Craven House share issue

November 6, 2013 Leave a comment

For those that aren’t aware, Craven House Capital is far and away my largest holding, and sat at 22% of my portfolio yesterday. I have no other holdings above 10% which should give you an idea of how much I like this stock.

In my previous post I spoke of how management issuing new shares at 1.25p (a premium to today’s share price) was beneficial for existing shareholders and that I expected management to drastically increase the size of the balance sheet. Well today has confirmed that assumption was correct, as they have just announced a new deal which I calculate has increased my adjusted book value from £2.6m to £3.8m, a 45% increase.

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Emerson Radio (AMEX:MSN)

November 4, 2013 2 Comments

Emerson Radio Corp (AMEX:MSN) is one stock that appears to be a no-brainer. Its market cap, at $51m, is less than its net cash of $61m, yet the business is profitable, generating $7m of pre-tax profit in the last 12 months. Who wouldn’t be tempted by such numbers, until you learn the unpleasant truth about why this company deserves to be trading at such low multiples. Its management and owners are surrounded by countless accusations of corruption, so much so that if all are to be believed, shareholders of Emerson should expect nothing more than to be conned out of what is rightfully theirs. This is a warning to investors – an investment in Emerson as it currently stands is nothing more than a gamble on a change of ownership.

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Markel Corp (NYSE:MKL)

October 28, 2013 1 Comment

Markel Corporation is an insurance company, and a well run one at that. I have talk about insurance previously in my Amlin article so this article just goes straight into the facts. Markel has increased book value by a compounded 11.6% annually for the last 10 years, and sells at a price to book ratio of just 1.2

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Awilco Drilling (OSL:AWDR)

October 25, 2013 Leave a comment

A recent buy in my portfolio is Awilco Drilling (OSL:AWDR), which owns and contracts out two drill rigs. It has a dividend yield of 20% and a stable stream of income under contracts for the next few years. But the dividend has only just started to be paid quarterly, so it does not appear in a lot of screeners which is why it has gone unnoticed.

The oil industry is priced low all-round at the moment, so there are bargains around and I feel this is one of them. Read the piece I linked in my last post for more info on why the oil market is undervalued.

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JOY and RT

October 21, 2013 1 Comment

One thing I haven’t been doing lately is writing up on stocks. That’s mainly because I haven’t found many worthy of investing in. I’ve decided to write up more of the stocks that I reject for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I am often wrong in rejecting a stock and readers may see a bargain where I have failed. Secondly, I want to take more time to monitor how my rejected ideas do over time, to see if I can improve as an investor.

This article covers two stocks which appear at attractive prices, but for one reason or another I have decided not to invest in. They may appeal to others though.

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IBM vs Oracle

October 15, 2013 Leave a comment

I bought shares in IBM (NYSE:IBM) over a year ago, not long after Warren Buffett announced he had made a large investment in the shares himself. This is one of the few investments that I have been displeased with throughout, not because the share price hasn’t performed, but because the business itself has performed far below my expectations.

It wasn’t until recently, when I took a look at Oracle’s (NASDAQ:ORCL) performance, that I realised that my thesis on IBM was wrong and the investment wasn’t as undervalued as I thought originally. It is hard to admit you’re wrong, especially when IBM’s share price has been much higher recently than it is now, but it’s the right thing to do as an investor.

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The US stock analyser

October 10, 2013 Leave a comment

Not long ago I shared a spreadsheet which pulled financial data on UK companies. I said I’d been looking at a version for the US and promised to release it. Well not only have I cleaned up the US one, I have revamped the UK version and re-uploaded it. The US version has the full 10 year financials, and doesn’t require any logins like the UK version. Best of all I’m giving it away for free.

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Royal Mail IPO

October 7, 2013 Leave a comment

I’ve been meaning to do a post on the Royal Mail IPO but haven’t had time to wade through the 200+ page prospectus beyond a brief glance. I have some concerns with the company in the long term and although there is a lot of hype surrounding this IPO, there are some big red flags that are putting me off.

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