Let's get right to it -- five items offered up for your review over the next couple of days.
- Portfolio holding Cheung Kong (CHEUY) reported good results this week. Bloomberg's William Pesek writes about Li Ka-shing, the billionaire heading-up the Hong Kong-based conglomerate: “The worst is over for the global economy,” Li said in Hong Kong on Thursday. “Yet it’s too optimistic to say the global economy has reached a turning point. The degree of decline has shrunk, but that doesn’t mean it has stopped shrinking.”
- Longleaf Partners released semi-annual reports for its three funds: the flagship Partners Fund, the Small-Cap Fund, and the International Fund. As you've read me say repeatedly, and possibly to the point of irritation, investors can gleam more about putting money to work in stocks by reading folks like Mason Hawkins and Staley Cates than Warren Buffett. Buffett is the greatest investor in the post-WWII period (and maybe even all-time), yet Berkshire Hathaway's huge size prevents him buying smaller bargains. Then again, the Longleaf funds are getting up there in asset-size, too.
- One exceptional value manager with a fund small enough to take advantage of truly small bargains is Tim McElvaine. He's posted a note to his clients for the quarter ending June. It's short but well worth reading. By his own admission, McElvaine has had a lousy couple of years. But under-performance happens to every great value player -- and McElvaine has 100% of his money in the same fund as his investors.
- Jonathan over at the Cheap Stocks blog is the best at tracking net-nets. This week he posted about the recent market rise thinning the ranks of such stocks: "There are still 140 or so net/nets with market caps greater than $5 million, but those at the upper end of the market cap spectrum are few and far between. Case and point, on February 19th, there were more than 320 such net/nets; 38 of which had market caps above $100 million. Currently, there are just 10 above $100 million."
- And finally, The Atlantic has a lengthy article on Warren Buffett and value investing (HT: RealClearMarkets). The article is fatally flawed, based on the "question" of will value investors continue applying value principles after Buffett eventually passes from the scene.
With that -- have a great weekend.
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