My Fairfax Free Ride

One of my favorite developments in investing is seeing a stock double in price. This lets you sell enough to get your original capital back -- with the rest still being a full portfolio position.

The the stock becomes a free ride. It can keep going up. Or it can go down. Either way, you're OK.

Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH/NYSE) is a case in point. I've reported on Controlled Greed previously that I've sold enough to get my original investment out of the company (I've owned it for years and recommended it on this blog in 2005).

Fairfax reported fine results Thursday. Then the stock sold off today.

I don't know what the future holds. That's true for everything, and I often feel like this site should be named "I Don't Know" instead of Controlled Greed.

I do know that some really smart folks have been recommending Fairfax lately. And buying it, too. And, it might turn out to be a great stock from here on out. I sure hope so, because it's still a full portfolio position for me. But Fairfax was a much better buy when it was trading for less than US$150 -- and there was even a short time when it was under US$100.

So I'm holding here.

I just wish every stock performed for me like Prem Watsa's. Thank heavens for him and Fairfax. It makes it much easier suffering from Media General, Mueller Water, USA Mobility and my Japanese consumer lenders.