Davy Bui's  Instablog

During this week's edition of CGI Roundtable, our analysts, Tom Jacobs, Jason Fitnich and myself, take a look at the market's impressive rally, discuss possible opportunities and look at momentum vs value investing.

The consensus seemed to converge on the sentiment that markets are no longer cheap at the moment. However, since CGI is focused on value investing, all three analysts recommend examining stocks on a fundamental level rather than depending on a general analysis of the overall market. Just as there were still a handful of stocks making new highs during the March lows, there could still be good bargains in the current market -- just not as many as before.

While we felt market valuations are at fair value, at best, Jason Fitnich sees some opportunities in some of the smaller financials, such as the community banks. Not every financial institution got wrapped up in the lending binge and Jason thinks a few of the solid players in the community banking space are being overlooked. He mentioned TCF Financial (TCB) as an attractive opportunity. Tom Jacobs mentioned that Hilltop Holdings (HTH) may also be another vehicle for investors looking to move into the financial space. Gerald Ford has an impressive record of making good investments in the sector and Tom is always interested in giving his capital to proven allocators to generate solid returns, a la Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) or Bruce Flatt at Brookfield Asset Management (BAM).

We also discussed momentum vs value investing among other topics.

CGI Roundtable - Aug 1, 2009 (mp3, 28 minutes, right-click on "Save target/link as")


Disclosure: Jason Fitnich is long TCB. Davy Bui and some CGI portfolios are long BAM.