Insider Monkey

Posted by Unknown Kamis, 24 Oktober 2013 0 komentar

Insider Monkey


9 Insider Purchases That Shareholders Should Know About

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 05:53 PM PDT

Insider purchases: There are many insider filings with the SEC on a daily basis, but on the whole, it’s more important to track insider buying activity versus insider selling. In case you’ve missed some of our recent coverage, here’s a recap of the most important insider buys of the week.

Verastem: Director Richard Aldrich bought 1,000 shares at $12.57 each. Shares of Verastem Inc (NASDAQ:VSTM) now trade at $10.77.

Opko Health: CEO, Chairman and all-around permabull Phillip Frost bought 20,000 shares at $11.34 each. Opko Health Inc. (NYSE:OPK) is presently flirting with $11 a share.

Raj Rajaratnam listening to tip

Global Payments: Directors William Jacobs and Gerald Wilkins bought in at $19.35 and $56.74 per share, respectively. Global Payments Inc (NYSE:GPN) now trades just under $57 a share.

Fidelity Southern: Director Rankin Smith bought 691 shares at $14.45 each; the stock is currently priced at $14.66.

Ruby Tuesday: Senior VP Jill Golder purchased 5,000 shares at $6.05; Ruby Tuesday, Inc. (NYSE:RT) now trades five cents higher.

Monmouth: Monmouth R.E. Inv. Corp. (NYSE:MNR) CFO Kevin Miller bought a small amount of shares at $8.47 each; the stock is now at $9.41 per share.

CBIZ: CEO Steven Gerard bought close to 150 shares at $7.41 each; CBIZ, Inc. (NYSE:CBZ) now trades at $7.80.

Symetra Financial: CIO George McKinnon made a small transaction at $15.61 a piece;  Symetra Financial Corporation (NYSE:SYA) is priced at $18.87 as of this writing.

Disclosure: none

Stock Market Correction: Is It Worth Waiting For?

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 04:20 PM PDT

Few things are scarier for smart investors than buying when stock markets are at all-time record highs. With the S&P 500 having soared to new records yesterday, sentiment among mainstream investors is unmistakably bullish. But subtler signs of nervousness have started to appear about the health of the economic recovery and the ability of the bull market to continue, raising fears that a stock market correction is imminent.

Ordinarily, investors can expect to see drops of 10% or more in the market roughly once a year, even in the context of an ongoing bull market. But the S&P 500 hasn’t suffered a 10% pullback since December 2011. With such a long period having gone by without a stock market correction, does it make sense to hold off on buying stocks in hopes of getting lower prices? Or should you go ahead and buy, risking getting mauled by a big bearish move?


Photo: Alan Vernon, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Are you ready for what you’re wishing for?
Whenever there are extreme market movements in either direction, emotion starts to play a huge role in investing decisions. Extended and uninterrupted stock-market rallies, as we’ve seen throughout the past two years, leave those on the sidelines feeling increasingly worried that they’ve missed out on huge potential gains. This pushes them to invest even as higher share prices make stocks less attractive from a valuation standpoint. In that light, waiting for a correction might seem like the smarter move.

Yet, waiting creates two more challenges. First, you have to have the patience to stick with your decisions, and that can be difficult if the bull market rages higher. For instance, at the beginning of 2013, markets soared after lawmakers averted the threat of a huge tax increase on the entire American public. Those gains led some to decide to wait for a pullback before getting in. They’ve been waiting ever since, and the S&P 500 is now 20% higher.

Second, once the correction comes, you have to have the conviction to follow through with your original commitment to buy. That’s also a tough thing to do, because most stock market corrections hinge on some piece of exceptionally bad news that can make less secure investors question their entire investing plans.

Two smart moves to make now
What makes the most sense is never to stop investing entirely, even as markets keep rising, but also to keep your eyes open for better prospects if a stock market correction occurs. That way, you’ll benefit no matter which way the market moves.

When considering investments at near-record levels, it often pays to focus on areas of the market that most investors have neglected. Lately, consumer-staples stocks have gotten a huge amount of attention, with many investors turning to them for their reliable dividend income and defensive characteristics during pullbacks. Yet all the demand for dividend stocks has pushed their valuations up dramatically.

Verastem’s Richard Aldrich Made a Buy Earlier This Week at $12.57/Share

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 04:14 PM PDT

Verastem, Richarld AldrichRichard Aldrich purchased 1,000 shares of Verastem Inc (NASDAQ:VSTM) on Monday at $12.57 per share, for a total sum of $12,570. This member of the Board of Directors now holds 17,000 shares of common stock indirectly, through the Richard H. Aldrich 2005 Revocable Trust. These holdings amount to approximately $195,330.

Verastem-Logo

In addition to the holdings mentioned, Aldrich controls another 2,869,841 shares of common stock through the Longwood Fund, L.P., amounting to approximately $32.9 million. Additionally, the Richard H. Aldrich Irrevocable Trust of 2011 controls another 135,714 shares. Apart from these indirect holdings, the Director has direct ownership of 407,142 shares, or around $4.6 million.

Aldrich has been responsible for a large amount of insider trading recently. The Director has purchased Verastem stock on 17 different occasions this year, always in amounts of 1,000 shares per transaction. Prices have varied from $14.11 since his initial purchase on July 1st, to their current value of $11.49 as of Monday October 21st. This represents a 22.8% decrease in share value.

Monday's purchase was accompanied by Verastem's presentation at the 2013 AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Boston. The company announced that the first phase portion of its Phase 1/1b study of defactinib, in combination with paclitaxel in patients with ovarian cancer, has produced positive results. Hence, the insider trade comes as little surprise, as Aldrich seeks to benefit from the firm's potential breakthrough in its ovarian cancer treatment.

What does seem odd is the loss of share value. The insider purchase, along with the positive results of the clinical and preclinical study, should have boosted shareholders' confidence in the company. In light of the 8.15% drop the stock experienced on Monday, Aldrich's purchase seems more of a limp attempt to maintain share value, rather than an expression of confidence in the firm's future.

Disclosure: Pablo Erbar holds no position in any stocks mentioned

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Meet Dr. Phillip Frost, The Hypertrader of Opko Health

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 04:12 PM PDT

Dr. Phillip Frost, Opko Health: At the beginning of the week, Dr. Phillip Frost, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors at Opko Health, Inc (NYSE:OPK), purchased 20,000 shares of common stock, at a price of $11.34 each, for a total transaction worth $226,800. Mr. Frost’s Frost Gamma Investments Trust how holds $1.5 billion worth of Opko Health stock.

Opko Health Inc. (NYSE:OPK)

Mr. Frost indirectly controls an additional 15,490,546 shares of common stock because Frost Gamma Investments Trust is a principal member of The Frost Group, LLC, and the last entity holds the mentioned shares. This capital investment represents a total of $171.4 million approximately.

Frost has been very active for what seems like forever. Last Friday, Mr. Frost complete fifteen transactions with prices ranging from a low of $11.46 to $12.01 each, for amounts as low as 100 shares and high as 6,400 shares. Friday, however, was not the only day showing a high quantity of transactions during October. And, as a matter of fact, throughout the current year, Mr. Frost has always acted in the same fashion. More specifically, Mr. Frost completed a high rate of transactions in consecutive days almost every month of the current year.

At the moment, Citadel Investment Group, led by Ken Griffin, is the largest hedge fund invested in Opko Health, with a total of $3.2 million in stock.

Disclosure: Jodor Jalit holds no position in any of the mentioned stocks.

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Global Payments Executives Are Making a Ton of Trades

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 04:08 PM PDT

Global Payments executives: Earlier this week, J Gerald Wilkins, a Director at Global Payments Inc (NYSE:GPN), reported the purchase of 2,500 company shares at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The acquisition took place last Friday, at a price of $56.7484 per share, totaling a transaction for $141,871. Following this, Wilkins holds 15,576 shares, valued at $895,152.

A couple of days before this purchase, on Oct. 16th, another insider, I William Jacobs, also a board director, had acquired 6,460 shares, using a non-qualified stock option (right to buy). He paid $19.355 per share and, although he then sold 2,218 on that same day, at the same price; the balance was positive. After the reported transactions, Jacobs owns 44,182 valued at $2,539,139.

Global Payments Inc (NYSE:GPN)

On the other hand, insider selling at Global Payments has been very strong this month. At least three insiders sold substantial amounts of stock (thousands of shares each) this month, reducing their holdings drastically. While one sold about 21% of his shares, the remaining two sold more than half of the stock that they held.

Valued at 17 times its earnings, and at a substantial discount to the 29.5x industry average, this stock does not look so bad. Nevertheless, I should mention that Global Payments is trading at a 52-week high and above its 50-day and 200-day moving averages of $50.68 and $48.49, respectively.

Growth projections are not bad either, and analysts expect the company to deliver average annual EPS growth rates above 10% over the next five years. Moreover, a 0.14% dividend yield sweetens up the deal a little bit.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no position in any stocks mentioned

Fidelity Southern Sees Another Insider Purchase

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 04:03 PM PDT

Fidelity Southern insider purchase: Earlier this week, Rankin Smith Jr., a Director at Fidelity Southern Corporation (NASDAQ:LION), filed a Form 4 at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission declaring a stock purchase made last Friday, Oct. 18th. The insider acquired 691.7488 company shares at $14.4525 each. His holdings now amount to 225,523 shares owned directly and 326 extra ones held indirectly, through his spouse. These are valued above $3 million. Additionally, Smith owns the right to buy (stock options) 10,000 shares at $6.15 each.

Raj Rajaratnam thinking

The acquisition follows the announcement of the company's results of operations and financial condition for the quarter ended September 30th and a press release announcing that its board of directors approved the distribution of a stock dividend on November 14th. Shareholders will receive $.03 per share held on the record date of November 1st, 2013.

In the press release, the company highlighted the following key results:

1) Earned $7.9 million in third quarter

2) Completed paydown of 11% Trust Preferred Securities

3) Paid off $48 million of TARP Preferred Stock

4) Return on Average Assets of 1.20%

5) Net Interest Margin increased 17 basis points

6) Re-instated Cash Dividend

7) Organic Loan Growth of 10%, annualized

8) Classified Assets decreased 9%

9) Increased Tangible Book Value by $1.63 or 18%, year over year."

Trading near $15 a share at about 9.9 times its earnings, the company looks fairly valued. Fidelity's return on equity of 14.7% (versus the 10% industry mean) is also quite encouraging.

Back to Smith, I should highlight that this is not the first purchase that he has made this year. The Board Director had previously acquired stock in August and September, so this last one doesn’t seem random, but rather confirms a trend.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no position in any stocks mentioned

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Alexander Knaster’s Pamplona Capital Commits $594M to Mac Gray-CSC Fenway Merger

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 02:31 PM PDT

Pamplona Capital, Mac-Gray: Alexander Knaster’s Pamplona Capital Management just disclosed a 17.7% stake in Mac-Gray Corporation (NYSE:TUC), a laundry facilities company. Knaster and Pamplona are among the wealthiest hedge fund managers in the UK (No. 2, actually), and their position in Mac-Gray is activist in nature.

Mac-Gray

The move is in relation to CSC ServiceWorks’ recently announced acquisition of Mac-Gray, in which it plans on merging the smaller company with one of its subsidiaries, CSC Fenway. Mac-Gray is the controlling shareholder of CSC after it bought Coinmach Services and AIR-serv Group for $1.4 billion earlier this year.

In a separate letter attached to today’s filing, Pamplona says it “commits to purchase equity securities of or to make loans to Holdings for an aggregate purchase price of, but not exceeding in any event, $594 million,” $70 million more than CSC’s bid for Mac-Gray.

Much of the discount in Mac-Gray shares has already evaporated for merger arbitrage players, however; the stock is up almost 42% since October 15th.

Disclosure: none

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USA Truck: Stone House Capital Now Holds 8.5%

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 02:20 PM PDT

Stone House Capital Management, USA Truck: In a new SEC filing, Mark Cohen’s Stone House Capital Management disclosed a passive stake in USA Truck, Inc. (NASDAQ:USAK) that contains 900,000 shares. The position represents 8.5% of the company.

USA Truck

Disclosure: none

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Orchard Hill Reports a 10% Stake in Supernus Pharmaceuticals

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 02:20 PM PDT

Orchard Hill, Supernus Pharmaceuticals: Earlier this year, Orchard Hill Capital Management purchased a position in Supernus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:SUPN) which contained 3.5 million shares, a new filing with the SEC stated. Orchard Hill holds 10.2% of the company.

Supernus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:SUPN)

Disclosure: none

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Stephen DuBois’s Hedge Fund Now Owns a Large Position in Ariad Pharmaceuticals

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 02:17 PM PDT

Stephen DuBois, Ariad Pharmaceuticals: In a new filing just reported to the SEC, Stephen DuBois‘s Camber Capital disclosed a new 5.4% stake in Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA). This is a passive stake, but Camber does have a history of activism, most notably with Conceptus Inc. in 2011. Shares of Ariad are down 6% today, so it’s likely that the healthcare-focused hedge fund is buying the value here.

Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA)

Disclosure: none

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The 8 Most Important Smart Money Moves of the Week So Far

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 01:52 PM PDT

Smart money moves: The first three days of this week have been particularly busy in the world of hedge fund filings, and like usual, a few names stand out amongst the rest. Here are eight moves we think you should try to keep on your radar as the calendar turns to November.

1) Carl Icahn and Apple: This afternoon, Icahn tweeted that he “sent a letter to Tim Cook” and that he’s starting a new Ackman-esque website called Shareholders’ Square Table. In the letter, Icahn mentions giving an unknown pledge, according to a CNBC source. It’s likely that Icahn is furthering his effort to get an expanded Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) buyback.

2) Carl Icahn and Netflix: Icahn also cut his Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) stake in half earlier this week, booking a gain of more than 450%. In a tweet he thanked Reed Hastings (below), Ted Sarandos and Kevin Spacey.

Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)

3) Mason Hawkins and Guinness: Earlier today, a filing disclosed that Southeastern Asset Management, managed by Mason Hawkins, increased its stake in the London-listed Guinness Peat Group Plc (LON:GPG). Southeastern now holds 5.55% of the company’s total voting rights.

4) Starboard Value and Wausau: Famed activist Jeff Smith and Starboard Value reported a 15.2% stake in Wausau Paper Corp. (NYSE:WPP). The hedge fund also sent a letter to Wausau’s CEO and Board of Directors, calling for a share buyback and a dividend hike.

5) Warren Buffett and Tesco: In the same light as Mason Hawkins, Warren Buffett also made a move on the London Stock Exchange earlier this week. Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway reported that they’ve lowered their stake in Tesco PLC (LON:TSCO) to below 5% of all outstanding shares. This is a slight cut from the 5.1% stake Buffett reported before the move.

6) Jana Partners and QEP: Activist Barry Rosenstein and his hedge fund, Jana Partners, disclosed a 7.5% stake in QEP Resources Inc (NYSE:QEP). Jana mentions it will seek to add its own board members, split QEPFS from QEP, and pursue a buyback/dividend boost.

7) Steadfast Capital and Zynga: Robert Pitts‘ Steadfast Capital reported it now holds 5% of Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) Class A common stock. This is a passive stake.

8) Carl Icahn and WebMD: A third major move of the week for Carl Icahn, he also reported that he has cut his WebMD Health Corp. (NASDAQ:WBMD) stake to less than 5% of the company. Consequently, he is no longer an activist here.

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David Abrams Trims Engility Holdings Stock

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David Abrams Trims Engility Holdings Stock

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 01:36 PM PDT

David Abrams, Engility: Abrams Capital Management, a hedge fund managed by David Abrams, recently sold around 654,600 shares of Engility Holdings Inc (NYSE:EGL), a new Form 4 filing with the SEC revealed. The shares have been sold in three transactions at a price around $31.80 apiece. Following the disposal of the shares, Abrams holds below 1.9 million shares.

David Abrams

Disclosure: none

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Hawkeye Capital Reduces Position in Hemisphere Media Group

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 01:35 PM PDT

Hawkeye Capital, Hemisphere MediaRichard Rubin‘s hedge fund, Hawkeye Capital, just now reported reducing its position in Hemisphere Media Group Inc (NASDAQ:HMTV). In this way, Hawkeye now owns 1,116,683  shares of Class A stock, down from 2,083,412 shares disclosed in an earlier filing. Hawkeye also holds 561,250 shares of Class A Common Stock that can be issued via warrants. Hawkeye’s position represents around 21% of all outstanding shares here.

Hemisphere Media Group Inc (NASDAQ:HMTV)

Disclosure: none

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Seamans Capital Buys 5.9% of Quantum Fuel Systems

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 01:22 PM PDT

Seamans Capital, Quantum Fuel: Today, Quantum Fuel Systems Tech Worldwide Inc (NASDAQ:QTWW) has been added to the equity portfolio of Seamans Capital Management. In a SEC filing, Seamans reported a passive stake in Quantum Fuel Systems Tech Worldwide, which amasses 944,000 shares. The position represents 5.9% of common stock.

Quantum Fuel Tech Worldwide

Disclosure: none

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These 2 Hedge Funds Just Cut Cascade Microtech Significantly

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 01:16 PM PDT

Hedge funds, Cascade Microtech: In a filing from a couple of minutes ago, two hedge funds disclosed their bearish moves in the testing and measurement equipment company Cascade Microtech, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCD).  Matthew Drapkin and Steven R. Becker‘s Becker Drapkin Management reported cutting down their position to 971,745 shares, equal to 6.7% of the company’s common stock. Earlier in August, Becker Drapkin disclosed holding around 1.1 million shares.

cascade-microtech

In the second filing, RGM Capital disclosed it is also reducing its position in Cascade Microtech to 4.1%. This is a little over half what they held before the cut.

Disclosure: none

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The Dollar Is Set for Further Weakness

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 01:09 PM PDT

The U.S. dollar index is trading at its lowest levels in eight months, as growth prospects for fourth-quarter GDP have been dampened by the government shutdown and the Federal Reserve is now expected to delay the tapering of its bond-buying program until as late as the end of the first quarter of 2014. Reductions in the Fed’s asset purchases (still at $85 billion per month) are generally considereda negative for stock benchmarks and a positive for the U.S. dollar. However, larger-than-expected costs resulting from the U.S. government shutdown complicate the Federal Reserve’s ability to accurately assess the state of the economy.

“Delays in key economic data and a broader reluctance to inject fresh volatility in already-vulnerable markets will likely tie the hands of voting members at the Fed,” said Haris Constantinou, currency analyst at TeleTrade. “This makes it difficult for the central bank to enact sweeping changes in monetary policy.” Since a steady supply of stimulus injections is bearish for the dollar and assets tied to its value, recent events will make it difficult for the PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish (NYSEARCA:UUP) to make significant headway before the end of the year.

Looking for gains in high-yielders
Relative inactivity at the Fed will bring some additional stability to the market and reduce the larger need to invest in safe-haven currencies. This will benefit assets tracking the value of high-yielders such as the New Zealand and Australian dollar. ETF investors looking to buy into the expected bullish moves in these currencies should consider two exchange-traded funds: the WisdomTree Dreyfus NZ Dollar Fund (ETF) (NYSEARCA:AUNZ) and the CurrencyShares Australian Dollar Trust (NYSEARCA:FXA) as viable alternatives to assets denominated in U.S. dollars.

WisdomTree Investments, Inc.

The benchmark interest rate in both Australia and New Zealand stands at 2.5%. This might seem relatively low (in fact, interest rates in Australia are now at historic lows), but when looking at developed-market counterparts, these are the highest carry returns you’ll find. The added yield incentive that accompanies investments in these currencies will likely support market valuations as investors are able to hold longer-term positions through periods of potential volatility. So long as we continue to see central banks committed to stimulus programs, however, investors will be more willing to accept the added risk that accompanies positions in assets with higher-rate yields.

All eyes on the Fed
Ultimately, the fate of the U.S. dollar rests on the Fed and its level of concern for economic-growth prospects and generalized market stability. By some estimates, the extended government shutdown cost the U.S. economy $24 billion in potential fourth-quarter productivity. The schedule delays that will be seen in critical data reports (such as manufacturing and employment) make it highly unlikely that the Fed will see enough information to start making changes in monetary policy.

Eugene Fama’s Nobel Prize: Right Person, Wrong Reason

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 01:08 PM PDT

Eugene Fama’s shared economics Nobel Prize last week surprised no one except, oh, the few who know the reality of his life’s work. The Nobel Committee cited what we know as his and Kenneth French’s “efficient-market hypothesis” in rewarding Fama one-third of the prize pie. Efficient-market theory, or EMT, is used everywhere today, but Fama and French’s own research later made it all but moot. The real contribution is the “Fama and French three-factor model.” Thanks to Stockholm, Fama will be remembered for EMT forever, and the three-factor model will rarely be cited. Such is life — but investors can do better by Fama.

EMT’s revolution
Fama, a University of Chicago Booth Business School professor, became the father of EMT beginning with his 1965 paper Random Walks Down Wall Street. It fell to another famed economist, Burton Malkiel, to use the title for his megaseller, A Random Walk Down Wall Streetand spread the word (and reap megaroyalties). EMT states that past stock prices don’t predict future movements, because stock prices quickly reflect all publicly available information. Thus markets are “efficient,” according to this theory, so investors might as well throw darts — they can’t beat the market.

Jan Yellen driving economy

That was certainly the shot heard ’round the world, though it was a slow-moving bullet. Over time, the finance industry created index funds in respect of, and to profit from, Fama’s findings. Most notorious was the poster child S&P index fund. Once that fund came along, nothing else would do. The S&P 500 has become the be-all and end-all of investing benchmarks. Index investing through the S&P 500 can be a good idea, but it has become something people take on faith, rather than questioning.

Another group, the “modern portfolio theory” adherents, simply incorporated index funds selling MPT’s asset allocation to investor portfolios. If the practical import was to protect individual nonprofessional investors from the world by keeping a hand on their checkbooks, the financial world did just fine. Let 1,000 index funds blossom! Their low costs? Just add a fee to them so you can make your nut putting your clients in Vanguard funds with 0.20% expense ratios, give or take. Worse, the exalted talisman of the S&P 500 index fund is a flawed idea to start (see “Kill the S&P 500“).

The three-factor model
Many Nobel economics winners made their reputations on the work that won them the prize. They are understandably unwilling to give up the academic cred that came with their work, and they fight anything that dings their reputations. But Fama and French actually had the curiosity and open-mindedness to mine more data and accept new conclusions. Twenty-seven years after the 1965 paper, they began publishing the results of work on expected stock returns. A result was their three-factor model.

They found a first factor: that small-cap stocks and those with a high book-to-market ratio (now expressed more simply as a low price-to-book-value ratio) tend to outperform the market as a whole. Then, the authors produced two more factors — woe to the math-impaired — to adjust for the higher risk premium of lower price-to-book-value small caps. The result was a strong case that 90% of diversified portfolio returns were due to small-cap value stocks, compared with the then-popular capital asset pricing model’s 70%.

Tell us something we didn’t already know
Fama and French’s new model took a different path, but it was the academy’s acknowledgement of what Buffett and his teacher, Benjamin Graham, had known and practiced since the 1940s and ’30s, respectively: Mr. Market is emotional and inefficient. Past performance can predict future results when you buy what has been discarded by emotional investors, is cheap, and offers a margin of safety. Conversely, you can lose money buying what they find popular. Readers of Buffett’s 1984 Columbia Business School presentation, The Superinvestors of Graham and Doddsville, already knew these points — but, hey, academics sniff until the soup has proven ingredients.

Gold Miners Are Burning Cash at Current Levels

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 01:07 PM PDT

At the end of September, Citigroup put out a research report for the gold and silver mining sector, and if you’re an investor in the space it does not make for good reading. The report concentrates on the rising costs but falling revenues of the mining industry and sets out how this is going to/has already affected many gold miners. We all have our own opinions, that’s what makes us Foolish; nonetheless it is helpful to know what the big players in the industry think about certain matters, and information within this report could be helpful.

The report uses a current spot gold price of $1,320/oz throughout, so that is the figure I’m referring to when I use the term “at current prices.”

Barrick Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:ABX)

The most shocking and surprising element of the report states that at current spot prices ($1,320/oz) up to 98% of gold companies are cash-flow negative, a staggering percentage of the industry. What’s more, while the price of gold has fallen around 20% during the period June 2012 to June 2013, the average cash cost per ounce of gold production around the world has risen 11.8%, from $675/oz to $754/oz.

Spiraling out of control
Unfortunately, cash cost per ounce growth of 11.8% is only an average, and the vast majority of companies studied in the report saw their costs increase significantly more. Yamana Gold Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AUY), for example, saw its year-on-year cash costs rise around 100% through June; the price of gold declined 20% during the same period.

Goldcorp Inc. (USA) (NYSE:GG) also saw its cash cost per ounce of gold produce rocket by approximately 80%. Barrick Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:ABX), on the other hand, did manage to cut costs, 10% this year through June.

Notional cash expenditure
Additionally, Citi’s report comments on notional cash expenditure per ounce, or NCE. NCE includes operating costs plus capital expenditures, excluding minority interest in projects, divided by gold produced — much like the all in sustaining cash cost per ounce.

Actually, while Goldcorp and Yamana Gold have seen their cash costs per ounce spiral out of control during the past year, their NCE per ounce figures have only expanded around 10% and 30% year on year. Barrick’s NCE costs have also fallen by around 10% once again.

On the other hand, Randgold Resources Ltd. (ADR) (NASDAQ:GOLD), usually considered one of the more efficient gold miners, has actually seen its NCE costs rise the most out of the group reviewed; NCE costs rose on average 60% year on year for the company.

Gold is getting harder to find
According to a speech made back in 2012 by Jamie Sokalsky, CEO of Barrick Gold Corp, gold is getting harder to find (obviously, it was never that easy).

According to Jamie only three large mines were discovered during 2012, as opposed to 11 during 1991. Indeed, despite a 1,000% rise in mining capital spending among the world’s top ten gold miners during the last decade, gold production has actually fallen 5% over the same period.

Inadaba Capital Management Slices Exposure to This REIT

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 01:05 PM PDT

Inadaba Capital, REIT: Indaba Capital Management just reduced its exposure to Gyrodyne Company of America, Inc. (NASDAQ:GYRO), a REIT. According to the recent SEC filing, Indaba now holds 17,500 shares, equal to 1.18% of the company. In a filing from August, Indaba disclosed ownership of 144,552 shares of Gyrodyne, with the stake representing 9.75% of its common stock.

Gyrodyne

Disclosure: none

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Carl Icahn Tweets About Apple Letter, Unveils Plan to Launch New Website

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 12:35 PM PDT

Carl Icahn, Apple: We’ve talked about the grey area that surrounds the impact of Carl Icahn‘s tweets on the markets. We’ve also discussed how Carl Icahn’s Twitter account has moved Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock price before.

Today, the hedge fund billionaire was at it again, sharing the following a few minutes ago:

Screen Shot 2013-10-23 at 2.30.06 PM

In the letter, Icahn mentions giving an unknown pledge, according to CNBC citing a source. The manager of Icahn Capital is insisting on a buyback and presents arguments for it, the source stated.

Icahn also looks like he’s opening up an Ackman-esque website that’s focused on shareholder value, not shareholder destruction. Here’s the link to Shareholders’ Square Table, which looks like it will be up tomorrow.

Does this mean Icahn is going to start circumventing Twitter altogether to break news?

Probably not, and he’s probably not doing it for the ad money either.

Most likely, this will be a place where he can direct shareholders to the resources he wants them to see, rather than the filings/analysis presented by traditional media.

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