Parsad

Very good article on Ireland and Spain. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-14/irish-tell-spain-to-imagine-the-worst-in-banking-bailout.html

This Tulsa teenager created a mock iPhone 5 video, with a couple of features Apple probably should really implement! http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/teen-iphone-5-concept-video-sets-high-bar-173947667.html Also, I couldn't help post this video of this teenager recovering from wisdom tooth surgery. His Mom and sister have now probably officially ruined his high school life! Very funny! Cheers! http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/chaddy-wisdom-dentist-video-161101569.html

Thanks Racemize! Cheers!

Hopefully, Balmer doesn't come running on stage jumping up and down, yelling "Whooo!" over and over! Or better yet, maybe he'll come out on stage like Tim Cook and channel Steve Jobs. Did you guys see him during his presentation? You'd swear it was Job's older brother. Cheers!

Actually another thing I learned today, which I wasn't aware of...maybe some of you Apple users can confirm this. But a friend's young son, who plays alot of video games on his computer (first shooter type), said that many of those games aren't available for Apple...only PC, Xbox, etc. Is that true? Cheers!

I looked up a couple of these managers. Why is it that so many close, simply to open another fund the next year or down the road? Is it because they will not receive any incentive fees until they recoup their high watermark? For example, JCAM's James Caird is closed his $1.2B fund in 2011 after being down 8.9%, only to open a $500M replacement in 2012! http://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/ex-moore-trader-leslie-to-close-jcam-global-launch-new-fund-9345/#more-9345 Interesting article on Bacon and Moore Capital. I did a Google Search to come up with the article, but the website is about what I expected for the hedge fund industry to come up with. Sheesh! What is it with hedge fund guys? Cheers! http://www.hedgeho.com/hot-gossip/hedge-fund/louis-bacon-backed-hedge-fund-salute-capital-said-to-liquidate/

Bloomberg article on hedge fund managers that have liquidated due to the market turmoil. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-14/sinclair-to-liquidate-hedge-fund-after-lacking-edge.html Moore, did you know any of the ex-Moore Capital traders who closed shop? Don't know if any were Canadian. Cheers!

He's a permabear, so take it with a grain of salt, but the basic premise of his argument is correct...you cannot have an economic union (single currency) without a political and fiscal union! Cheers! http://www.cnbc.com/id/47809834

Politicians with investments in Berkshire. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-14/buffett-attracts-investments-by-republicans-bashing-his-tax-rule.html

Have no idea what it is, but apparently they are announcing something Monday according to this article. Cheers! http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericsavitz/2012/06/14/microsoft-major-announcement-in-l-a-monday/?partner=yahootix

It happened yesterday. I thought they were just updating the site, and whoever their service provider is, had just put a temporary page up. The domain according to Whois is still owned by Berkshire: http://who.godaddy.com/whois.aspx?domain=berkshirehathaway.com&prog_id=GoDaddy I suspect it was a hack, not someone forgetting to renew the domain name. Probably some Republican techie who hates the Buffett Tax! ;D Cheers!

Microsoft is said to be ready to pay $1B for Yammer. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-14/microsoft-said-to-be-in-talks-to-acquire-yammer-social-network.html

I agree Txlaw. Where I disagree with Kovacevich, is that he's not considering all of the counterparty liability that would have taken down the system, if any of the big banks that needed the capital failed to do so because they were concerned with optics or perception. Wells may not have needed the money, but many, many banks in the system needed it...and if one of the large institutions went down, it could have caused a mass exodus from many other banks and pushed them over the edge too. Once you get a run, it sure is hard to stop one unless you restore confidence in the system. Cheers!

Former Wells Fargo CEO, Dick Kovacevich has some choice words for TARP. Not sure I agree. Cheers! http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/blog/banking/2012/06/kovacevich-wells-fargo-bank-bailout.html?ana=yfcpc

Can somebody please remind me not to get into raucous debates with ValueInv? He's a partner in our fund and I keep forgetting his damn nickname on here. ;D And no I still won't take your bet! Cheers!

Video on Berkshire subsidiary executives. Cheers! http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2012/06/12/f-f500-berkshire-ceo.fortune/?source=cnn_bin

The Dell I bought 7 years ago was top of the line and cost me $1600 then, and it lasted me 5.5 years while using it about 10-14 hours a day. But the Toshiba I bought a year and a half ago cost me $450 at a Boxing Day sale, and it works like a charm 10-14 hours a day. Not a single problem. I can't justify...for my needs anyway, which may be completely different than someone else's...$2200 for a laptop anymore. While there is a difference in processor speed, memory, display, etc, there is much more parity between laptops than 5 years ago. Technology has gotten better and better, and what you pay a few hundred dollars for today, would have cost $2500-3000 5-7 years ago. I won't ever pay more than $600-700 for a laptop! Cheers!

Dell bought Perot Systems, HP bought EDS, Xerox bought ACS, then there CSC. All have chunks of the government business process outsourcing market. Dell has hardly cornered the market on govt contracts for services. Sorry, I should have clarified what I meant...that they are moving up quickly in terms of government contracts. - Dell was the 57th largest government contractor in 2008, then 53rd in 2009 and moved up to 41st in 2010. - During the same periods, IBM was ranked 42nd in 2008, 37th in 2009 and 44th in 2010. - HP was ranked 25th in 2008, out of top 100 in 2009, and 39th in 2010. - Xerox was not ranked in the top 100 in any of those 3 years. Cheers!

BAC is paying down $40B in long-term debt in the 2nd quarter, which will save them about $230M in interest costs every quarter. I especially like the last line on risk control by CFO, Bruce Thompson: "One of the most significant things you can do is just make sure you don't have any tree that's too tall - even if you think you've done hedging and everything else is right," he said. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/bofa-expects-save-230-million-235418607.html;_ylt=AjIlbH9uoxKbPR2Nq413fNqiuYdG;_ylu=X3oDMTNyYjZuaDY2BG1pdANGUCBUb3AgU3RvcnkgTGVmdARwa2cDMjRiZTllNzEtYzljMC0zZGI5LWE3YjYtMWRlNGEyODNkZDE5BHBvcwMyBHNlYwN0b3Bfc3RvcnkEdmVyAzJjMjE2YWMwLWI0ZWEtMTFlMS1iY2IxLTRlYzcyNmJkOWVjZQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTFpNzk0NjhtBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25z;_ylv=3 Cheers!

I still don't think DELL is really cheap. It's fair to slightly undervalued in my mind based on its ability to grow its cash flows, and the lack of competitive advantages. Cheers! « Last Edit: May 22, 2012, 03:19:03 PM by Parsad » ??? Indeed. Can't even believe Parsad actually said this. Where is the sudden change of heart coming from? A 20% drop from fairly valued (or slightly undervalued) shouldn't cut it. When posting the message on May 22 he did in fact already know the after hours stock price... Especially in the light of this topic -> http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/general-discussion/big-four-to-audit-spain's-banks/ where he stated again to have plenty of cash. Surely you must find better things than something that is 20-30% undervalued without competitive advantages if you hold plenty of cash waiting for the big opportunities. I can understand you sold the BAC puts right before the day the stock went up 8-10%, even if it was languishing at that level for a few weeks already. That's just lucky timing after a good weekend discussion with moore. ;D But I really can't see the logic here. Would you mind to explain your vision Parsad? TIA. :) I went home that day and spent the entire night tearing apart their last three 10-K's and all of their filings during the period. I was somewhat wrong on what Dell's future cash flows will look like! The business had changed considerably in the last 3 years. I wanted to post on here to retract my statements later on, but then I also didn't want anyone to know we were buying stock. We started nibbling and then added considerably below $12. It's not a huge position, but it is a fair size one. We hoped the stock would get even cheaper. While they will continue to struggle on the consumer side, their greater focus on becoming a complete end to end user service provider and increased server/enterprise business, is changing the company entirely. More residual income from their services and contracts, and less one-time sale income as a retailer. Not entirely different than the model many other technology companies are now extending, like Apple, Microsoft, etc. Many of the contracts Dell has in place are quite lucrative and long-term in nature, and they have somewhat cornered the market on government contracts...there's your competitive advantage. Their streams of income are diverse and cash flows are increasing. While they don't like the comparison, they are right in the footsteps of IBM, but trading for a significantly cheaper price. Like I said before, I don't work in a vacuum. If I'm wrong, and the analysis is incorrect, I have to adjust it accordingly. I was wrong on what the business is going to look like five-ten years out. Cheers!

Hi Prunes, I think it is highly dependent on which regions we are talking about. For example, liquified natural gas is cheap and abundant in North America, whereas it is far more expensive than coal in many other parts of the world, such as Eastern Europe & Asia. So, I don't think coal use would decrease much in those regions, but you could see some users walk away from long-term contracts in North America if you get a prolonged slump in natural gas prices. In general, the world will continue to have a voracious appetite for energy, and it won't matter exactly what the source is...but the percentage from any particular source will be heavily dependent on supply/demand and there will be some regionality influencing that curve. Cheers!

Al, I'll bet you $5K that coal will still be terrific 100 years from now for barbecuing! It won't matter...ribs will still taste good, even if there are other ways of cooking them. That competitive advantage will never dissipate even if GE comes up with a better way to nuke food. ;D Are you man enough to take my bet? I'll let you and Ericopoly go halfsies on that offer, because I know neither one of you are man enough to take me on alone. Heck, add Stone19 to the list too, because I've had pulled pork on his Green Egg and he uses two types of wood along with his special Green Egg coal. He won't use normal coal by itself! ;D And he uses those sissy Carolina BBQ sauces too...no tomato base! Now Matt and Joe are probably gonna jump on me, because they're from North Carolina and they're used to those sauces...any way, I digress...back to coal being the energy source of the future and natural gas will never replace it...just never will happen and I've got $5K riding on it...because as we all know, objects moving in a straight line will never, ever deviate, will they? Cheers!

Pretty good article on coal and natural gas. Cheers! http://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-coal-falling-fast-utilities-173126367.html;_ylt=ApfrbpNwLdeD17Ez3mWyB7SiuYdG;_ylu=X3oDMTQ0NGVlZXRqBG1pdANGaW5hbmNlIEZQIFRvcCBTdG9yeSBSaWdodARwa2cDZWFhMzA4M2UtNGYzOC0zNzk4LWFjMTctM2MxZDcxZjdjMzk0BHBvcwMzBHNlYwN0b3Bfc3RvcnkEdmVyAzdiZjAzOWMwLWI0Y2EtMTFlMS1iZjlhLWZjNDRlOTI3M2M4Mg--;_ylg=X3oDMTFpNzk0NjhtBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25z;_ylv=3

Ok, found it. Yes, another article attributing a buy by Berkshire, when in actuality it is a subsidiary that is buying. Cheers! http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/news/investment-berkshire-hathaway-backs-woulfes-korean-tungsten-venture/1000953394/

Does anyone remember this, or is this another article attributing an investment by Berkshire that never actually happened? Cheers! http://www.resourceinvestor.com/2012/06/12/why-warren-buffett-is-loading-up-on-tungsten?t=mining-investments