Circle of Competence

Disclosure & Other

Jeff — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:10:35 +0000

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 [...]

Changes afoot as I begin Complete Growth

Jeff — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 03:17:06 +0000

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 [...]

Street Yells Sell! As Lampert Buys Back 4% of Sears

Jeff — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:57:18 +0000

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 [...]

On Bad Academics & A Good Academic Argument for Concentration

Jeff — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 20:18:19 +0000

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, [...]

Concentrated Risk: Pabrai and Pinnacle Airlines

Jeff — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:12:17 +0000

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 [...]

Steak N Shake Begins to change in FYQ3

Jeff — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 01:48:36 +0000

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 [...]

Biglari Takes on More Responsibility

Jeff — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:08:09 +0000

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 [...]