John DiStanislao

Syms: Hidden Values Buried on Balance Sheet

Hi markkrieger

Thanks for the comments!

I also owned and sold BRID some time back. Yes they do have some nice real estate.

Insiders own about 77% of the company. For me there are other stocks with more appeal at this time. Good luck



On Feb 10 01:13 PM markkrieger wrote:

> Great story..thanks for the detective work. SYMS's is a similar scenario
> to BRIDgford Foods (seekingalpha.com/symbo... guys
> own a plant near the Sear's Tower which is probably worth more than
> BRID's current market cap of $35 million alone. BRID also owns RE
> next to Disneyland, and plants in Texas and NC--The Bridgford family
> owns 80% of the shares.

Syms: Hidden Values Buried on Balance Sheet

Hi Tom

I agree not much of clear cut catalyst. But the franchise coupled with the real estate does provide a potential floor to the stock price. Remember management recently was proactive in recognizing value of their NYC location by purchasing air rights and the adjacent property.

Sy Syms is 84 years old and he may decide to do some estate planning and monetize some of the assets. But either way for me its part of a well diversified portfolio and I can wait for that final puff of this cigar butt. And the final puff may be the most profitable.
Nice input



On Feb 09 08:48 PM Tom Armistead wrote:

> 4 or 5 years ago I got interested in Ben Graham's writings and tried
> an investment in Syms, based on the same thinking the author is using.
>
>
> The issue was waiting for something to come along as a catalyst.
> The stock meandered for what seemed like an eternity, so I exited
> with a small profit. If I had been more patient I could have had
> something like 50%.
>
> These types of investments can make money but it requires a lot of
> patience to wait for a catalyst. Graham's advice was to give it as
> much as two years.

Syms: Hidden Values Buried on Balance Sheet

Hi Marcap

You wrote “I fail to see in your argument where
> the actual "margin of safety" lies”

The properties can easily be mortgaged or used as collateral to raise cash for a special dividend, expand operations or fund working capital. Furthermore a brand name retailer like Syms coupled with real estate that could be worth well over 150 million does provide a cushion to the stocks 101 million market value. Thanks for the input.



On Feb 09 05:55 PM Marcap wrote:

> The line "I do not believe this would not provide any "margin of
> safety" to the investor (or speculator)." should read...
>
> "I do not believe this would provide any "margin of safety" to the
> investor (or speculator)."
>
> (unfortunately I added the phrase "I do not believe" without removing
> the "not" in "would not provide") :)
>
> On Feb 09 05:44 PM Marcap wrote: