Good Buys Now - Page 2 - Ajarn Forum

tomcat · 3rd March 2007, 16:53

Dearest Expat: if you've got the time, inclination, and level of expertise to evaluate your own research....fine.

My Vanguard 500 fund has .28 fee ratio. I've never paid front or back loads, or 12-b fees. It's not a challenge to find a number of funds with low fee ratios that have different investment strategies. And as for the the particular funds I choose, I do my own investigating. However, I'm definitely not a stock analyst and have no interest in becoming one.

As for the current market slide, I'm not concerned as I invest over the long term and take profits or invest more as the opportunity arises. That's the easy part.

expatwannabe · 3rd March 2007, 18:01

Sorry for ruffling your fur, Tommy.

You mentioned 20% since last year, and that's why I jumped-in. I'm not sure that's still correct 's all.

If you're happy with your investments, that's all that matters. Every investor has a different risk comfort level. You should only invest in what you're comfortable with. And a .28% management fee is excellent for the industry.

You Go, Kitty!

tomcat · 3rd March 2007, 22:11

...fur was never ruffled, just felt an urgent need to provide a different perspective to your own....

...and satisfying my urgent needs consumes much of my free time....

expatwannabe · 4th March 2007, 10:12

Another "interesting" buy right now:

MRH - Montpelier RE Holdings
EPS $3.23 / DIV $0.30 / Price $17.21

This is a reinsurance company (a company that insures other insurance companies) located in Bermuda (for tax benefits). The story here is the company was badly hurt by the Katrina hurricane. However, in the past year, earnings have bounced back quite well while the stock price has not. Montpelier has improved its underwriting standards and raised prices, but it appears the market wants to wait until another hurricane passes through. That, and currently the entire insurance industry is out of favor. Montpelier is currently trading close to book value, and by the end of this year, if its price doesn't go up, it will be trading at below book value.

Montpelier is partly owned by White Mountain Insurance Group (WTM), which is a Warren Buffett holding (through General RE). The CEO of Montpelier recently accepted a position at White Mountain Ins. For those of you who know business -- this means he was promoted, since if he'd been doing a lousy job at Montpelier, they would have never let him advance to the parent company.

Finally, there is some scuttlebutt that Credit Suisse's recent downgrade of Montpelier was questionable. That's because Credit Suisse has a forward contract to purchase shares of Montpelier at $14.50 on March 15th. As long as the price is above $14.50, Credit Suisse stands to lose big. Therefore the recent downgrade seems rather self-serving. We'll see after March whether they change that to an upgrade. I'm sure they'll wait a bit for appearances' sake...

Arnold! · 4th March 2007, 15:31

Here's an article. I tend to believe in (I know little) about 'Regression to the Mean,' more or less.

Quote:

Losing money never feels good. But keep things in perspective and you can boost long-term returns.

February 27 2007: 6:18 PM EST

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- It takes nerves of steel to shake off a stock drop like the one that came Tuesday - even conservative index-fund investors are more than 3 percent poorer.
But the world's best investors not only shake them off - they thrive on them.

They know sell-offs are common, perfectly normal (see table), and even healthy. When stocks go way up in a hurry, their prices become unrealistically high. Only by falling occasionally (and even sharply) in the short run can stocks continue to rise in the long run - without the agony of today's drop, the ecstasy of tomorrow's good returns becomes impossible.

Consider the terrible slide of 1973-74, when the S&P 500 index lost 48 percent of its value. Richard Nixon had resigned the Presidency, oil prices had quadrupled, Cleveland and New York City were on the verge of bankruptcy, and inflation had flared up to 12 percent.
If ever there's been a good time to panic, that had to be it. But as the old saying goes, things are darkest before the dawn. If you'd sold out of stocks at the end of 1974, you would have missed 1975's 37.2 percent return and 1976's 23.8 percent gain - two very strong years for the stock market.

Entire:http://money.cnn.com/2007/02/27/maga...ion=2007022718

This for the many minions who seem to always freak out when there is a correction, or downturn.

This is not aimed at anyone who has posted on this thread.

Happy buying.

expatwannabe · 4th March 2007, 15:55

Undervalued in China:

ACH - Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd.
EPS $11.80 / DIV $3.04 / Price $23.39

This is the largest aluminum producer and refiner in China. While aluminum prices rise and fall, this company has somewhat of a monopoly on the chinese market due to its location and workforce (chinese peasants). No chance of a union starting up there. And the chinese economy is still projected to grow in excess of 9% this year. Presently, the company is trading at half book value.

The stock has fallen recently due to the Chinese stock correction and the Chinese government's announcement that they're going to be cracking down on illegal stock trading. Prior to that, in November-December, the stock tanked when the company announced it was suspending trade of its shares until it completed the acquisition (taking private) of two of its subsidiaries (Shangdong Aluminum and Lanzhou Aluminum). The company is now trading again, and is also preparing to list its shares on the Shanghai stock exchange in April.

One of Warren Buffett's recent revelations was that he bought a 4% stake in South Korea's steel maker POSCO. Could Aluminum Corp. of China be one of the other two investments he's been so far unwilling to divulge? Time will tell..