It was announced this morning that Berkshire Hathaway’s National Indemnity unit would be buying the US assets of Swiss reinsurer Converium for $95 million in cash and $200 million in assumed debt. The unit has $1.06 billion in reinsurance liabilities. It is unclear how much worth of reserves are included to back up the liabilities. Converium had run… Read More »
Bank of America(BAC)’s announcement today(10/11) that it would offer 30 free trades per month to customers with combined balances of $25,000 or more was greeted by investors in online brokers with a stampede for the exits. E*Trade(ET) and TD Ameritrade(AMTD) were both trading down around 10%, and Charles Schwab(SCHW) was down more than 5%. Bank of America’s announcement… Read More »
“Everybody else is doing it.” Inspired by recent option backdating scandals, and the criminal leak investigation at Hewlett Packard(HPQ), Warren Buffett sent out a memo to his top managers at Berkshire Hathaway(BRKA), reminding them of the importance of ethical behavior. Buffett said that while bad behavior is inevitable, we can have a huge effect in minimising such activities… Read More »
Read my Basket of Biotech Introduction Anesiva(ANSV) is a company that focuses on the development of pain management products. The company is tiny, with a market capitalization of just $135 million, and has no revenues. As of June 30, the company had $67 million in cash, but the company is spending $14-15 million per quarter and will have… Read More »
Investing in development stage biotech companies is risky business. We’re talking about companies with no material product revenues, high cash burn rates and fairly high failure rates. At the same time, successful drugs can generate huge returns. And if you can find a stock that gives you a 500% return, that supports a lot of failures. An effective… Read More »
I have to admit, sometimes I can be a bit of an ambulance chaser. One of the guiltier pleasures I indulge in my search for stocks is a periodic check of top percentage losers. Here’s a list of stocks owned by legions of hopeful investors who were wrong. Very wrong. In a single day, 10, 20, 30, even… Read More »
A friend of mine, having heard me rant several times about the impending doom of Blockbuster(BBI), sent me an article from everyone’s favorite source of fake news, The Onion. The article, entitled “Struggling Blockbuster Eliminates Rental Fees,” contemplates a desperate attempt by Blockbuster to retain customers by eliminating all charges and even paying customers for renting videos. It… Read More »
In an earlier post, I warned that Hewlett Packard(HPQ) should be sold it as it had only gone up in the face of increasingly bad news. More than a week later, the stock has finally begun to descend(down $1.91 to $34.87 on 9/21), but with the news continuing to get worse and clear questions unaddressed, the stock continues… Read More »
Like all investors, I’m always looking for a chance to buy a dollar for eighty cents. Rarely though, have I found a company where the value is as easy to understand as is the case with Cadus Corporation(KDUS). Cadus is a tiny company with a market cap of only $19.7 million at today(9/21/06)’s close of $1.50, yet it… Read More »
There’s an old scam where an enterprising prognosticator sends out many thousands of his newsletters unsolicited. Being a friendly chap, our prognosticating protagonist personalizes his newsletters. Choosing a binary event, perhaps a football game, or the direction of a particular stock index that week, he predicts for half of his recipients one outcome. Ever eager to please, for… Read More »