Category: Nuggets

Nugget: OPAP to get ~50% stake in VLT market

According to Reuters: "Thursday, Greece resubmitted the bill and proposed that OPAP, one of its most valuable assets which is slated for privatisation by the end of the year, will get a licence for 16,500 gaming machines out of a total of 35,000 to be awarded across the country. "Allowing the operation of gaming machines … Continue reading Nugget: OPAP to get ~50% stake in VLT market →

Nugget: On Madison Square Garden Real Estate

From an article by Elliot Brown of the New York Observer: Given that Vornado owns essentially half the neighborhood surrounding Madison Square Garden, and Related is its 50-50 joint venture partner in Moynihan, if the two were able to get their hands on those air rights, they would be able to (eventually) remake the midtown … Continue reading Nugget: On Madison Square Garden Real Estate →

Nugget: Francis Chou on Investing in Debt Securities

From Francis Chou´s Letter of the Manager from the Annual Report  2010: Before we invest in troubled companies we always ask questions and base our decisions on some of the criteria outlined below. It is impossible to list all the criteria but these are the main ones we look for: 1) Where does the debt … Continue reading Nugget: Francis Chou on Investing in Debt Securities →

Francis Chou | Deep Value Investor

Francis Chou is a Canadian value investor and principal of Chou Associates Management Inc. In 1981, together with six fellow telephone repairmen, Francis Chou started an investment club with $51,000. He left Bell Canada in 1984 and became a retail analyst at GW Asset Management. He turned the investment club into Chou Associates Fund in 1986. … Continue reading Francis Chou | Deep Value Investor →

Nugget: Damodaran on simulations, sensitivity analysis and decision trees

Damodaran on probabilistic approaches to risk assessments in finance: • In the most extreme form of scenario analysis, you look at the value in the best case and worst case scenarios and contrast them with the expected value. In its more general form, you estimate the value under a small number of likely scenarios, ranging … Continue reading Nugget: Damodaran on simulations, sensitivity analysis and decision trees →

Nugget: Madison Square Garden Valuation

From Brian Griffin´s article "Madison Square Garden Seems Significantly Undervalued" : Valuation: I will keep it relatively simple as I've always felt that the more numbers you need, the less likely it is that you have a real winner. You can add up the low end of my estimates and come up with 800 + … Continue reading Nugget: Madison Square Garden Valuation →

Warren Buffett on the Borsheim Business Model

Borsheim's Fine Jewelry is an Omaha-based jewellery store that in 1989 was acquired by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. From the 1988 Berkshire Hathaway Letter to Shareholders You won’t be surprised to learn that this family brings to the jewelry business precisely the same approach that the Blumkins bring to the furniture business.  The cornerstone for … Continue reading Warren Buffett on the Borsheim Business Model →

Nugget: In praise of Vagueness

Excerpt from "In Praise of Vagueness; Malleability of Vague Information as a Performance Booster" by Himanshu Mishra, Arul Mishra and Baba Shiv "In the domains of goal setting and selfpresentation, research has found that people strategically distort vague information to perceive themselves as at an advantage. For instance, athletes were more likely to exaggerate their … Continue reading Nugget: In praise of Vagueness →

Nugget: Third Avenue takes on a position in Madison Square Garden common

To my surprise, Curtis R. Jensen, Chief Investment Officer of the Third Avenue Small-Cap Value Fund, revealed in his letter to shareholders from April 30th. 2011, that the fund had added Madison Square Garden common shares to its portfolio. Third Avenue operates value oriented mutual funds, based on the principles of Ben Graham. Its founder, … Continue reading Nugget: Third Avenue takes on a position in Madison Square Garden common →