I have received compensation to research Sunpeaks Ventures (SNPK.OB). Nevertheless, I have tried to write to the best of my ability an unbiased review of this company.

Sunpeaks Ventures (SNPK.OB) has seen a spike in investor interest recently as it continues to execute on its aggressive growth plan. For some background, the company, and wholly owned subsidiary Healthcare Distribution Specialists ("HDS"), is a nationally focused, value-added distributor of specialty drugs and over-the-counter ("OTC") branded multivitamins to the healthcare provider market. According to the Healthcare Distribution Management Association, about 85% of all prescription medications are sold through healthcare distributors in the United States, which amounts to $300 billion in revenue.

Currently, HDS serves the secondary segment of the specialty drug market, estimated by management to be a $45 billion market segment. HDS currently functions as a just-in-time source of supply for hospitals for those products that are hard-to-find due to drug

Salix Pharma finished 2011 on a hot streak, up over 60% in the fourth quarter as the company’s drugs continue to penetrate the market.

The company develops and markets prescription pharmaceutical products for the prevention and treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. Salix's strategy is to in–license late–stage or marketed proprietary therapeutic drugs, complete any required development and regulatory submission of these products, and market them through the company's gastroenterology specialty sales and marketing team.

Salix’s recent quarterly results have been strong. On November 8, the company reported Q3 results. Total product revenue was $146.2 million, an 81% increase compared to $80.6 million for the third quarter of 2010. The company also boosted 2011 guidance. Salix said that its new estimate of 2011 total product revenue is approximately $535 million. The revised 2011 revenue guidance represents 59% growth over 2010 revenue. Salix also noted because of net operating loss carryforward, it anticipates

Detlev S. Schlichter (London, UK) is a writer and Austrian School Economist. Schlichter has a degree in economics and spent nearly 20 years working in international finance, including stints at Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan. He served as a portfolio manager of fixed income portfolios at J.P. Morgan Investment Management and, in 1996, moved to London to work in the global bond team of the company there. In his career, Schlichter has overseen billions in assets for institutional clients around the globe. He recently authored a book titled, Paper Money Collapse: The Folly of Elastic Money and the Coming Monetary Breakdown (Wiley Finance; September 2011).

Can you tell us a little bit about your background?

I studied economics in my home country, Germany, and joined J.P. Morgan as a trader in Frankfurt in 1990. By 1996 I had become a portfolio manager in J.P. Morgan’s asset management division

I am compensated for research coverage, which denotes a clear bias in my investment opinion. I believe that my research is objective, weighing both the risks and rewards of an investment opportunity. However, my end goal is to highlight firms that I believe are innovative and offer compelling investment propositions. This leads me to Immunocellular Therapeuctics (IMUC.OB).

Overview

Immunocellular Therapeuctics is a biopharmaceutical company that develops immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer. Unlike most other cancer companies, IMUC focuses on targeting not only tumor cells but also cancer stem cells (CSCs), which are responsible for tumor growth and recurrence. The company’s lead product, ICT-107, is a dendritic cell vaccine that targets multiple tumor-associated proteins to treat glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a very aggressive brain cancer with limited treatment options. Results from a Phase I study with ICT-107 in newly diagnosed GBM patients were extremely promising. ICT-107 more than doubled the

I update market valuations on a monthly basis. The point of this article is to measure the stock market based on seven different metrics. This article does not look at the macro picture and try to predict where the economy is headed. It only uses these several metrics which have been very good past indicators of whether the market is fairly valued.

This month I added in GMO’s chart at the bottom. The GMO chart shows what the firm expects different asset classes to return over the next seven years.

I collaborate with two colleagues of mine for some of the data in this article, Doug Short of dshort.com and my friend who runs seekingdelta. Both are great sites, and I encourage readers to check them out.

As always, I must mention that just because the market is over or undervalued does not mean that future returns will

With the State of The Union earlier this week and the new Congress coming into session earlier this month, I thought it would be interesting to look at politics and stock market returns.

The New York Times ran an op-ed by Tommy McCall on October 14th 2008 titled "Bulls, Bears, Donkeys and Elephants." The article showed data which indicated that the stock market does far better under Democratic Presidents than Republican presidents, using data from 1929.

The article stated that $10,000.00 invested only during time Democratic control of the White House would have returned $300,671.00. Likewise, that same $10,000.00 invested only when a Republican was president would only have yielded $11,733.00, but to be fair the Times threw in that the $10,000 would have grown to $51,211.00 if the presidency of Herbert Hoover was excluded.

Although I consider myself a centrist on economic issues,

I update market valuations on a monthly basis. The point of this article is to measure the stock market based on seven different metrics. This article does not look at the macro picture and try to predict where the economy is headed. It only uses these several metrics which have been very good past indicators of whether the market is fairly valued.

This month with the help of my colleague, I am adding the seventh metric - the AAII-Investor Survey. I collaborate with two colleagues of mine for some of the data in this article, Doug Short of dshort.com and my friend who runs seekingdelta. Both are great sites, and I encourage readers to check them out.

As always, I must mention that just because the market is over or undervalued does not mean that future returns will be high or low. From the mid to late 1990s,

Calamos provides investment management advice and services to institutional and individual investors. The firm offers more than a dozen mutual funds and five closed-end funds, as well as separately managed accounts. Calamos has expanded its fund lineup to include equity, fixed-income, and alternative investments.

Ark Restaurants (ARKR) owns and operates 20 restaurants and bars, 31 fast food concepts and catering operations. Seven restaurants are located in New York City, four are located in Washington, D.C., five are located in Las Vegas, Nevada, two are located in Atlantic City, New Jersey, one is located at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut and one is located in Boston, Massachusetts. The Las Vegas operations include three restaurants within the New York-New York Hotel & Casino Resort and operation of the hotel's room service, banquet facilities, employee dining room and nine food court concepts; one bar within the Venetian Casino Resort as well as three food court concepts and one restaurant within the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino. In Atlantic City, New Jersey, the Company operates a restaurant and a bar in the Resorts Atlantic City Hotel and Casino.

The operations at the Foxwoods Resort Casino include

I update market valuations on a monthly basis. The point of this article is to measure the stock market based on six different metrics. This article does not look at the macro picture and try to predict where the economy is headed. It only uses these six metrics which have been very good past indicators of whether the market is fairly valued.

I collaborate with my colleague Doug Short for some of the data in the article. Doug is an expert on market valuations, and I encourage readers to visit his site at dshort.com

As always, I must mention that just because the market is over or undervalued does not mean that future returns will be high or low. From the mid to late 1990s the market was extremely overvalued and equities kept increasing year after year. However, as I note at the end of the article I expect

David X. Martin is Senior Vice President for AllianceBernstein, which as more than $450 billion in assets under management. Formerly Chief Risk Officer at AllianceBernstein, he also has held senior risk management positions at Citibank. Martin was founding Chairman of the Investment Company Institute’s (ICI) Risk Committee and is an adjunct professor at New York University Graduate School of Business. He has written articles for The Bankers Magazine, the journal Pension & Investments, and the AEI-Brookings Joint Center website. He and his family live in the greater New York metropolitan area. He recently wrote Risk and the Smart Investor.

1. Can you tell us a little bit about your background?

MBA from NYU, CPA. Primary work experience at PWC, Citi and AllianceBernstein.

2. What made you decide to go into risk management?

I spent a lot of time on John Reed’s staff. Roger Kline, a former partner of McKinsey

I update market valuations on a monthly basis. The point of this article is to measure the stock market based on six different metrics. This article does not look at the macro picture and try to predict where the economy is headed. It only uses these six metrics which have been very good past indicators of whether the market is fairly valued.

I collaborate with my colleague Doug Short for some of the data in the article. Doug is an expert on market valuations, and I encourage readers to visit his site dshort.com

As always, I must mention that just because the market is over or undervalued does not mean that future returns will be high or low. From the mid to late 1990s the market was extremely overvalued and equities kept increasing year after year. However, as I note at the end of the article I expect low returns

The whole story this week was about Todd Combs. The story seemed strange as Combs was unheard of until Berkshire Hathway (BRK.A) (BRK.B) announced his appointed as an investmentofficer, earlier this week. However, what got lost in the story was what happened to Li Lu. The day after the news of Combs was announced; Li Lu announced he would no longer be accepting the same position as Combs.

The Wall Street Journal reported as a side point:

The surprise announcement came after two candidates—including Chinese-American hedge fund manager Li Lu, and another individual Mr. Buffett was interested in—took themselves out of the running for the job, Mr. Buffett said. The emergence of Mr. Li as a contender was the subject of a July page-one article in The Wall Street Journal.

Originally, we had been following Li Lu on this site even before the news was officially confirmed. We speculated

I update market valuations on a monthly basis. The point of this article is to measure the stock market based on six different metrics. This article does not look at the macro picture and try to predict where the economy is headed. It only uses these six metrics which have been very good past indicators of whether the market is fairly valued. However, regardless of market valuations, there are always individual stocks that are undervalued.

I collaborate with my colleague Doug Short for some of the data in the article. Doug is an expert on market valuations, and I encourage readers to visit his site.

As always, I must mention that just because the market is over or undervalued does not mean that future returns will be high or low. From the mid to late 1990s the market was extremely overvalued and equities kept increasing year after year. However,

Garmin (GRMN)

Business Overview and Valuation

Garmin Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and markets global positioning system (GPS) enabled products and other navigation, communication, and information products worldwide. It operates in four segments: Automotive/Mobile, Outdoor/Fitness, Marine, and Aviation.

The automotive/mobile sector brings in the largest amount of the company’s revenue making up 69.7%. Outdoor/fitness, Aviation, and Marine make up 15.9%, 6.0%, and 8.4% of the company’s revenue respectively.

The Outdoor/fitness segment mostly consists of Personal network devices (PNDS) that are used for navigation in cars. Sometimes, Garmin sells the GPS devices for use in high end automobiles to the car manufacturer directly, and to customers who want a detachable device. Company also produces navigation devices for motorcycles, Garmin is constantly coming up with new and updated GPS systems and aggressively expanding its

I update market valuations on a monthly basis. The point of this article is to measure the stock market based on six different metrics. This article does not look at the macro picture and try to predict where the economy is headed. It only uses these six metrics which have been very good past indicators of whether the market is fairly valued.

I collaborate with my colleague Doug Short for some of the data in the article. Doug is an expert on market valuations, and I encourage readers to visit his site.

As always, I must mention that just because the market is over or undervalued does not mean that future returns will be high or low. From the mid to late 1990s the market was extremely overvalued and equities kept increasing year after year. However, as I note at the end of the article I expect low returns over

Jeremy Siegel, author of "Stocks for the Long Run" recently wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal titled “The Great American Bond Bubble”. Siegel stated that bonds are the ultimate bubble comparing them to the tech bubble before it burst in 2000.

Siegel quoted some interesting facts in his op-ed. The Investment Company Institute reports that from January 2008 through June 2010, outflows from equity funds totaled $232 billion while bond funds have seen a massive $559 billion of inflows. This is the first bad signs for bond holders. When everyone is buying bonds, that is not the time you want to buy.

I want to focus on the arguments in regards to long term bonds since they are the most volatile. Ten year treasury bonds currently yield a paltry 2.60%. If the yield goes up to 4% which it did several months ago, investors will lose

For reference, when I refer to the market or stocks in this article, I am referring to the S&P 500, not individual stocks.

I thought this article would be a good follow up to my market valuations article (see here). At the end of that article I stated that I expected future returns to be about 9.5% per annum, which is the average historic return for stocks.

In truth, I expect future stock returns to be less than 9.5% per annum. The market is currently slightly over valued now. I stated that this is reasonable since stocks offer a much more attractive return than bonds due to low interest rates. However, eventually interest rates will get to levels of at least 4%( which is the minimum normal rate on interest rates) and that would justify a P/E closer to 15. I therefore expect the market to return less than

My title is pretty provocative. Warren Buffett is known as one of the greatest investors of today and maybe the best ever. Buffett is also a very famous personality. Seth Klarman and Joel Greenblatt are both phenomenal investors who are largely unknown outside the investment world. However, Warren Buffett is a name that the average American knows, and Buffett is admired by many both inside and outside the investment world.

I have been piecing these thoughts together for a while in my head but I did not come to think of writing an article until this past Friday. This past Friday I spoke to a colleague who graduated from Columbia’s value investing school, runs one of the most popular value blogs and works in a value investment firm. I was speaking about Warren Buffett with him and he stated that Warren Buffett has never given away his exact method of