Circle of Competence

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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 [...]

Note 5/20/08:
Based on the excellent comments and questions coming in below, I want to make this clear: I am agnostic as to how Sears achieves it success and valuation.  This column was not to argue the merits of retail, or to even suggest that I am betting on a retail turnaround for Sears, merely what [...]

Via Abnormal Returns, I came across a great article written by former Harvard Endowment portfolio manager, and now PIMCO manager, Mohamed El-Erian. He actually put out a book recently, which I may or may not get around to reading this century called >When Markets Collide: Investment Strategies for the Age of Global Economic Change
Anyway, he [...]

Just wanted to drop a couple of quick notes on two portfolio companies, Steak N Shake and Sears Holdings.
Re: Steak N Shake, they filed the 8-k today regarding the election of Sardar Biglari to Chairman, a move we mentioned last week.
In the filing, there is a small, but noticeable governance issue that has been resolved, [...]