F1Q10 Earnings Call

November 09, 2009 4:30 pm ET

F3Q09 Earnings Call

May 11, 2009 5:00 pm ET

Time to Load Up on Hard Assets

And That Means 'Real' Tangibles, Too

Usually when Wall Street talks about hard assets, they're talking about precious metals or commodities, things you can touch or feel or consume.

F1Q09 Earnings Call

November 10, 2008 5:00 pm ET

F4Q08 Earnings Call

September 30, 2008 5:00 pm ET

Despite the fact that you may not ever come close to catching up to Warren Buffett’s wealth does not mean you shouldn’t follow his investing style - which entails regularly purchasing or investing in excellent companies selling for less than they’re worth. Oddly, many investors mistakenly believe that the only hope for securing life-changing wealth is to get in early on “the next big thing.” Besides, how would one go about discovering this? It should come as no surprise that successful business-focused value-oriented investors seem to have historically had a lock on this outcome, often cornering the next big thing as a matter of practice, and not luck.

Nothing compares to the kinds of gains investors have enjoyed in “under-the-radar” stocks over the past decade. Disciplined, business-focused stock picking will get you far closer to your retirement goals than almost any other investment vehicle known to man.

Manager: Larry Sarbit, president and CEO, Sarbit Asset Management

Style: Value & business approach

Collectors Universe (CLCT) more than tripled its quarterly dividend from $.08 to $.25, but reported another quarter of losses. For the quarter ended Sep. 30, CLCT reported net revenues of $10.8 million and a loss from continuing operations of $100,000, or $0.01 per diluted share, versus net revenues of $9.9 million and income from continuing operations of $383,000, or $0.04 per diluted share in the prior year quarter.

Collectors Universe, which values collectibles and grades diamonds and other gemstones, still has a strong balance sheet. It ended the quarter with $37.6M in cash and equivalents, but used $4.8 million during the quarter. Going forward, CEO Michael Haynes expressed optimism about the jewelry division, but sounded doubtful that the collectible segment would turn around in the coming quarter:

Santa Ana, Calif.-based Collectors Universe Inc. (CLCT) may not be well-known on Wall Street, but its various operating units are distinguished in the collectibles industry. Founded over 20 years ago, the $125 million market capitalization company provides authentication and grading services to dealers and collectors of high-value collectibles such as coins, sports cards, autographs and currency. Collectors Universe is also a publisher of various collectibles price guides and is the operator of the Expos Unlimited collectibles trade shows.

Aastrom Biosciences Inc. (ASTM)
FQ4 2006 Revenue Estimate: $160.00K
FQ4 2006 EPS Estimate: $-0.04
FQ1 2007 Revenue Estimate: $240.00K
FQ1 2007 EPS Estimate: $-0.04
FQ3 2006 reported on 05/10/06
EPS Estimate: -$0.04 ¦ EPS Actual: ($0.04)
05/10/06 Close: $1.53 Change($): $0.03 Change(%): 2.0%
05/11/06 Close: $1.41 Change($): ($0.12) Change(%): -8.5%

Collectors' Universe is an interesting stock. In an earlier article on the Internet Stock Blog, an anonymous hedge fund analyst (whose fund was long the stock at the time of writing) argued that CLCT is a cheap proxy for eBay.

What is this Magic Formula?

…third-quarter …revenue growth resulted principally from a 33% increase in the number of units processed for authentication and grading. Each of our markets in coins, sportscards and stamps recorded increases in units when compared to the same fiscal quarter of the prior year. About 2% of our total units from the autograph market recorded a… decrease…

Business: