RJM2

Steak 'N Shake Looks to Invest Extra Cash

Before he got control, he was calling for a company buyback.

Now it doesnt seem he wants to do that.

Used Car Business Holds Up Well

Do you happen to know what NICKs severity per car runs ?

America's Car-Mart Could Be Just the Right Vehicle for Tough Times

Nice writeup.

Im in this sector via NICK which is much cheaper on a price to book basis. NICK has avg 5 year earnings per share of 90 cents and its trading around $3.

Also, it should be noted that a buy here pay here public car lot chain has been tried years ago and failed. It was called Urcarco which later morphed into Americredit.

The other thing is...the tough economy means consumers simply arent buying newer cars.

I will join you here on a pullback.

Ruby Tuesday Remains A Prime Bargain

I agree with many of your points and as a result took a position today at $5.06. Insiders, eary this year were buying at higher prices.

I think a restructuring with multiple store closures is probably going to happen. They may not want to admit it right now since they reimaged many of the stores that will need to be closed.

Frankly, its time for a professional manager, rather than the founder to run this thing.

It may get worse before it gets better but 2-3 years out, RT should be at $15 anyway.

One caveat is is they have to give the lenders warrants.

That could dilute us.

It will be interesting what earnings look like this afternoon.

Steak N Shake's New Direction Is Terrific News for Shareholders

I think it may be difficult to buy back as many shares as you are suggesting at $8.50 average if they have the solid cash flow that you suggest and I expect.

One things for sure, there are a lot of folks SHORT SNS and they will have to cover at some point.

I do wish he would arrange for a "webcast" of his Investor days and allow questions in advance from folks unable to attend. At least with a conference call, everyone has equal access to the information. With "investor days", thats just not the case for folks who cant drop everything and fly to "investor day". And are his investor days for the shareholders or aimed at attracting new money ? The big apple is not the cheapest place for a shareholder day as he did with WEST.

Steak n Shake: Watching and Waiting as Biglari Names Himself CEO

I agree that its a bit of overkill to be BOTH Chairman and CEO.

SNS paid $500k for the proxy fight costs and is now compensating Biglari at $280k per year. This is the guy that said he wasnt going to take any fees and wanted to make money with us, not off of us.

Im long both WEST and SNS but now have a fear that if and when value is realized, SNS may well become another investment vehicle for Sardar rather than the proceeds being distributed to shareholders.

His lack of diversification scares me some so I dont want to see him sitting on a pile of SNS cash and allocating it like he did when he was buying SNS at $16.

Steak n Shake: Watching and Waiting as Biglari Names Himself CEO

False Profit,

You are an idiot ! Better hurry up and cover your short.

Its not going below $6 again.

All the bad news is "baked in".

Consolidated Mercantile: Cheap in Terms of Cash

The biggest issue with this stock is its canadian and Its controlled a small group of people whose interests may not be aligned with shareholders. A company Im familar with, its founder sold controlling interest to someone else for $4ish per share. The founder got it all in cash. Nobody else had an opportunity to sell to the new buyer.

Now, that stocks near $1. The founder made out and the new buyers got control without paying for all the shares.

Finally, theres the cost of being public and the wages & salaries of the insiders while its just a shell. Over time, they can add up.

And CSLMF has not communicated very well their intentions.

How about you send me $100k, that I promise to sit in a bank account untill such time as I decide to invest it.

I wont give you any details about what Im considering investing it in and I will take a salary, but I wont tell you how much.

To make it more of a comparision, lets say I live in Boca Raton, which has almost as many scams as canada !

Whats the intrinstic value of an investment you have ZERO control over, whose controllers may have different motivations ?

Hypothically, someone could come in and buy controlling interest in CSLMF by paying these guys out at say $3 per share.

The rest of us would still own our shares. But the stock may be sitting about where it is right now.

Dont get me wrong, CSLMF has speculative appeal, but there is a valid reason that it trades at a large discount to its net asset value.

Given how long its traded at a large discount to its NAV, one can presume the insiders arent particulary worried about where it trades. One may be able to presume they would be willing to accept a sweetheart deal for their shares thats not so sweet for the outside shareholders.

Western Sizzlin's Secretive Quarter

WEST is a long term bet on Biglari.

Untill very recently, SNS was a bet on SNS only.

Im long both. SNS is more deeply undervalued but Bilgari hopefully will not get complete control over SNS the way he has with WEST.

What I mean is, if a few years from now, operations have turned around, they've done sale & leasebacks on the owned properties and franchised most of the company owned stores, Im not sure I want Biglari playing "hotdog" with SNSs $15-18 per share. (Or whatever)

If SNS board doesnt either, they could do a one time dividend, with which every shareholder could choose to invest as he saw fit.

Biglari could then reinvest his proceeds back into WEST via another rights offering.

My biggest issue with Biglari is his lack of diversification.

Hopefully, SNS has taught him something in that regard. But, if get gets control over SNSs future cash, Im not sure it will have.