16th November 2006
Even before last week's announcement from Sony (SNE), it seemed nearly certain that company's dominance in the PlayStation 2 generation of video game consoles would give way to a much more level playing field for the PS3 generation. This time around, Sony...
16th November 2006
As a result of problems related to the mass production of a key component of its Blu-ray DVD player, Sony (SNE) will delay the European launch of its next generation video game console, the PlayStation 3 (PS3). Sony will also reduce the number of PS3 unit...
29th September 2006
On September 28th, Friendly Ice Cream Corp. (FRN), announced CEO John L. Cutter had resigned. It was not immediately clear whether Mr. Cutter had been forced out.
I mention the possibility that Mr. Cutter was forced out, because Friendly's largest shar...
28th September 2006
Below is a letter from Mr. John L. Morgan, beneficial owner of approximately 7% of Lenox (LNX), to Ms. Susan E. Engel, Chairwoman and CEO of Lenox.
Dear Susan,
When your board offered me a directorship on September 18, 2006, we discussed the reasons...
28th September 2006
As the Dow approaches a new all-time high (the record close was 11,722.98), now would be a good time to take a break from the financial news found on your televisions, in your newspapers, (and yes) even on your computers.
A new high is an empty headli...
07th September 2006
Blyth (BTH) calls itself a "home expressions company". Most people call it a candle company. Neither description is entirely accurate.
Blyth can rightly be called the world's largest scented candle company, because larger competitors like S.C. Johnson...
16th June 2006
Maintenance Cap-Ex
The nice thing about having low capital spending, is the pleasant surprise it creates. You find a company that is earning more (economically) than other companies with the same GAAP numbers. So, the P/E ratio tends to exaggerate how ...
31st May 2006
Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) is a huge Western and Midwestern bank that provides a diverse array of financial services to its more than 23 million customers. The company employs more than 150,000 people at its over 6,000 locations nationwide. Wells Fargo h...
20th May 2006
Superficially, banking appears to be a commodity business. In fact, it appears to be a particularly poor commodity business, because capacity is not constrained by the need to invest in a substantial physical infrastructure. True, whatever investments are...
20th May 2006
Whenever a large investment has been made in a particular area, whenever there is a lot capital, people, and ego tied up with some operation, the transition away from that operation is apt to be far slower than what an objective observer would have expect...
21st March 2006
Copyright © 2006 Geoff Gannon
What is Value Investing?
Different sources define value investing differently. Some say value investing is the investment philosophy that favors the purchase of stocks that are currently selling at low price-to-book rat...
19th January 2006
Why is a value investor writing about an unprofitable internet company? Because value investing is about finding dollars that trade for fifty cents; with a market cap of less than 75% of sales, Overstock.com (OSTK) looks like it may be exactly that.
B...
14th January 2006
In 2005, Berkshire Hathaway bought about a million shares of Lexmark. I haven't followed this story closely, but I assume the stock was purchased by Lou Simpson rather than Warren Buffett. I have only two reasons for believing this: the total purchase was...
04th January 2006
One question almost every investor asks at some point is whether it is possible to achieve above market returns by selecting a diversified group of stocks according to some formula, rather than having to evaluate each stock from every angle. There are obv...
04th January 2006
A duopoly is a situation in which two firms control nearly all of the market for a product or service.
Duopolies can be surprisingly competitive. If you remember that the price of a product or service is determined solely by the highest losing bid pri...
