The Wall Street Journal had a huge story about Raj Rajnaratnam, the Galleon Fund insider trader, and while his actions were despicable, ya gotta love his sense of humor… From the WSJ via Dealbreaker: The hedge fund community has been (potentially) robbed of a tremendous human being: “At Galleon, Mr. Rajaratnam took his fondness for pranks and…
Analysts
Analysts Weigh in on Bank of America Following TARP Repayment Announcement
Matt Phillips over at WSJ MarketBeat just posted some analyst takeaways from Bank of America’s TARP repayment announcement. Here’s Goldman’s take (they are bullish on BAC): Goldman Sachs: “BAC’s share count is now “set” at around 10 billion shares which should have a positive impact on the market implied discount rate (which we estimate at…
Uh Oh…The Analysts Are Bullish
Many will call this the ultimate contrarian tell, in fact, most will. But then doesn’t that mean that the real contrarian would take this as a positive? I’m talking myself in circles here. From Bespoke Investment Group: Analysts are more bullish heading into the current earnings season than they have been at the start of…
I Have a Dream…About Financial Media
Much has been made recently about the distinction between financial bloggers and mainstream media journalists and whether or not there should even be one. I hope that one day, we are all judged by the quality of our insight and integrity, rather than by our majors in college. With the deepest respect for the words…
Citi Cuts Agriculture Chem Names
Farmer Brown here… Just a quick follow-up to my Monsanto piece from last week. We discussed the fact that analysts are getting antsy about seeing through the valley on the farm stocks. Today, Citigroup spit the bit on two big agriculture names. Mosaic (MOS) and Potash (POT) were both cut to hold from buy at Citi following…
Quants Get Lonely, Too…
Quants Get Lonely, Too… from the Craigslist Sydney Personals: In the Sydney area? Single? Geeky? Visit this personal ad and maybe make a connection: http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/syd/1187388648.html
Pick Sectors, Not Stocks
These are the days when you either need to have a 20 year time frame or a 20 minute time frame, and either can be extremely profitable. In either case, owning the sector is going to give you all you need in terms of volatility, so leave the stock picking to the masochists.
Trust Only The Chefs Who Eat Their Own Cooking
Is there anything more off-putting than the sight of a chef, clad in his whites and houndstooth trousers, looking emaciated and sickly thin? If he’s even an adequate cook or at least a lover of food, should the chef be anything but well-fed?
I would say that investment professionals should be held to a similar standard. If someone holds themselves out to the public as a brilliant stock picker, a steward of capital, or a talented manager of money and assets, should we not inquire as to how much of their own capital is at risk in the same investments or strategies that they are propounding or endorsing?
