Warren Buffett's first rule of investing is not to lose money. His second rule is not to forget about the first rule. For those of you that have been with us for years, you have heard us talk a lot about maximizing risk-adjusted returns...Read More

As a firm, our biggest position has been Assured Guaranty (AGO) for quite some time. We have written about it extensively and covered the attractiveness of the opportunity in great detail. Today was a great day, as we really got confirmation of the incredible progress that this company is making.Read More

Today it was announced that TIAA was buying Everbank (EVER) for $19.50 per share.  Everbank is a very average bank with lower returns on equity than the big banks.  As of the 2nd quarter 2016, Everbank’s tangible book value per share was $13.24 meaning that TIAA is paying right around 1.5 times tangible book.  Because...Read More

It looks as though the PROMESA legislation is going to be approved by the Senate and signed by the President in the very near future. While far from perfect, this legislation is also far from being a worst case scenario for both creditors and bond insurance companies. It is hard to overstate just how attractive...Read More

  Since the extremely weak May jobs report, interest rates have plummeted across the globe. There are now over $10 trillion in bonds that are trading at negative interest rates. This is unprecedented as the buyers of these bonds are guaranteeing themselves losses if they hold until maturity. This has pushed asset prices up as...Read More

The basic tenets to value investing and margin of safety are the following: Every stock is a fractional share of an actual business. Every business or stock has an “intrinsic value.” The “intrinsic value” of a business generally changes at a much slower rate than the price of a publicly traded stock can change. Over...Read More

If one studies the history of financial markets, a consistent theme emerges. Short-term fads tend to dictate short-term performance, but long-term performance is determined by value and fundamentals. There are periods where prices flat out do not make sense, either for the market as a whole or for individual stocks and sectors. The current investment...Read More

Yesterday, Assured Guaranty reported very strong 1st quarter earnings and once again saw an increase in both operating and adjusted book value. Over the last year, the company has grown both metrics by roughly 15%, despite adding material reserves for its Puerto Rico exposures and paying a respectable 2% dividend. The stock still trades at...Read More

Today, Assured Guaranty announced its acquisition of fellow bond insurer CIFG.  This is now the 3rd acquisition AGO has made of another bond insurance company.  The others, which were FSA and Radian Asset, have been very successful thus far.  While this acquisition is a bit smaller, it looks very safe and should add a nice...Read More

Below is TTCM’s most recent research report on Assured Guaranty. We believe that Puerto Rico fears are greatly exaggerated for AGO. Follow the link to read more.  I hope you enjoy! http://seekingalpha.com/article/3964126-puerto-rico-fears-greatly-exaggerated-ago   Investing in AGO? You’ll want to read these exclusive PRO articles: Assured Guaranty – 50% Of Growing Adjusted Book Value by Tim...Read More