Early Hurricane Forecasts Often Unreliable
With the hurricane season officially starting on June 1, residents of the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts are no doubt listening carefully to the many forecasts that are being made regarding the number of "named storms" that are likely to occur ...
Strategies for Achieving Economic Moats
In recent weeks, I have written about a number of different investment approaches along with my attempt to leverage the best ideas that have already been put into practice. This is precisely what Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger recommended ...
Does Instant Information Promote Market Efficiency?
I have been reading the updated sixth edition of Security Analysis from cover to cover and on more than one occasion, I have stopped to consider the major advantages modern day investors have compared to Graham andDodd . Investors today ...
Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits
If Graham is known as the father of value investing, Fisher is equally well recognized as the father of growth investing. I believe that the combination of both approaches has been responsible for the amazing growth of Berkshire Hathaway over ...
Thoughts on Internet Advertising
Many readers who visit this site regularly may have noticed that I have been experimenting with various types of advertisements over the past week.  When I started writing a couple of months ago, generating revenue from the activity was not ...
Kansas City Fed President Hoenig Offers Alternative to “Too Big to Fail”
At a time when most government officials in the executive branch and at the Federal Reserve continue to support the "bail out" approach, Thomas M. Hoenig, President of the Kansas City Federal Reserve bank and a voting member of the ...
The Federal Government’s “Safety Net” for Municipal Bonds Has Obvious Costs
Municipal bonds have traditionally been extremely safe investments with very low default rates and attractive tax exempt features for most investors. Municipal bond insurance has allowed state and local governments to obtain higher credit ratings, thereby generating significant interest savings ...
Warren Buffett’s Comments on Wells Fargo Have Important Stress Test Implications
The financial markets appear to be on edge this week ahead of the government's release of the methodology for "stress testing" the top banks which is set to be issued on Friday, April 24. Much of the attention has centered ...
The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America
Warren Buffett's annual letter to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway is one of the most highly anticipated and widely read documents for those interested in business, investments, politics, and economics. Lawrence Cunningham's arrangement of Warren Buffett's shareholder letters by topic is ...
Hurco’s Combination of Quality and Value
Hurco Companies, Inc (HURC) is a global industrial automation company that designs and produces interactive computer controls, software and computerized machine systems for the worldwide metal cutting and metal forming industries. The company is based in the United Sates but ...
Clayton Homes Offers Payment Protection Plan: Sign of Strength or Red Flag?
Clayton Homes has announced a payment protection plan to assist new buyers with up to three months of payments when home owners lose their jobs. The plan will cover a homeowner's mortgage, insurance, and property tax payments for all homes ...
Improved Credit Rating Firms Oversight Cannot Substitute for Investor Vigilance
The well publicized failures of the credit rating agencies in recent years was the subject of intense scrutiny today at the SEC Roundtable on Credit Rating Agencies today in Washington DC. However, none of the reform proposals relieve investors of ...
Goldman Sachs Seeks a TARP Free Future
While the strong first quarter results posted by Goldman Sachs on Monday seemed to surprise most observers, it really comes as no surprise that the firm is now seeking to free itself from the shackles of the TARP financing that ...
Electric Car Initiatives Heat Up
Despite gasoline prices that have fallen precipitously since the record high levels of mid 2008, it appears that interest in electric cars is still alive and well. In fact, efforts to come up with viable technologies could be accelerating. This ...
Wal-Mart’s Ten Year Record: A Case Study of the Dangers of Overpaying for Growth
Wal-Mart Stores is one of the most successful growth stories in American history and can boast of an unparalleled track record of growth in nearly any measure one can think of. Whether your preferred metric is the number of square ...
Berkshire’s Insurance Subsidiaries Buck Property/Casualty Headwinds in 2008
The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) reported full year 2008 results for the industry yesterday and it was not a pretty picture. While PCI reported that insurers remain well capitalized when one considers levels of statutory net worth, ...
Moody’s Downgrades Berkshire Hathaway
So much for the conspiracy theories! Moody's, which is 20% owned by Berkshire Hathaway, today downgraded the long term issuer rating of Berkshire two notches fromAaa to Aa2, and the Issuer Financial Strength (IFS) rating of most of the insurance ...
TARP’s Effectiveness Over Six Months
The Congressional Oversight Panel released a new report assessing the overall effectiveness of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) which was introduced six months ago. The executive summary is worth a quick review particularly given that TARP is very much ...
The Virtue of “Pessimism” for Investors
I have always believed that investors with an overly optimistic view of the world have an inherent disadvantage and can be predisposed to overpay for securities. While I do not advocate being a pessimist in general, there are advantages that ...
Unwinding AIG’s Derivatives Exposure
I found a recent article by Carol Loomis regarding AIG's continuing troubles to be quite interesting. As most Berkshire Hathaway shareholders know, Carol Loomis is a longtime friend of Warren Buffett and also edits his annual letter each year. Read ...