UnionBanCal Corp announced today that they are acquiring Pacific Capital Bancorp PCBC for $46 a share.  This valuation is in excess of 2 times book value.  While PCBC regional footprint is attractive, it is interesting to note that the huge US Banks, BAC, C, JPM, MS, GS are trading below book value, and in many...Read More

This author did an excellent job outlining the investment thesis for Bank of America.  His premise is that the warrants are more attractive than the common stock due to the inherent leverage involved, but I tend to disagree because a large percentage of future profits are likely to be paid out via dividends, and I’m...Read More

We should see the release of Federal Reserve’s draconian stress test this week which should clear the path for many of the stronger banks to increase their dividends and share buybacks.  It is important for these companies to be able to operate in the shareholders best interests, yet still follow all regulatory guidelines. For the...Read More

The following article is pretty indicative of the bullish argument for gold.  While I certainly have no faith in any paper currencies, I’d much rather invest in assets that are likely to grow and that have some level of pricing power.  One time Warren Buffett was asked by a student how they could protect themselves...Read More

It looks like the Federal Reserve is back at it providing leaks to the press, and as usual it sheds a negative light on the banks.  I’m all for higher capital requirements but the rules have to be clear. It’s silly to come up with these fictional “stress tests” scenarios, where one group argues that...Read More

It is interesting to see that hardest hit states from housing are leading gains in employment.  It is important to remember why states like California, Florida, Arizona, and Nevada were growing so fast to warrant the increasing home prices in the first place.  They are very desireable places to live, particularly for the baby boomer...Read More

This article talks about Hedge Fund Investor Daniel Loeb getting more active with Yahoo.  This is a real positive as I have no confidence whatsoever in the Yahoo Board of Directors which have been a disaster ever since they rejected Microsoft’s $31 a share offer. I think that Yahoo should create a tracking stop for...Read More

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan was on Bloomberg this morning talking about the U.S. Consumer and his company. He mentions that Bank of America is past the stage of capital concerns, and now the issue is earnings. There are about $2 Billion of additional mortgage related expenses per quarter that will ease over time,...Read More

On February 15th, 2012 Mohnish Pabrai of Pabrai Investment Funds spoke at The Ben Graham Centre for Value Investing in Canada.  It is a long video and the formatting is not ideal, but the stories he tells are some of the stories that inspired me to start my own investment advisory firm.  He covers many...Read More

Bill Ackman appeared on CNBC today where he discussed Borders, Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), and JC Penney (JCP) among other topics.  Ackman has become one of the most influential investors in the United States through activist investing built on solid value investment principles.  I thought his comments on the housing market were particularly relevant.  It...Read More