Circle of Competence

I am a young investor trying to learn and profit from the words of Buffett, Munger, Graham, Klarman, Greenblatt, and Pabrai, among other “Superinvestors.” We’ll discuss a handful of companies, mental models, Superinvestors, and ,occasionally, the world of finance. Don’t hesitate to leave a comment or send me an e-mail if you’d like to know more about myself, the blog, or the companies and people I’ve written about. E-mail us at circleofcompetenceblog@gmail.com

I thought it might be best to update you on a few companies I’ve written about.
First up is the oft-debated Primus Guaranty (PRS). Last week, I made the calculated decision to sell Primus in my personal portfolio. This might seem a little flip-floppy for a long term value investor who has spoken rainbows of the [...]

Readers,
I have to first apologize for the length of time since my last post.  The financial world has changed forever and you have yet to hear a peep from me!  Needless to say, the brief conclusion I can make is that the financial markets are littered with opportunity both big and small.  The companies I’ve [...]

The results for Sears’ (SHLD) second fiscal quarter are now out and, for most people, they are not very pretty.  Year over year sales declines, net income down, lowered guidance.  These things are, in essence, death to any retailer, or any publicly traded corporation for that matter.
Here are some headlines I read this morning:
Sears Falls [...]

I can’t vouch for much of academic finance.   When it comes to this field, academics tell us all about beta, risk adjusted this and Sharpe weighted that. Though the reality of the situation is that finance and economics are not easily definable subjects with physics-like rules, academics try to prove otherwise, [...]

As a frequent reader, and now small-time contributor, to the Berkshire Hathaway group over at MSN, created and wonderfully maintained by Sanjeev Parsad, I was intrigued by a recent post regarding the dumping of Pinnacle Airlines (PNCL) by Mohnish Pabrai.  Before I begin, I want readers to understand that Mohnish is one of my idols in [...]

Here it is folks, the first quarter for Steak N Shake, under the watch of Sardar Biglari, is now in the books.
Instead of me giving you all the quotes, you might as well just go ahead and read the press release.  There are too many great quotes for me to choose one or two.
Basically, Biglari [...]

As we’ve known since the annual meeting of Western Sizzlin’, Biglari has been searching for a new CEO for Steak N Shake (SNS).  It seems he has found one: himself.
Before we go nuts here, read this quote from the filing:
 I would like to thank Wayne [Kelley, interim CEO] for his guidance over the last several months. In [...]