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An Alternative to REITs: Master Limited Partnership Units of Real Estate Firms

You might take a look at the shares of unlisted REITs managed by W.P. Carey. These trade in the secondary market at a discount to NAV. The discount allows an investor to receive a higher yield, around 8 percent. The obvious negative is a lack of liquidity, so these are buy and hold investments.

Primus CEO: Fannie/Freddie Impact Minimal, CDS Will Endure

I agree with your positive view on this stock, and own both PRS and PRD in sizes that wouldn't hurt me terribly if they both go to zero. My only complaint is the lack of disclosure about exposure to individual corporate entities. How much exposure do they have to Lehman, for example? PRS will only give us industry percentages. This comes across as a sign of weakness, as if they are hiding something. On the other hand, the rating agencies do have access to these individual names and they continue to sign off on a triple A rating.

Phillip Morris International: A Hedge on U.S. Market Uncertainty

PM has classic business metrics that Buffett would find attractive. Would he own this stock? Depends on whether he would take on the international tobacco risk. There are few places in the public market where he can place $5 billion quietly (he can delay disclosure as he accumulates the stock). I wouldn't buy the stock hoping Buffett will buy it, however.

David Einhorn: The Irony of It All

One helpful move toward transparency would be to force all short sellers to file Form 13F with the SEC disclosing their short positions exceeding an aggregate of $100 million. This would be the mirror image of what money managers are required to do when they disclose their long equity positions exceeding $100 million. This makes total sense and would give market participants much better information about concentrated positions in a stock. However, this rule will never be adopted by the SEC because the hedge funds have too much political influence.

The Long Case for Sallie Mae

Large position by Seth Klarman of Baupost, most likely purchased at higher prices, gives some measure of comfort.

Cincinnati Financial Corporation: For the Dedicated Dividend Investor

High insider ownership is good. I remember they had a big slug of Fifth Third Bank stock in their portfolio. At this point the damage to FITB is probably done and is reflected in the CINF share price.

Forest City Enterprises, Inc., F4Q07 (Qtr End 01/31/08) Earnings Call Transcript

I wish there were an easy way to figure out the intrinsic value of this company. Looks like an attractive entry point.

ICICI: Private Indian Bank Is Attractive

Have owned it since around $12, expecting many nasty pullbacks from time to time. Financial services has a long way to go in India. I agree this is a good time to look for an entry point.

Allied Irish Bank: Diversified Earnings, Compelling Valuation

AIB is one of these great undervalued Irish stocks. Another would be CRH.

Income Stocks on Sale Once Again

I am in my 50s and believe the yields offered in this market are the highest I will see for the rest of my career. The massive increase in number of retirees is still ahead and they will be hungry for income investments. If these high single digit to mid-teens yields can hold, a big if, these income stocks will appreciate nicely.

Mortgage REITs: Ignore GAAP, It's All About the Cash

The best of them all is CapitalSource, yielding 15 percent with plenty of liquidity. CSE has maintained good credit quality and the CEO talks about many opportunities to lend at wide spreads.