:46.769-04:00

Value Investing Congress West: 2008 We're just back from another excellent Value Investing Congress in Pasadena. A lot of great speakers and great ideas; some a bit contoversial. Rather than go into detail, there's a summary of the events on the Value Investing Congress blog.

Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5011732.post-8267634828149850262008-04-28T16:43:00.003-04:002008-04-28T17:02:05.306-04:00

Tootsie Roll "Pops"; but Don't Get too Excited Shares of Tootsie Roll Industries surged 6.4% today, due primarily to news that candy giant Mars will acquire gum giant Wrigley. In typical Wall Street fashion, the assumption is that Tootsie Roll won't be far behind. Don't get excited though, we've been down this road before, and still Tootsie Roll shares languish near 10-year lows. The problem

Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5011732.post-57544907596317176972008-04-26T08:24:00.004-04:002008-04-26T09:36:25.316-04:00

Top Ten Net/Nets The combination of volatile markets and economic uncertainty typically provides fertile ground for Net/Nets. Companies already in questionable shape can be beaten into submission, ultimately finding their way onto one of our lists of companies trading below net current asset value. Sometimes this provides opportunity; sometimes it's the manifestation of Mr. Markets' survival

Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5011732.post-13463797342817299692008-04-19T08:08:00.004-04:002008-04-19T20:57:13.768-04:00

St. Joes (JOE) Update Since hitting the $27 mark in November, St. Joes, Florida's largest landowner has been on fire, hitting $47 in March before pulling back to $40 more recently. You may recall our August 7th post which questioned hedge fund manager David Einhorn's (Greenlight Capital) assessment of St. Joes and Einhorn's response, which we published word for word a few days later. While JOE

Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5011732.post-1781246937121682052008-04-12T09:54:00.002-04:002008-04-12T13:12:10.947-04:00

CS21 Net/Net Index Week in Review & Individual Member Performance The CS21 Net/Net Index closed the week down 1% to 104.36 Since inception, the index is up 4.36%. This week, we take a look at index constituent's performance since index inception. The returns are diverse, and lend credence to the notion that if you are interested in owning net/nets, one of the best ways to do so is through a

Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5011732.post-31263781457732690162008-04-11T07:38:00.003-04:002008-04-11T09:00:33.707-04:00

Exxon Mobil: The Root of all Evil Since the gas lines of the '70s, Democrats and Republicans have talked about energy independence, but nothing's changed — except now Exxon's making $40 billion a year, and we're paying $3.50 for gas. I'm (candidate's name). I don't take money from oil companies or Washington lobbyists, and I won't let them block change anymore. They'll pay a penalty on

Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5011732.post-85896398238946741112008-04-05T20:47:00.003-04:002008-04-05T21:16:23.393-04:00

CS21 Net/Net Index Week in Review: Another Strong Week The CS21 Net/Net Index closed the week up 5.2% to 105.4. Since inception, the index is up 5.4%. For the past two weeks, the index is up more than 11%. This Week's Winners: Handelman(HDLM): +104.2% Replidyne (RDYN): +33.1% FSI Intl (FSII): +25% Finish Line (FINL): +20% Losers: Tandy Brands (TBAC): -17.4% Chromcraft Revington (CRC): -11.4%

Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5011732.post-61270050413013203462008-03-30T12:36:00.003-04:002008-03-30T16:37:06.686-04:00

Value Investing Congress West: May 6 & 7 Last May, we attended our first Value Investing Congress in Hollywoowd, and were extremely impressed by this conference; from the quality of speakers, conviction of ideas presented, to the venue. We are heading back again for this year's edition, in Pasadena. The folks at The Value Investing Congress have been kind enough to extend a $500 discount to

Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5011732.post-64856266108435469502008-03-29T07:12:00.005-04:002008-03-30T06:49:12.751-04:00

Premier Exhibitions (PRXI): Value not Without Controversy Of all the presentations we saw at last year's Value Investing Congress in Hollywood, one of the most interesting featured Premier Exhibitions, the Atlanta based company that develops and promotes touring exhibitions around the world. Not just any touring exhibition, mind you, and that's where controversy enters the picture. Premier

Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5011732.post-55226825963406484692008-03-28T20:08:00.002-04:002008-03-28T20:31:58.747-04:00

CS21 Net/Net Index Week in Review: Into Positive Territory The CS21 Net/Net Index closed it's strongest week yet, up 6.28% to 100.19. Since inception, the index is up .19%. Our results since introducing this index bear out the incredible volatility experienced by net/nets. This week was the most extreme, with 20% of index members up at least 12%. This Week's Winners: Trans World Entertainment

Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5011732.post-62714396656470559732008-03-22T07:28:00.002-04:002008-03-22T08:19:36.376-04:00

Cheap Stocks Random Notes: Unprecedented Market Volatility Cheap Stocks 21 Net/Net Index Positive for Week Ended 3/22/08, We don't tend to comment on the broad markets, but some research we conducted recently is worthy of repeating. In terms of market volatility, the pundits often refer to the VIX Index, a measure of expected volatility. Unfortunately, this does not resonate well with many

Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5011732.post-87083322807345579982008-03-16T09:43:00.005-04:002008-03-17T07:50:58.022-04:00

Being a Net/Net is Nothing to be Proud of... Companies don’t typically become net/nets mysteriously. They aren’t designed that way, and it’s no badge of honor to trade at such a shockingly low valuation, (assuming your assets are real, that is) below the value of the difference between current assets and all liabilities. You get there for reasons that typically are not positive. No CFO worth

Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5011732.post-85326571453491116752008-03-14T20:56:00.005-04:002008-03-14T21:39:20.295-04:00

Cheap Stocks 21 Net/Net Index Down Week Ended 3/14/08 The CS21 Net/Net Index closed a very volatile week down 2.67% at 93.78. Since inception, the index is down 6.22%. The big loser for the week, and perhaps first candidate in the index that may not survive, was music distributor Handleman(HDL), down 73% on poor earnings an extremely negative outlook, and liquidity issues. The company ended

Jonathan Heller, CFA, Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04330933364296303215noreply@blogger.com