Value Investing is Not Necessarily Buy and Hold Investing

April 14, 2012

Value investing is a process that aims to deliver outstanding long term returns. However, this should not be confused with the notion that value investors tend to buy stocks and hold them for the long term. Many consider Warren Buffett as a great example of a successful value investor and Mr Buffett does ask the [...]

Exited $BSET with 26.25% Gain in 3 Months

April 14, 2012

Bassett (BSET) has been another great performing stock that I purchased in January 2012 at $8.04/share. On Friday I decided to exit the holding and completed my sale at $10.19/share. This represents a 26.25% gain in less than 3 months that I held this stock. Please note that the gains are inclusive of commissions paid [...]

What are Stock Warrants? How do they Work?

April 11, 2012

Often you might come across warrants to buy stock and you might have wondered what does it mean. Even if you are not interested in buying the warrants, it is important to know if the company that you are interested in buying the stock in also has outstanding warrants, as the warrants can have disproportionate [...]

Exited Flexsteel ($FLXS) for 31% Gain in 6 Months

April 10, 2012

Flexsteel Industries (FLXS) has been good to the Value Stock Guide portfolio delivering a little over 31% return in 5 and a half month of holding it. I initially entered the position at an average cost of $14.41/share on Oct 26, 2011. Today I sold the stock at $18.9624/share. The 31% return is just capital [...]

Power-One ($PWER) Added to VSG Watch List

April 9, 2012

Power-One (PWER) showed up in my latest screen for top small cap stocks to watch and I decided to look a little deeper into the company to see if it satisfies my first level criteria to determine if the stock is worthy enough to put it on the Value Stock Guide Watch List. This is [...]

Top Small Cap Stocks to Watch for April 2012

April 8, 2012

April has been generally good for the stocks. Since 2001, April has been the best month for stocks, with an average 2.7% return in the month, and the market up 8 out of the last 11 years in April. We have also entered April with strong positive momentum in the market and as the tax [...]

Value Stock Guide Portfolio – Q1 2012 Wrap Up

March 31, 2012

The first quarter has been good to the stock portfolios across the country and the Value Stock Guide portfolio performed quite well. We were up 15.18% compared to S&P 500 that was up 12.00% (excluding dividends). While I am happy with the performance this year so far, I am more excited by the fact that [...]

5 Stocks to Buy for Rapid Book Value Growth

March 28, 2012

The previous 5 years have not exactly provided the ideal environment for business growth. It has been a common sight to see companies mercilessly cutting expenses, using up their rainy day cash or otherwise finding other ways to erode their book value as they struggled to grow. In this light, the companies that did manage [...]

HP Stock ($HPQ) – To Buy OR Not To Buy: That’s the Question

March 19, 2012

There is no shortage of the amount of prose written eulogizing the valuation of HP stock (HPQ). To be sure, the stock is trading at an attractive valuation. A P/E ratio just about 8.6, and a price to book of 1.23 for a large cap stock definitely makes you stop and take a look. Given [...]

5 Bargain Value Investing Stocks With Cash Rich Balance Sheets

March 12, 2012

Cash and cash equivalents  are the easiest balance sheet line items to value. Typically they can be valued at 100 cents on a dollar. The holy grail of value investing is of course, finding stocks that carry more cash on their books than the entire company is worth in the stock market. And if the [...]

Exited $VOXX – 93% Gain in 6 Months

March 8, 2012

I recently exited VOXX Intl stock (VOXX) at $12.56/share. The stock was originally purchased on Aug 31, 2011 and with subsequent purchases there after, my average cost in the stock was $6.48/share. This sale netted me about a 93% gain in a little over 6 months of holding. This includes the commissions paid. The original [...]

Exited HLYS at $2.35/share – 11.62% Gain in 4 Months

March 3, 2012

I exited my position in Heelys (HLYS) on Mar 2, 2012 at $2.35/share. The stake was purchased on Oct 14, 2011 at the average cost of $2.07/share. The 4 month of holding netted 11.62% capital gain, net of commissions. HLYS was originally purchased as a net-net stock with its NCAV exceeding its market value. The [...]

Beta of a Stock is a Meaningless Measure

March 1, 2012

For most investors who have grown up on the diet of high beta = high risk, this statement will come as a surprise. Beta means nothing for a stock. And beta explains nothing about the investment merits of a stock. Let me start with two thought experiments to drive this point home. Scenario 1: Let’s [...]

Reflections on 2011 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Letter

February 28, 2012

(BRKA) Berkshire Hathaway’s 2011 Shareholder Letter is out and was posted this past weekend. Like most value investors, I spent some time reading it. While I don’t feel it contains any nuggets of wisdom that Buffett has not already imparted over his long career, it is still important to learn to look at investments through [...]

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →