Leucadia was run by two high-quality capital allocators, known for their ability to find value-oriented investment opportunities in distressed companies. Ian Cumming and Joseph Steinberg were able to compound the equity of Leucadia during a period of over 20 years, at rate of around 20% per annum. Due to the nature of the corporate strategy, … Continue reading Leucadia National Corporation
Category: Profiles
Profile: Black Diamond Inc.
Black Diamond Inc (BDE) is a reverse merger stock as two operating companies, Black Diamond Equipment and Gregory Backpacks, were aquired by a registered shell company Clarus Corp, that had previously sold its software operations. In a letter to shareholders from May 2010, chairman Warren B. Kanders states: After a long and thorough process of … Continue reading Profile: Black Diamond Inc.
Profile: Callaway Golf (ELY)
In my opinion shares of Callaway Golf (ELY) are getting very close to the liquidation value of the shares. Here is a quick back-of-the-envelope attempt to kill the company using the statements of the 2010 annual report: According to this rough estimate, the per share liquidation value is in the region of $5 which would … Continue reading Profile: Callaway Golf (ELY)
Profile: Adidas Group AG.
Website: Adidas-group.com Factsheet: (link) Industry Profile: (link) Sportgamma.net articles on Adidas Back-of-the-Envelope Valuation Currently, the shares of Adidas AG. seem to be fairly valued. Using the takeover bid price of Timberland as the most recent real market multiple for a company in the sport apparel & footwear industry, we come at a fair value of … Continue reading Profile: Adidas Group AG.
Profile: Aperam
Thesis Special situation: Spin-off Timeframe: 12-18 months Expected return: 50% total (33% assuming 18 month duration) The company APERAM came into existence when ArcelorMittal spun-off their stainless steel operations. Aperam is the 6th biggest stainless steel producer in the world, the 2nd largest in Europe and the largest stainless and specialty steel producer in South … Continue reading Profile: Aperam
Profile: Lafuma Group
Website: http://www.groupe-lafuma.com/ 2010 Annual Report Notes: - Significant insider ownership - No audit report of financial statements
Profile: Charles Munger
http://youtu.be/pqzcCfUglws I probably don’t enjoy anything as much as reading Charles Munger, but this is my absolute favorite piece of Munger-material (link to the whole speech): "The model I like—to sort of simplify the notion of what goes on in a market for common stocks—is the pari-mutuel system at the racetrack. If you stop to … Continue reading Profile: Charles Munger
Profile: Henry Singleton
"By the way, you may not know, but the Michael Jordan of stock buybacks was Henry Singleton at Teledyne. Henry began Teledyne in 1961 with approximately seven million shares outstanding and grew the company through acquisitions while shares outstanding peaked in 1972 at 88 million. From 1972 to 1987, long before stock buybacks became popular, … Continue reading Profile: Henry Singleton
Profile: John Malone
John Malone is a legendary financial engineer. He’s value oriented, specialized in the entertainment and media industry (most notably cable) and known for being exceptionally shrewd when it comes to special situations. An awesome lecture by Dr. John Malone: http://youtu.be/v5QfCLeloEg John Malone talks of his past and future: Part One This is a great … Continue reading Profile: John Malone