Do Well and Do Good

Bear Stearns and Market Transparency

I suppose that I am young enough to have been shocked as I was watched the value of a major Wall Street bank dive 85% in one day. In the aftermath of the Bear Sterns collapse there are many different questions being asked. What was the proper role of the Federal Reserve in bailing out (or not bailing out) the bank? Which bank, if any, will be next to fall? What are the implications for moral hazard?

 

I currently do not own a position in BSC as of the date of this writing – this may or may not change in the future. Under no circumstances should any of the comments stated above be viewed as a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security.  A decision to invest or not invest in any particular security should be made in the context of the financial situation of the individual or entity involved and, as such, this communication should not be construed as a recommended action.Please see conditions of use for important legal disclosures and information relevant to this post

Motely Fool: A Classy Stock for the Stingy Investor

It's not often that my father is enthusiastic during a shopping trip to a department store. So when he recently raved about happily shopping for shoes while sipping apple martinis, it struck my attention.

In an intense retail marketplace, these are the stories that are the key to determining a store that differentiates itself from competitors to continuously attract new customers and retain the old. His experience at Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN), coupled with its nomination for best customer service firm last year, encouraged me to dig in and check out the financials.

Read the rest of this article on the Motley Fool.

I currently do not own a position in JWN as of the date of this writing – this may or may not change in the future. Under no circumstances should any of the comments stated above be viewed as a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security.  A decision to invest or not invest in any particular security should be made in the context of the financial situation of the individual or entity involved and, as such, this communication should not be construed as a recommended action. Please see conditions of use for important legal disclosures and information relevant to this post

Is Solar Still Too Hot?

Despite my best efforts to ignore what the rest of the investing crowd is doing, sometimes they make too much of a fuss not to notice. About a year ago, it seemed that real estate was all anyone could talk about. (How quickly things change!) Now the flag-wavers and stock-pushers have moved on to the latest phenomenon: solar power.

Read the rest of this article on the Motley Fool

A decision to invest or not invest in any particular security should be made in the context of the financial situation of the individual or entity involved and, as such, this communication should not be construed as a recommended action.Please see conditions of use for important legal disclosures and information relevant to this post

Motley Fool: Standing Out by Standing Apart

"It's not a secret if everyone knows about it." These words of wisdom seem obvious, yet they represent a powerful concept that Foolish investors should think about applying to the market.

Investors like Warren Buffet and Bruce Berkowitz did not get where they are by following the crowd into ideas that everyone already knew about. Good businesses usually sell for dear prices exactly because everyone already knows about them. The key to value investing is finding something that is selling cheap because not everyone has jumped on the bandwagon yet. But that alone isn't enough: You also have to understand why it is cheap in the first place, so you can separate the good secrets from the bad.

Read the rest of this article on the Fool

I currently own a position in MCD as of the date of this writing – this may or may not change in the future. Under no circumstances should any of the comments stated above be viewed as a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security.  A decision to invest or not invest in any particular security should be made in the context of the financial situation of the individual or entity involved and, as such, this communication should not be construed as a recommended action.Please see conditions of use for important legal disclosures and information relevant to this post

A Crisis of Value

I often like to say that I’m a ‘value’ guy. I don’t keep many things on my desk but my Warren Buffet picture is an important exception.  That’s why I found this New York Times article about how hard it is to determine the true value of something so interesting. This article wasn’t even in the business section -- it was in Sunday’s ‘Week in Review,’ indicating just how deep the latest economic woes have penetrated into our overall sense of stability, and not just about the stock market. The author talks about how it seems to be hard to value just about everything these days, from a joke on the Conan O’Brien show to A-Rod’s contract with the Yankees.

Citi Have Problems? Maybe when Hell (or Bryant Park) Freezes Over

My office is just a few blocks from 42^nd street in mid-town Manhattan and I often walk by Bryant Park to clear my head or just to check out the latest happenings and events. It was on just such a walk during a relatively warm November day that I noticed that none other than Citibank was sponsoring (ie. paying for) the creation of a temporary ‘pond’ in the park. The pond is made to freeze over so that everyone can enjoy a season of free skating these winter months. Of course, all this was amidst new news that Citi would likely have to write down something near an additional $11 billion in the fourth quarter as part of its involvement in the subprime mortgage mess.

Please see conditions of use for important legal disclosures and information relevant to this post

Motley Fool: Disney in Hawaii

Tucked away in yesterday's business news was Disney's   (NYSE: DIS) announcement of plans to open a standalone resort on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, as part of a broader strategy of building "niche" resorts. The idea is to have a sort of megahotel property without an accompanying theme park nearby.

Given that Disney already has countless business lines -- film, television, and branded products -- alongside its hospitality properties, it's easy to view the company's $144 million price tag for the 21-acre piece of beachfront property as just another day at the office. But look a little deeper into this transaction, and it's clear that Disney has more on the line than just the rise or fall of this one resort.

Read the rest of this article here.

I currently own a position in any companies mentioned in this article as of the date of this writing – this may or may not change in the future. Under no circumstances should any of the comments stated above be viewed as a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security.  A decision to invest or not invest in any particular security should be made in the context of the financial situation of the individual or entity involved and, as such, this communication should not be construed as a recommended action. 

Please see conditions of use for important legal disclosures and information relevant to this post.

Motley Fool: Should Amazon Investors Fear the Mechanical Turk?

In my last article, I talked about companies that provide services to businesses that otherwise wouldn't have access to certain services, or don't want the headaches of "high-touch" tasks -- those that entail human involvement instead of computer automation. Now Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) is moving into these spaces.

Read the rest of my article on Amazon's innovative, but potentially misused technical Turk here.

I currently own a position in any of the companies mentioned here as of the date of this writing – this may or may not change in the future. Under no circumstances should any of the comments stated above be viewed as a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security.  A decision to invest or not invest in any particular security should be made in the context of the financial situation of the individual or entity involved and, as such, this communication should not be construed as a recommended action. 

Please see conditions of use for important legal disclosures and information relevant to this post.

Motley Fool: Opportunities in Outsourcing

My latest Fool article, on outsourcing providers, can be viewed here.

Please see conditions of use for important legal disclosures and information relevant to this post.

Motley Fool: Margin of Unsafety

Playing with margin can be a risky endeavor -- my latest Fool article lays out the dangers. You can read it here.

Please see conditions of use for important legal disclosures and information relevant to this post