As I am a bit of a curmudgeon, one of the highlights of my weekend is picking Barron’s up off my front steps and reading the column by master curmudgeon Alan Abelson. Mr. Ableson’s prolonged absence earlier this year had me quite concerned and since his return, I have read with a new appreciation. Also, and this is… Read More »

Analyzing a stock is reading a tale of two companies and deciding whether it’s the spring of hope or the winter of despair. Blair Corporation(BL) initially caught my attention because it has no debt and trades close to its book value. Blair has a market cap of only $120 million, and its 3.8% yield looked quite attractive. Further… Read More »

… in which the Inelegant Investor tries his hand with Google’s new custom search engine feature. Earlier this week, Google(GOOG) announced the availability of a new feature which allows users to build custom search engines. While this isn’t likely to have any immediate material impact on the business, it fits perfectly into Google’s paradigm of providing free tools… Read More »

Almost 6 years after filing for bankruptcy under the weight of mounting asbestos liability lawsuits, Armstrong World Industries(AWI) emerged from bankrupty last week and was largely ignored. The manufacturer of flooring, cabinets and other building products averaged volume of only 60,000 shares per day in its first 3 days of trading, and very little has been written about… Read More »

Increasingly in recent years, Warren Buffett has made a practice of meeting with groups of students and speaking to them about various aspects of his business and his thoughts on various topics. Periodically, one of these students will write a blog post or a college newspaper article about their experience, and though I have read perhaps a half… Read More »

Santarus(SNTS) announced today that it had licensed Zegerid, a proton pump inhibitor(PPI) used for treating heartburn and related GI issues, to Schering-Plough(SGP). Schering Plough will develop and release a 20 mg version of Zegerid as an over the counter medication. Santarus will continue to promote and sell the existing prescription version in its various formulations. Currently, Prilosec OTC… Read More »

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 »