LC

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=148615&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2292358 Q2 earnings out. Net loss of (6.4M). The company initiated a restructuring plan in July 2017 designed to reduce ongoing costs and further streamline the organization. In addition to reducing personnel, the company has reorganized its operations team to report directly to the respective business units. These changes are expected to drive more effective decision-making and greater efficiency. These initiatives are expected to result in a charge of approximately $4 million in the third quarter of 2017. Combined with other cost-saving actions taken in the first half of 2017, which resulted in charges of $1.3 million, the company expects to achieve about $10 million in cost reductions this year and approximately $20 million in ongoing savings beginning in 2018.

Huh? We have no idea how successful or sustainable whole fools will be under amazon ownership, and it's not a partnership (and certainly not a long-term partnership) because amazon just recently announced they will acquire whole foods.

But does Amazon look at partnerships with third parties the same way, or do they not? That is the argument being made: that any "partnership" will be eventually be dominated by Amazon. Can we name a third party retailer that has a successful, sustainable and long-term partnership with Amazon? Real classy stuff.

Took a starter position in DVA.

I would bet that any online retailer uses dynamic pricing. The same way the bodega sells umbrellas at double the price when it's raining outside. Your best bet is to price check vs other retailers, and use those price tracking websites (camelcamelcamel.com)

Monsanto secret documents released since Monsanto did not file any motion seeking continued protection. The reports tell an alarming story of ghostwriting, scientific manipulation, collusion with the EPA, and previously undisclosed information about how the human body absorbs glyphosate. https://www.baumhedlundlaw.com/toxic-tort-law/monsanto-roundup-lawsuit/monsanto-secret-documents/

About time. Talk about a wart on humanity's backside.

why don't you think that residential solar is all that smart? is it a price point thing or a economies of scale thing or something else? I had a discussion with another user about it over on this thread: http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/general-discussion/america-1st/msg302262/#msg302262 Essentially it comes down to this: The large gap in per-MWh costs between utility- and residential-scale systems results principally from: (a) lower total plant costs per installed kilowatt for larger facilities; and (b) greater solar electric output from the same PV capacity (300 MW-DC) due to optimized panel placement, tracking and other economies of scale and efficiencies associated with utility-scale installations.

I think the real winners will be the utility companies that can build economically-feasible solar plants. I don't think any of the hardware sellers will do particularly well. The other parties I think may do well are the contractors building/servicing these sites, and perhaps residential solar financing groups (I don't think residential solar is all that smart, but people still do it and usually get financing).

I was just going to post, asking about how to import a company's most recent dividend into google sheets. Anyone have a snippet I can copy? Cheers 8)

I think the death of the traditional CPG is a bit overblown. Distribution of both marketing material and the actual product has definitely changed. Tide ads are on certain websites I or my wife visit. And I get my laundry and dishwasher pods (or whatever they're called) via Amazon usually. But tide pods are still the best of the brands in my mind, and priced a buck or two higher than the competition. The biggest reason the big CPGs will survive is there really are economies of scale. In terms of hundreds of millions of people cleaning their clothes and dishes, it's a helluva lot more economical to produce billions of tide pods in centralized locations vs. some lady in her kitchen making homemade soap.

is it because 291,000 = 291.00 (comma used as decimal)?

I don't agree with this part. Why are those your only two options? Why bother paying that 1% in the first place to Merrill for S&P performance? Just buy the SP500 index. From a client's perspective, the best situation is to invest with a manager whose net worth is tied to the fund (downside protection), and who is paid on a performance basis above the risk-less alternative (incentivize upside). If I had a few million to my name and I wanted to start a fund, I would charge a 20% performance fee above the 10-year treasury rate hurdle.

Or if e-cigs are no longer giving smokers enough of a hit, maybe they move back to cigarettes.

Also bought MO (and sold out of PM to offset) - thanks for the tip, Lance. The reason MO fell today was this byline from the FDA's announcement: Agency to pursue lowering nicotine in cigarettes to non-addictive levels and create more predictability in tobacco regulation Only by reading the entire FDA press release would one would have seen the following: Importantly, the anticipated new enforcement policy will not affect any current requirements for cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, only the newly-regulated tobacco products such as cigars and e-cigarettes.

I think he was joking :o ;D

Sold the balance of my position in MMM. Nice gain over the last 1.5 years but the reason I bought (attractive 4+% dividend, below SP500 earnings yield) no longer holds (2.3% dividend, earnings yield about equal to SP500). The two most attractive investments to me are Citi and Compass Minerals, but I am wary of being too overweight. Would like to redeploy into Berkshire, Philip Morris, RELX, but not sure I can justify buying at these prices.

I have nothing valuable to add here, but holy shit, this thread spans hundreds of pages, over 6 years, for a stock that has barely moved.

Here ya go: https://www.ucf.edu/pegasus/harris-rosen/ My mom has worked for Rosen hotels for nearly 30 years, and that's because Mr. Rosen is such an amazing person who treats his employees extremely well. If you're an employee of Rosen he will pay for your kids in-state college tuition in full. If you went out of state or to a private college you receive the equivalent amount as a scholarship. This is for every employee. From the managers to the house keepers. He also not only provides full health insurance, but he built an entire health facility for his employees so they can get the best care possible and not have to worry about having their lives ruined by health costs. Even though some of his hotel properties are world class luxury resorts, he still uses his tiny original office at his oldest property. And I believe he drives a 1990s Honda to and from work. I hope more people can learn about this man and his incredible business practices, so that he can be used as an example of achieving success by focusing on the quality of labor.

I wouldn't call it a huge bubble. Here's the historical SP500 P/E back to 1928: http://www.macrotrends.net/2577/sp-500-pe-ratio-price-to-earnings-chart Frothy? Yes.

I've argued this on other points, but I'm not sure I agree. A lot of society is pretty developed. We've built the highways, the dams, the housing, the utilities, the railroads, the oil rigs/drills, etc. From here on, it's mostly maintenance. And what we are building, we're building cheaper. Of course there's still other areas of the world which are under-developed, but it's shrinking every day. And now we're building robots to do all the manual work, so even the human capital element is decreasing. I think over the next 50 years, we're going to be less of a capital-intensive society. That's what I hope for at least. And that is one of the big reasons I think returns on capital (interest rates) are low.

Tough questions...I'll take a stab. Perhaps you get this bifurcated industry, where it consolidates into one or two giants on the B&M side, and one or two giants on the e-commerce side, for a given product class. So you have two options in terms of how you want to buy (B&M vs online), and then two options on where you want to buy within that category. The Coke/Pepsi effect. On the B&M side (in terms of who lasts), I think part of that consolidation is maximizing the retail footprint. Being really smart about what people are walking into the store to buy, and being really smart about store size and location.

To be fair, I think the reason a lot of people mention his name first is due to the fact that he is one of the most public figures in this community. The dude really puts himself out there. When he performs, everyone praises him. When he doesn't, he will be the first everyone piles in on. That's just how publicity is.

His letters are about as public as you can make them. The SEC requires/required accredited funds to have a separate log-in to access information from advertising (newsletters, performance numbers, etc). If you are accredited and contact Pabrai Funds to access the letters, I'm pretty sure they would grant access. This rule was loosened up a couple of years ago, so I'm not sure why most funds still use the password protection. Cheers! Speaking of letters, will you ever be making the 2016 Corner Market Capital letter available? :) Pretty sure Sanjeev can't himself, but you know, if one of his accredited investors happens to attach or link it...

Thx for posting! A good read as I am just starting to look at the company and have not gotten comfortable one way or another.