Liberty

I've been having intermittent problems with this site loading very slowly, pages half loading, needing to be reloaded many times. I don't know if it's just me or everybody, so I thought I'd do a poll to see what the experience of others has been with the performance of this website. It's weird because for days it's fast, and then it gets slow and that can last for days too..

Gannon on MSFT: http://www.gurufocus.com/news/134180/should-you-buy-microsoft

Thanks for the links, ECCO. FTP is really getting no love lately. Down almost 5% today.

In my mind, nothing has the same level of quality and safety as BRK, which is why it's my second biggest holding. But some other stocks that I really like seem pretty cheap these days (like EBIX, FTP.TO, ALS.TO)... But if it goes sub-75, I'll definitely be getting more.

I'm seriously thinking about it, but there are many companies that I like that seem cheap right now.. Will have to make some tough decisions.

Here's a detail from the 2010 GOOG AR that I found interesting: 48% of revenues are from the USA, 52% from the rest of the world. Nice geographical diversification.

Thanks, I found a few things. Also found this: http://www.valueinvestigator.com/en/valuevault/elf.php

It's the first time I hear of ELF. I can't even seem to find a website for them... Do you have a link and/or a short investment thesis?

I'm also very curious about the book. would love to get my hands on it. Cheers.

I think it's a defensive move, and might widen the moat even if it doesn't actually increase their market share much. They don't want to lose control over the layer that separates them from their customers. They don't want Apple or Microsoft to somehow say "screw you google, on our hardware/OS, your products will now be hard to use and not the default choice" or "something's not working? you have to go through us to fix it and we'll take our sweet ass time". Unfortunately for them, they haven't found a way in Facebook's walled garden yet... Right now a lot of people will still switch back to Google, but over time I think such tactics could erode the moat and brand...

I thought this piece was pretty good: http://abovethecrowd.com/2011/03/24/freight-train-that-is-android/

"Very few people realize that China’s exports make up only 5% of the country’s overall economy. " Anyone can verify that number?

Not directly about Altius, but about another producer near Labrador: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2011/05/20/arcelotmittal-steel-quebec.html

Wow, that's not going to end well.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110517007044/en/W.-R.-Berkley-Corporation-Increases-Dividend-14

I have also increased my position. Mr. Market is going crazy.

Google seems to live by "release early, release often", and if something doesn't work, it doesn't matter too much.. Apple does its beta testing in private and only releases when things are polished enough. These two approaches can be valid. Hardware is more permanent, so it needs to be better from the start. But with software, Google's approach works. And a lot of what they do is just to widen the moat a bit or help the brand's mindshare.

This is based on what people have been saying in various threads. I don't have a crystal ball. And yes, an analysis would be best, but I don't have one right now and I figure that the next best thing is to start a thread anyway because it'll probably grow into something pretty useful. Sometimes people just need a canvas before they start painting...

A lot of people here are investing in GOOG, especially at recent prices (down 17% in the past 3 months), yet we didn't have a thread to discuss our favorite ad-company-that-masquerades-as-a-search-company ;)

http://seekingalpha.com/article/270005-ebix-stands-out-in-the-insurance-software-and-services-industry

I can't access it because I'm not a member. :'( It's over 45 days old, so you should be able to see it with a free guest login.

Nice writeup here: http://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/value2/Idea/ViewIdea/46323

Thanks Jeff!

I think the author of the thread deleted his original post, which deleted the whole thread. I might still be saved somewhere in the forum's archives, but I'm not sure if it's recoverable.

I'm 29 and I have 8 stocks in my portfolio. Only 12 punches left.. ;D I'll probably go over 20 someday, but I intend to keep these 8 for a long time..