Five for the Weekend #74

Today's jobs report in the US shows we're not out of the woods yet when it comes to the economy. And with that, let's get right to it -- five items you can check out over the next couple of days.

• Li Ka-shing has been increasing his stake in Cheung Kong Holdings (I own the ADRs symbol CHEUY). Cheung Kong is a cash-rich company poised to make smart deals in the future. And management is smart enough to not do deals that don't make sense -- wisdom often not possessed by those in boardrooms around the world. Mr. Li offers some cautionary words, “When it comes to investments, it’s better to be careful. The world has just emerged from the financial crisis,” Li said in impromptu comments to reporters at a convention center in Hong Kong yesterday. “You saw how much the stock prices gained in 2009, in the U.S., everywhere. The rises have run ahead of economic fundamentals.”

• Marty Whitman, one of the best value fund managers ever, announced this week he's taking a lesser role at Third Avenue. He's age 85 so it makes sense, though we should note he will continue as co-manager of the flagship Third Avenue Value Fund. Time marches on, with Peter Cundill retired, Jean-Marie Eveillard's "advisory" role at First Eagle (who had been fully retired at one point), and the recent death of Chris Browne. I remember seeing the late Phil Caret interviewed on TV back in the 1990s. He was 99 at the time, and said, "I'm a long-term investor." We can bet Marty Whitman feels the same way.

• Peter Brimelow writes on MarketWatch that newsletter veteran Mike Murphy had a fantastic 2009 -- and he sees a V-shaped recovery in 2010: "These forecasts are a long way from the consensus outlook. Job growth in the spring? Housing shortage in the fall? Where will the market go when these become the consensus outlook? That is what gives me hope that the S&P will survive its retests, break out to a new recovery high and let us buy stocks back for the run to 1550 and beyond. And maybe, just maybe, post the best return for a year ending in '0' in 120 years. We shall see."

• The Chairman over at Maoxian has collected key stories from 2009, which he says is a 120-page document in PDF. Go here to request a free copy via email.

• Bloomberg's Jonathan Weil examines the mess known as AIG: "It remains a mystery to me why AIG still trades for about $29, giving it a market cap of more than $20 billion, considering that the company has needed four government bailouts valued at more than $180 billion. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that senior AIG executives harbored similar feelings. For AIG to pay back even part of the government’s money, it probably would have to massively dilute existing shareholders by selling new stock, which itself may not ever be possible."

Have a great weekend.

Comments

[Ruben Rotteveel]

I'd like to know more about net/nets, what should I read?

Also, I wrote a report about JNJ comparing it against other pharmas, I'd like your feedback on it, www.equityhive.com/main/report/148/jnj.rpt it showcases technologies I created for bloggers that focus on earnings fundamentals, ratio's etc. I'm trying to promote investment based on company performance as opposed to stock performance.
I'd like to talk to you about that as well, any ideas or advice you might have.

I hope to hear from you,

Kindest Regards,
Ruben

[John]

@Ruben: Check out the Cheap Stocks blog for net/nets. Thanks for the report link, but I don't take requests. If I did, I'd never have time for anything else. Thanks for reading.