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Shane Milburn

Shane Milburn
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  • Extra! Extra! Berkshire Buys Into Broke And Boring Broadsheets [View article]
    hilrio, regardless of someone's political views, I agree that newspapers are much more than the op-ed page, and people in smaller towns/cities turn to the local news for many reasons other than the op-ed pages. I wish most writers would leave politics out of investment logic because it often is a very small piece of the puzzle.

    My primary concern is the high cost of advertising in print media (relative to alternatives), and I'm not sure there's a good way to stop the longer term drain of marketing dollars from print to other sources.
    Jun 22 04:48 PM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Brocade Communications: Another Cash Cow Tech Stock [View article]
    Do you view the improved cashflow due to reduced capex as a positive? I'm in process of learning how to interpret things and am not sure if I should interpret it that way in a context of relatively flat sales.
    Jun 21 12:56 PM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Why We Like Expeditors But Think It Is Fairly Valued [View article]
    I really like the Valuentum approach and you guys follow alot of the stocks that I have interest in, but sometimes I wish you'd devote more in your write-ups about your view of actual business prospects. Business prospects are more than business metrics, and I wish there was a little bit more about that.

    Anyhow, I really like your guys modeling approach, but more competitive position analysis/business prospects analysis would be informative if you have done that work.

    EXPD and CHRW have been passing my screens for business quality for years but I never could figure out why the market valued them so highly. Now they have dropped back to relatively low valuations for the stock, but in absolute terms it still feels high compared to other companies. If I better understood why the market valued them so highly to begin with (and still values them richly imho) I could better estimate how "low" is "low". Competitive dynamics inform the multiples and the sustainability of results.
    Jun 18 10:48 PM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Shorting A Stock? 6 Useful Tips [View article]
    My interest in shorting began a year or so after the 2008-09 correction. I looked at the past 10 years as a "wash" in macro terms and realized I couldn't afford another 10 years of flat returns (we all want to retire at some point don't we?). I began educating myself on shorting and trying to identify opportunities to learn the game. I wanted an option outside of just eating my losses or going to cash. (Yes, I was a long term investor and tended to stay nearly fully invested until 2008-09 made me rethink my entire investing approach). So now I'm much more willing to hold cash than in the past and wait. I've also shorted a few test cases - including an inverse ETF, and two stocks FSLR and AMZN. I was one of the shorts that got burned and had to cover w/ AMZN's last quarterly report. But I'm learning with small amounts and am just trying to give myself a way to invest in both up and down markets should we have another 10 years of going nowhere in aggregate.
    Jun 9 03:10 PM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Will Microsoft Crush Apple? It Will If History Repeats Itself [View article]
    I also said "Huh?" about the no competition thing. Novell was leading in Networking until MSFT took over. When I was in college the top spreadsheet was Lotus - now it's XLS. dBase was the database I learned on - Access was just a toy then. Remember Wordperfect and Wordstar? Outlook was not the first email program I used. Programming languages? (Borland).

    MSFT faced lots of competition early on, but during the transition to windows moved faster than others.
    Jun 7 05:08 PM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Guess Inc. Continues Its Value Momentum [View article]
    Nice writeup and good comparisons. I'm long GES and it stands out on my screens, however I didn't realize it's metrics were such a large discount to others in the industry. Nice comparisons.
    May 25 09:12 PM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Buffett's Bursting Bubble [View article]
    Peter, I'm a fan of yours and love how you'll take on the establishment, but I really don't see how Buffet's core message is so controversial. He's simply stating buy productive assets that grow in value over time - assets that can outpace inflation without requiring excessive capital investment to maintain that productivity. In short he see's buying quality companies or stocks in those companies as the safest way to maintain purchasing power over the long term.

    See page 18-19.
    http://bit.ly/xcBPQb

    As I see it, if more people made decisions like Buffet America would be a much sounder financial place.
    Mar 7 10:39 PM | 2 Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Billionaire Paul Tudor Jones's Top Stock Picks [View article]
    Thanks for the info. Tudor's part of the "Market Wizards" book was my favorite,

    I was looking through the 13F after seeing your article and I think Virgin Media stock $35.278mil or Microsoft stock $30.6mil call optons actually be Tudor's top positions from the filing.

    I'm not sure how to read the value of the options, but also there is a large Yahoo position combination of stock, calls, and puts that possibly is his largest holding combined, but depending on leverage w/ options maybe what looks like a top large long position may cancel out?

    Link to 13F
    http://1.usa.gov/zTO0XD
    Feb 25 02:59 AM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Top Solar Picks From Legendary Fund Managers [View article]
    thank you. valuable info.
    Feb 16 12:45 AM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • LHC Group - Beaten Up, But Addressing A Huge Growth Market [View article]
    thank you for the writeup on LHCG and the sector in general. being at home when possible instead of in hospital makes so much sense for the patient. I'm investing in this theme based on my experiences with my parents as much as anything else. I hope economically the companies can make home health work in more and more cases, and get out of the hospital as quickly as possible (and stay out of the hospital).
    Feb 8 09:15 PM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • To Understand (And Trade) Today's Volatility, Look At The 1930s [View article]
    valuable historical perspective. thank you
    Jan 28 10:10 PM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Buying Aixtron Should Pay Off Handsomely For The Patient Investor [View article]
    LOL. MFB is near top of my watchlist also. (I have held it in the past also). good articles
    Jan 5 11:41 PM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Buying Aixtron Should Pay Off Handsomely For The Patient Investor [View article]
    good background writeup on both AIXG and DAR, two companies showing up on my basic screens at the moment. I appreciate the good summary perspectives of these companies and analysis. I added you to my "following" list.
    Jan 5 02:48 AM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • How To Read Chinese In English: A Primer For Investors [View article]
    "I believe the press to be heavily biased against China, for the simple reason that China-bashing sells."

    I guess it depends on the source. I for one just want a straight take on what is going on. Investors like Rogers position China w/ positive outlook, and I think generally writers like Friedman do also w/ some caveats.

    But in the end I just want to understand. Ex: the videos of the modern ghost towns I see in China of entire cities built without anyone to live in them make no sense to me http://bit.ly/tbMutN
    and I can't help but think there has to be alot to be concerned about - but such a large country may have more positives that can outweigh these concerns
    Jan 2 11:03 PM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Magic Formula Investing 2011 Year In Review [View article]
    Magic Formula is one of my screening methods. I disagree that the book is only an adv. for the website. The approach is simple and the book is therefore short - but it's not "easy" to achieve in practice. The calculations I've used "mostly" find the same companies on the MFI website, but I will find different co's also.

    As to this article - it's a good summary of how this popular universe filtering method performed over the year. I didn't know the year was subpar until I read here. I found that good to know.

    I am expecting to play a rebound in shares of co like AFAM and LHCG. That's a very good tip to consider imho.

    To anybody new - the article points out be sure to screen out the dubious chinese stocks.

    good article and thanks for the update
    Dec 30 05:20 PM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
COMMENTS STATS
156 Comments
97 Likes