Thinking Like A Kid; Jan 30, 2006

I believe that the propensity to learn new things decreases as a man ages (ie) a 1 year old kid learns a lot more in a day as compared to a 10 year old, who instead learns a lot more as compared to 25 year old.

http://arpitranka.blogspot.com/2006/01/thinking-like-kid.html

Great article, Arpit,
Dah Hui Lau (David)
dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

Great Investing Blogs!

These are superior blogs that I come across. I visit these blogs daily to learn everything that is being offered.

1. Shai Dardashti on Grahamian Value
2. Vinvesting
3. Arpit Ranka
4. Value Investing Is My Life
5. StokBlogs
6. Fundoo Professor
7. Value Investing, and a Few Cigar Butts
8. Three Grahamian Virtues
9. Deep Wealth

Thank you guys, for creating such great blogs! Keep it up.

Warmest regards,
Dah Hui Lau (David)
dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

Sherman’s March; Jan 29, 2006

How Naples, Florida, money manager Bruce S. Sherman muscled Knight Ridder—the nation’s second-largest newspaper company—into putting itself up for sale.

By Charles Layton
Charles Layton is an AJR senior writer.

http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4037

All the best,
Dah Hui Lau (David)
dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

Buffett's Coca-Cola stake an example of value of dividends; January 28, 2006

Saturday, January 28, 2006

When Coca-Cola's board of directors meets next month, it's likely to boost the company's regular quarterly dividend for the 44th year in a row.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/business/content/business/epaper/2006/01/28/a15b_dividend_0128.html

All the best,
Dah Hui Lau (David)
dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

Marty Whitman's 'Safe and Cheap' Approach; Jan 27, 2006

One of our favorite value investors is Marty Whitman, manager of the Third Avenue Value Fund. The fund has racked up a heady 16.8% annualized average return since its 1990 inception by adhering to Whitman's self-described "safe and cheap" approach, leaving efficient market aficionados scratching their heads.

http://news.morningstar.com/article/article.asp?id=154787&pgid=wwhome1a

All the best,
Dah Hui Lau (David)
dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

Prem Watsa : Short shrift; Jan 26, 2006

To some, he's the Canadian Warren Buffett. But Prem Watsa has been under siege by short sellers for three years now. Time for the Fairfax founder to shoot back in an unprecedented interview

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060126.rmprem0127/BNStory/specialROBmagazine/

All the best,
Dah Hui Lau (David)
dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

Bill Miller's Secrets to Success; Jan 27, 2006

Bill Miller's $20 billion Legg Mason Value Trust fund returned 6% last year, beating the S&P 500 by 1.1 percentage points. Miller's win enabled him to extend his dominance over the benchmark index to 15 calendar years. So what is his secret for success? According to Bill Miller, " The answer, of course, is there is no secret; but there are some aspects of what we do that differentiate us from other investors, and from other value investors."

http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=983

All the best,
Dah Hui Lau (David)
dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

Berkshire Hathaway’s Holdings

http://holdings.nasdaq.com/asp/OwnerPortfolio.asp?FormType=OwnerPortfolio&CIK=0001067983&HolderName=BERKSHIRE+HATHAWAY+INC

All the best,

Dah Hui Lau (David)
dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

Warren Buffett’s Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett

All the best,
Dah Hui Lau (David)
dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

Warren Buffett, Unplugged; Nov 12, 2005

By SUSAN PULLIAM and KAREN RICHARDSON Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNALNovember 12, 2005; Page A5A

The hands-off billionaire shuns computers, leaves his managers alone, yet has notched huge returns. He just turned 75. Can anyone fill his shoes.

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB113175788303495486-_CkAF_S8b1i9OWkJAqsW_qfhox8_20061112.html?mod=blogs

All the best,

Dah Hui Lau (David)

dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

Buffett Succeeds at Nothing; Oct 30, 2002

By Mohnish Pabrai
October 30, 2002

Warren Buffett is known as being one of the best investors of all time. But it might come as a surprise to many that his investing strategy often encompasses long periods of what he calls "sitting on my butt." There have been periods of years when Berkshire Hathaway has purchased not a single share of stock, interspersed with some enormous activity. Sometimes doing nothing is the best thing you can do.

http://www.fool.com/portfolios/rulemaker/2002/rulemaker021030.htm

All the best,
Dah Hui Lau (David)
dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

The Top 10 Fund Value Creators and Destroyers; Jan 23, 2006

Two very good value investors, Wally Weitz and Bill Nygren, also made the list.

http://news.morningstar.com/article/article.asp?id=154001&_QSBPA=Y&fsection=Comm5

My comments:
Wally Weitz and Bill Nygren are among the best value investors around. Although they appeared on the list for 2005, I truly believe that this is temporary. In the long-run, these two managers are bound to outperform a lot of funds.

In fact, one should start considering investing into their funds now!

All the best,
Dah Hui Lau (David)
dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

Fallen angel stocks can have wings for patient investors; Jan. 22, 2006

"Fallen angels are typically not hard to find," said Mike Hochholzer, portfolio manager at North Star Asset Management Inc. in Menasha.

"The challenge is timing and having the conviction and stomach for getting involved."

http://www.jsonline.com/bym/news/jan06/386608.asp

All the best,
Dah Hui Lau (David)
dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

Bill Miller sees higher value in Google; January 20, 2006

Legg Mason's Bill Miller, one of Wall Street's most-watched stockpickers and a major investor in Google, says the company's theoretical value is far higher than current market prices.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/20/technology/miller_google.reut/?section=money_latest

Before you jump into conclusion and believe wholeheartedly on Bill Miller’s comments, please read the articles by Shai Dardashti:

1. Is Google Overvalued? Nov 11, 2005
2. Is Google Overvalued? Part II Nov 12, 2005

I can’t wait to see how will happen in the next 1-2 years time.

All the best,

Dah Hui Lau (David)

dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

Foolish Fundamentals: Free Cash Flow

By Motley Fool Staff December 29, 2005

We talk about free cash flow a great deal around here, and with good reason. It is the gold standard by which to measure the profitability of a company's operations. Free cash flow is not perfect, but it is more difficult to manipulate than net income or earnings per share (more on this later). For this reason, it is also likely to be lumpier than net income.

http://www.fool.com/news/commentary/2005/commentary05122914.htm

All the best,

Dah Hui Lau (David)

dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

Foolish Fundamentals: Margins

By Motley Fool Staff December 28, 2005

Traditionally, margins represent the efficiency by which companies capture portions of sales dollars. But that focus is too narrow. Margins can provide much more information.

http://www.fool.com/news/commentary/2005/commentary05122806.htm

All the best,

Dah Hui Lau (David)

dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

Foolish Fundamentals: Enterprise Value

By Motley Fool Staff December 27, 2005

Enterprise value (EV) represents a company's economic value -- the minimum amount someone would have to pay to buy it outright. It's an important number to consider when you're valuing a stock.

http://www.fool.com/news/commentary/2005/commentary05122707.htm

All the best,

Dah Hui Lau (David)

dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

Taking the Helm at Clipper; Jan 11, 2006

Chris Davis on how he'll steer the stock fund--and what he thinks of Costco and Google.

by Julie Schlosser
January 11, 2006

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/01/23/8367082/index.htm

All the best,
Dah Hui Lau (David)
dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

Buying a Dollar of Assets for 60 Cents

Anne Gudefin of Mutual Discovery Fund talks about how she and her research team search for deep value around the world.

http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/jan2006/pi20060120_8038_pi025.htm

All the best,

Dah Hui Lau (David)

dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

Buffett - The Ultimate Financial Zen Master; Jan 18, 2006

In 1989, the year of the Tiananmen Square turmoil in Beijing, I fled to America with practically nothing except some philosophical ideas from Confucius, Lao Tzu and Buddha. I later met Warren Buffett in New York and start to read about his teachings. As I read along, I start to realize that Warren Buffett and the oriental philosophers were essentially teaching the same thing. What the ancient oriental philosophers found out 2500 years ago is exactly the same the thing that Warren Buffett discovered on Wall Street, things like patience, simplicity, discipline, solitude, and inner peace. The time is different. The place is different. The playing field is different. But the Law of the Universe is fundamentally the same.

http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=924

Brian Zen, CFA, PhD, is the founder of Zenway.com Inc., an investment research firm that publishes Enlightened Investor Digest and provides training and advisory services to investors and analysts.

All the best,
Dah Hui Lau (David)
dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

Warren Buffett & Bill Gates: The $91 Billion Conversation; Oct 31, 2005

Warren Buffett and Bill Gates answer questions, first for 2,000 Nebraska students, then for FORTUNE. The billionaire buddies on the economy, philanthropy, and investment strategy—an exclusive report.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/10/31/8359156/index.htm


All the best,
Dah Hui Lau (David)
dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

Sir John Templeton interview; February 2005

Recently, NewsMax and Financial Intelligence Report publisher Christopher Ruddy visited with Sir John Templeton in Lyford Cay in the Bahamas - the place Sir John has called home for the past 32 years.

http://www.newsmaxstore.com/newsletters/fir/reports/FIR_16_Templeton.htm

All the best,

Dah Hui Lau (David)

dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

An Investment Legend's Advice; Feb 4, 2004

Here is the latest view of Sir John Templeton, the 91-year-old founder of the Templeton Funds who made a killing four years ago shorting technology stocks

http://www.forbes.com/strategies/2004/02/04/cz_bc_0204templeton.html

All the best,

Dah Hui Lau (David)

dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

One on One with Sir John Templeton; Feb 2, 2004

NBR co-anchor Paul Kangas interviews the legendary creator of some of the world's largest and most successful international investment funds. In this interview, Sir John Templeton shares his outlook of the global economy and his passion for religious research.

http://www.nbr.com/Specials/SirJohn/sirjohntrans2004.html

All the best,

Dah Hui Lau (David)

dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

University of Kansas Buffett Q&A; Dec 2, 2005

University of Kansas student meeting with Warren Buffett on December 2, 2005.

http://www.armchairanalystclub.com/archives/University%20of%20Kansas_QandA_Buffett_Dec_05[1].pdf

All the best,

Dah Hui Lau (David)

dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

Marty Whitman Speech at AAII-NYC; Jan. 11, 2006

Transcript of Notes from Marty Whitman’s Meeting Jan. 11, 2006 with NYC Chapter of AAII by Mike Onghai, CFA and Judy Onghai, PhD.

http://www.vinvesting.com/vi/columns/onghai/

Good article,
Dah Hui Lau (David)
dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

Robot Portfolio Steams to 7th-Straight Victory: John Dorfman; Jan 3, 2006

For the seventh-consecutive year, the Robot Portfolio has vanquished the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, outperforming me and most other money managers I know.

The Robot's return for 2005 was 29.2 percent, as against 4.9 percent for the index. Figures are total returns, including dividends.

What is this Robot Portfolio? It is a simple computer- driven model that selects deeply out-of-favor stocks.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000039&sid=aDfZA.kxtYKk&refer=columnist_dorfman

Enjoy,
Dah Hui Lau (David)
dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

Stock picker of the year is contrarian sort; Dec 22, 2005

By Gyle Konotopetz - Business Edge

Published: 12/22/2005 - Vol. 5, No. 44

Oliver prides himself in unearthing lumbering pigs and watching them run like thoroughbreds.

http://www.businessedge.ca/printArticle.cfm/newsID/11463.cfm

Enjoy,
Dah Hui Lau (David)
dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

Warren Buffett and Bill Gates Q&A Video; Oct 2005

"The best year of my college experience was at the University of Nebraska." - Warren Buffett.

Warren Buffett and Bill Gates Answer University of Nebraska CBA Student Questions.

http://www.cba.unl.edu/about/movies/Ethics.wmv

The World According to "Poor Charlie"; Dec 2005

Charlie Munger has been Warren Buffett's partner and alter ego for more than 45 years. The pair has produced one of the best investing records in history.

http://www.kiplinger.com/personalfinance/features/archives/2005/11/munger.html

The Moat January 11, 2006

Charles Mizrahi is editor and publisher of Hidden Values Alert newsletter, which focuses on finding stocks trading significantly lower than their underlying business value. He has over 23 years experience in the financial world as a money manager and investor.

Email: charlesmizrahi@gmail.com,

http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=874

Enjoy,
Dah Hui Lau (David)
dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

How to Read and Understand Earnings Releases Like an Investment Pro (Case Study: Wal-Mart) Dec 29, 2005

Earnings announcements and other financial statements provide a snapshot of a company’s financial performance and prospects for future growth. But, an incomplete or misinterpreted reading of such information can lead to inaccurate reporting on the true financial standing of a particular company.

CFA Institute invites journalists to participate in a live, interactive Web forum to gain a better understanding of earnings releases and learn what each figure really means for a company’s growth. Topics discussed include:

• What information the earnings reports reveal.
• How to understand the balance sheet, cash flow analysis, profitability ratios, and limitations of ratio analysis.
• How to determine what factors are affecting a company’s earnings.

http://www.cfawebcasts.org/cpe/what.cfm?test_id=550

Thank you, Yi Ping for the link.

Arnold Van Den Berg Interview; June 28, 2004

"Investment News" interview with value investor Arnold Van Den Berg of Century Management.

http://www.centman.com/PDF/investmentNewsArticle.pdf

The Perfect Business

By Whitney Tilson November 19, 2004

Understanding the quality of a business is critical to being a successful investor, as it is a major determinant of what one should be willing to pay for a stock.

http://www.fool.com/news/commentary/2004/commentary04111905.htm

Miller Beats S&P 15th Year in a Row

Bill Miller has done it again, but it was a close call.

http://news.morningstar.com/article/article.asp?id=152954&pgid=wwhome1a

Eddie Lampert: An Olympic High Jumper?

By Brian Zen, Enlightened Investor Digest

Can Eddie Lampert jump over the Sears/Kmart seven-foot bar and one day take the torch from his hero Warren Buffett? Nobody knows. But there are some interesting parallels between the two.

http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=835

Buffettesque Superinvestors

Whitney Tilson talks about 12 up-and-coming, mostly unknown investment managers whom he believes will substantially outperform the market over time. They manage money in very different ways, but all are from the intellectual village of Graham-and-Doddsville. Individual investors stand to learn a thing or two from them.

By Whitney Tilson January 23, 2004

http://www.fool.com/news/commentary/2004/commentary040123wt.htm

The Wit and Wisdom of Peter Lynch

Great article by Kaushal B. Majmudar, CFA is President and Chief Investment Officer of The Ridgewood Group a Short Hills, NJ based money management firm focusing on value investing and intelligent investing.

http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=826

All the best,
Dah Hui Lau (David)

The Perils of Investor Overconfidence

By Whitney Tilson September 20, 1999 But humans are not just robustly confident-they are wildly overconfident.

Consider the following:

- 82% of people say they are in the top 30% of safe drivers;
- 86% of my Harvard Business School classmates say they are better looking than their classmates (would you expect anything less from Harvard graduates?);
- 68% of lawyers in civil cases believe that their side will prevail;
- Doctors consistently overestimate their ability to detect certain diseases (think about this one the next time you're wondering whether to get a second opinion);
- 81% of new business owners think their business has at least a 70% chance of success, but only 39% think any business like theirs would be likely to succeed;
- Graduate students were asked to estimate the time it would take them to finish their thesis under three scenarios: best case, expected, and worst case. The average guesses were 27.4 days, 33.9 days, and 48.6 days, respectively. The actual average turned out to be 55.5 days.
- Mutual fund managers, analysts, and business executives at a conference were asked to write down how much money they would have at retirement and how much the average person in the room would have. The average figures were $5 million and $2.6 million, respectively. The professor who asked the question said that, regardless of the audience, the ratio is always approximately 2:1.

http://www.fool.com/BoringPort/1999/BoringPort990920.htm

Thoughts on Value Investing

Why will investors wait for a better deal on a car, but not a stock? Whitney Tilson discusses the elusive but vital topic of value investing in his first Fool on the Hill column, trying to hammer down not only what it is -- but what it isn't.

By Whitney Tilson November 7, 2000

http://www.fool.com/news/foth/2000/foth001107.htm

Traits of Successful Money Managers

Successful long-term money managers, Whitney Tilson says, share 16 traits, divided equally between personal characteristics and professional habits. Understanding these traits not only helps you identify exemplary professional money managers, but may also help you understand how you stack up as an individual investor.

By Whitney Tilson July 17, 2001

http://www.fool.com/news/foth/2001/foth010717.htm