Whirlpool is the world’s largest manufacturer of household appliances. Its market cap is almost $5.8 billion with approximately 78 million shares outstanding. The stock is trading at less than 10 times estimated 2008 earnings and one-third annual sales. The dividend yield is just over 2%.

John D. Stoll has a great article on Wagoner and GM in The Wall Street Journal.

American Eagle designs, markets and sells its own brand of clothing, primarily to 15 to 25 year olds. It has stores in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Canada.

Of course, I knew the company was resisting the idea of meaningful stock buybacks when I bought it. Management's reasoning was that with approximately 80% of the stock locked up, there was little float for potential investors.

Talking about the abundance of red tape and lack of shareholder rights on the Korean peninsula, Grant's quoted an investor saying something like: "The communists are in the South, the people in the North are like mental patients who refuse to take their medication."

If you're a Wall Street Journal subscriber, you can read a typically-excellent overview of the deal (plus a good bit of historical background) here.

John D. Stoll writes a typically fine feature article on the talks between the UAW and portfolio holding General Motors (GM). Focusing on GM's Chief Executive Rick Wagoner, the piece gives the impression that he may be in the driver's seat in the negotiations:

I haven't mentioned portfolio holding General Motors (GM) much recently. I noticed the Bloomberg report yesterday that August sales are better than expected -- but the gain is in large pickup trucks:

CBS (CBS) is up a bit since being bought, but hasn't done much this year. Les Moonves is boosting the company's dividend again, and CBS has announced another share repurchase. Details provided by Bloomberg:

Some readers called my attention this Bloomberg story about Fairfax Financial (FFH) and the legal action swirling around it and various short-sellers. It's a long article. So you might bookmark it for later if you can't read it now.

And Moonves defines being successful as rewarding shareholders. He's boosted the dividend, announced share buybacks, and shed non-core assets. Yet most of his press has centered on hiring Katie Couric to anchor the CBS Evening News and firing radio host Don Imus. Neither event has had a meaningful impact on the stock price. And that won't change.

There is some good news.

The stock has suffered recently because of unfavorable prospects for the industry in general, and because of weak results for Foot Locker itself. I see these as near-to-intermediate term challenges and anyone investing in Foot Locker with a time frame up to 5 years will be rewarded.

Foot Locker has a market cap above $3 billion with more than 155 million shares outstanding. The dividend yield is more than 2%. It trades for less than 1.5 times book value and for less than two-thirds annual sales. The company has a strong balance sheet -- the current ratio is more than 3-to-1 and there’s no debt net of cash.

The Prius is a winner; but that's not the case for Toyota's other hybrids. Prius accounts for two-thirds of Toyota's sales volume in hybrids, even though the company makes five other hybrid vehicles, three of which it sells under its luxury Lexus brand.

He writes that other models aren't big sellers, and that Honda is dropping its Accord hybrid. Then Flint hits on this:

Aiful is one of Japan’s four major consumer lenders and ranks as the largest by assets. The market cap is approximately 469 billion yen (almost $4 billion) and there are 142 million shares outstanding (most owned by foreigners). The stock trades at roughly 1.85 times stated book value and yields 1.82%.

Unlike when I first bought my other Japanese consumer lender, Takefuji (TAKAF.PK), these are no longer plays on stated book value discounts. I’ve recently added to my (currently underwater) Takefuji stake and established a new position in Aiful because now these stocks are a play on a changing industry. And their financial strength is such that they can adapt to the new environment and benefit from the coming consolidation.

Ontario Teachers' sweet deal for Ma Bell, announced a week ago, contained a lot of bad news but one bright spot for Telus. The bad part, obviously, is the price, $42.75 a share, which is higher than most expected and comes with a predictably absurd $800-million break fee, which adds another $1 a share. It will be tough to beat.

I knew the shares would only trade in Saudi Arabia, but I hadn't given thought to the company not being Shariah-compliant. Kingdom Holding has a huge stake in Citigroup, and owns hotels that serve booze, violating the Shariah ban on interest and alcohol. The result is that Kingdom shares may be popular with institutions but less so with retail Saudi investors. Interesting.