Fliujniligui

Ireland's Ailing Banking Sector

I have AIB. They have 24% stake in M&T Bank in USA. Seems Warren Buffet is in M&T too. For now if you take 24% x M&T market cap, you have something around one third of AIB market cap. If price drops too much, buying AIB will give you more exposure to M&T than buying M&T directly. The Fat P/E, the low amount of writedowns incurred on first half of 2008 and the dividend history seems interesting. Maybe the road will get bumpy but on long term the dividend can be good. Are not low prices and counter-crowd moves the hallmarks of value investing ?

I read annual and half year reports, well it seems good. Maybe some bad assets exists but we can't get a grasp on em really, as with any other bank. That is the risk component of the business. Bought some ING Group shares too with the same idea behind it. Diversification has still its place even when fundamentals are FAT.