Seeking Alpha

Paul Price's  Instablog

After college at The American University [BS - 1971] and dental school at University of Pennsylvania [DMD - 1977] Paul served as a dental officer in the United States Air Force both domestically and overseas in Turkey and England. As his student loans diminished he was seduced by the market.... More
My business:
BeatingBuffett.com
  • Calamos Asset Management – An Undervalued Asset
    [NDQ:CLMS] Nov. 1, 2009 - $10.60
    Dividend = $0.55 quarterly = 2.075% current yield

    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. Calamos Growth and Calamos Growth and Income--account for more than 40% of assets under management.


    Both those flagship funds are performing very well this year with the Growth Fund up 39.2% and the Growth & Income Fund up 30.3% YTD through October [versus the DJIA’s + 10.7% and the S&P 500’s +14.7%]. Other Calamos open-end funds have gained above 28% this year and their closed-end funds have shown 52-week shareholder returns of 41.3% {CHY}, 42.2% {CHI}, 33.9% {CHW} and 57.8% {CGO}.


    The shares of this fine money management firm were quite popular and highly valued prior to 2008’s market meltdown with typical P/Es in the 21 – 22x neighborhood. Earnings took a big hit last year but are recovering nicely as assets under management are rebounding.


    Here are their per share numbers from continuing operations as reported by Value Line:


     

    Year

     
    Sales

     
    C/F

     
    EPS

     
    Div.

     
    B/V

     
    Av. P/E

     
    52-wk Range

     

    2004

     
    13.57

     
    4.67

     
    1.09

     
    0.07

     
    6.89

     
    22.6x

     
    19.40-28.35

     

    2005

     
    18.16

     
    1.48

     
    1.26

     
    0.30

     
    8.09

     
    21.1x

     
    20.55-32.81

     

    2006

     
    20.95

     
    1.78

     
    1.45

     
    0.38

     
    9.26

     
    21.6x

     
    24.23-44.10

     

    2007

     
    22.68

     
    1.76

     
    1.22

     
    0.44

     
    10.24

     
    21.5x

     
    20.08-34.61

     

    2008

     
    20.08

     
    0.62

     
    d.1.24

     
    0.33

     
    7.73

     
    NMF

     
    2.55-29.67

     
    More »
    Tags: CLMS, LONG IDEAS, OPTIONS
    Nov 01 08:27 pm | Link | Comment!
  • Central European Distribution Corp. – Keeping Spirits High Since 1998
    Central European Distribution Corporation distributes, imports, and exports alcoholic beverages primarily in Poland, Hungary, and the Russian Federation. It produces and sells vodka. They also distribute approximately 700 brands of alcoholic beverages (spirits, wine, and beer) as well as non-alcoholic beverages. They serve retail outlets, petrol stations, duty free stores, supermarkets, and hypermarkets plus bars, nightclubs, hotels, and restaurants. As of December 31, 2008, CEDC operated 19 distribution centers and 124 satellite branches located throughout Poland. It imports well-known brands, including Corona, Budvar, Guinness, Carlo Rossi, Sutter Home, E&J Gallo and Concha y Toro wines, Metaxa, Remy Martin, Guinness, Grant’s, Jagermeister, Jim Beam, Sierra Tequila, Teacher’s Whisky, Campari, Cinzano, Skyy, and Old Smuggler.
     
    Shares are listed on the NASDAQ under the symbol CEDC and trade this morning at $31.00. Earnings had risen dramatically from 2000 through 2008 with EPS growing from a (split-adjusted) $0.07 to $2.93 over that 8-year period. The company now expects 2009 earnings to come in between $2.35 and $2.50 /share due to unfavorable exchange rates. Management indicates $3.00 - $3.15 as their best projection for 2010.
    More »
    Tags: CEDC, long ideas, options
    Oct 28 11:06 am | Link | Comment!
  • ITT Educational Services – (De )Greed is good!
    While the recession has hurt most companies across the USA, ITT Educational Services has actually benefitted. Enrollment trends have been strengthening as unemployed workers have signed on to upgrade skills and other students continue on towards advanced degrees to become more employable in the future.
     
    ITT Educational Services, Inc. is a leading provider of technology-oriented postsecondary degree programs. ESI operates more than 105 Technical Institutes in 37 states, which predominantly provide career-focused degree programs of study in fields involving technology to approximately 65,000 students. ESI has been actively involved in the higher education community in the United States since 1969. Shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "ESI."
    More »
    Tags: ESI, long ideas, options, education
    Oct 26 07:21 pm | Link | Comment!
  • A ‘Conn’ Job that’s good for you…
    Conn’s Inc. [NDQ:CONN] - Oct. 26, 2009 $7.12
    52-week range: $4.64 - $17.67

    Conn’s was founded in Beaumont, Texas in 1890 as a plumbing company, started selling appliances in 1937 and expanded to a second storefront in 1959. Currently the company operates 69 stores with 22 units in Houston, 17 in Dallas-Ft. Worth, 10 in San Antonio, 4 in Beaumont, 5 in Austin, 3 in the Texas Rio Grande Valley, and 1 in Corpus Christi, Texas. They also have 6 stores in Louisiana and one in Oklahoma City. Conn’s came public via an IPO on November 25, 2003.

    Conn’s has shown consistent profitability in each year since its IPO. EPS peaked with the housing boom in 2005 – 2007 before slipping in 2008. Right now it appears likely that earnings for 2009 will be slightly better than last year but well off the previous highs.

    Here are their per share numbers as reported by Value Line:

     
    FY*

         		Sales

         		C/F

         		EPS

         		B/V

         		Avg. P/E

         		Range

     
    2003

         		19.90

         		1.18

         		1.10

         		3.01

         		N/A

         		N/A

     
    2004

         		21.61

         		1.37

         		1.22

         		6.11

         		13.0x

         		14.00-16.50

     
    2005

         		24.37

         		1.67

         		1.27

         		8.63

         		12.7x

         		13.79-19.18

     
    2006

         		29.75

         		2.22

         		1.71

         		10.85

         		15.1x

         		15.29-39.93

     
    2007

         		32.17

         		2.22

         		1.66

         		12.37

         		16.3x

         		17.61-44.99

     
    2008

         		36.83

         		2.33

         		1.68

         		13.61

         		14.5x

         		16.10-32.19

     
    2009

         		39.69

         		1.71

         		1.14

         		14.89

         		12.8x

         		4.64-25.27

     
    More »
    Tags: CONN, long ideas, options, retail
    Oct 26 02:55 pm | Link | Comment!
  • Value Line's Timeliness Ranking System - Failing Miserably
     
    More »
    Tags: Market Strategy
    Oct 26 10:26 am | Link | Comment!
  • Ambassadors Group – For Profitable ‘Foreign Exchange’
    Ambassadors Group is an educational company that organizes and promotes international and domestic travel programs for students, athletes and professionals. Its travel business includes the ‘People to People Student Ambassador Programs’ for grade school, middle school and high school students to visit domestic and foreign destinations. Their ‘People to People Sports Ambassador Programs’ provide opportunities for middle school and high school athletes. Their ‘People to People Leadership Summit’ and ‘World Leadership Forum’ are Leadership Programs which provide domestic travel experiences for grade school, middle school and high school students. Ambassador’s ‘People to People Citizen Ambassador Programs’ provide foreign travel experiences for business professionals.
     
    NDAQ: EPAX - October 25, 2009 $13.08
    More »
    Tags: EPAX, long ideas
    Oct 25 02:34 pm | Link | Comment!
Full index of posts »
Latest Followers
Posts by Ticker
AAPL, ABM, ACS, ADP, APOL, ASTE, BBOX, BBY, CAKE, CBRL, CEDC, CLMS, COH, CONN, CRN, CSC, CSV, D, DAVE, DRC, DST, EPAX, ESI, FII, FLS, GEO, GLAD, GMGMQ.PK, HCBK, HD, HI, HPQ, IBKR, IBM, ICE, JEC, LEH, LOW, MKC, MO, MON, MORN, MOS, MSFT, NCI, NDAQ, NITE, NYB, NYX, PAYX,

Latest Comments


Most Commented
  1. “ICE” Can make for a Hot Combination Play (9 Comments)
  2. Subject: Cash for Clunkers (5 Comments)
  3. Spicy Returns from a Conservative Stock - McCormick & Company (MKC) (3 Comments)
  4. ‘Office’ Space at a Reasonable Price - Microsoft (3 Comments)
  5. NASDAQ OMX Group – Over the Counter appears Undervalued (3 Comments)
Posts by Themes
agriculture, banking, defense, dividends, education, financials, fixed income, Fixed Income, investing, long ideas, LONG IDEAS, Long ideas, long ideasd, Market Strategy, Markets, markets, mutual funds, oil, options, Options, OPTIONS, Policy, restaurants, retail, RETAIL, short ideas, SPY, Taxes, taxes, tech, the economy, tobacco, utilites, utilities
Instablogs are Seeking Alpha's free blogging platform customized for finance, with instant set up and exposure to millions of readers interested in the financial markets. Publish your own instablog in minutes.