Investors are gathering at the?Marriott Marquis in Manhattan today and tomorrow to hear some of the world's top hedge fund managers present their investment picks at the annual Value Investing Congress (VIC).?
The event starts at 8:30 AM ET.
The conference speaker line-up features hedge fund heavyweights including, David Einhorn (Greenlight Capital), Bill Ackman (Pershing Square Capital Management), Glenn Tongue and Barry Rosentein (JANA Partners) among many others. ?
Ackman is scheduled to speak at 5 p.m. today. ?Einhorn, who presented his Green Mountain Coffee short in the past, will speak tomorrow.?
We're live blogging throughout this event, so refresh this page and check Clusterstock for all the latest news and investment picks coming from the VIC.
8:34 AM | We're up and running.
The Value Investing Congress should start any minute now. ?Stay tuned for all the latest updates.?
8:36 AM | We spoke with Whitney Tilson earlier
Tilson, co-founder of the Value Investing Congress, told us he thinks Bill Ackman's presentation after the closing bell today and David Einhorn's presention tomorrow could be market moving. ?
8:41 AM | Guy Gottfried, the founder and manager of Rational Investment Group, is up first.
He's presenting two investing ideas today.?
1. ?ClubLink Enterprises, which trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange, is his first investment idea. ?
The company operates 51 golf clubs in Canada and the U.S. ?However, it also operates a tourism business in Alaska, including a railway and a port. ?
He says that ClubLink offers two high quality businesses trading at 5.5x free cash flow (FCF). ?
Gottfried thinks the stock is overlooked because it has no sell-side coverage or conference calls. ?It's also illiquid as the CEO own a majority of the owndership. ?
He says that it's a fairly high quality business. ?First, it's the largest golf club operator in Canada and a bunch of those clubs are highly ranked. ?What's more is it's a highly cash flow generative business with annual dues and entry fees being paid up front. ?It also has a competitive advantage given that club members have access to the other clubs, he says. ?As for the tourism business, most Alaska cruise ship passengers dock at ClubLink's docks in the Port of Skagway, Gottfried explains. ?
Some other reasons for why Gottfried is picking ClubLink is despite the recession, he says that earnings have been "resilient". ?He also says that CEO Rai Sahi is a "terrific owner-operator." ?
He says that ClubLink has a massive opportunity in the Florida golf market.?
9:03 AM | Gottfried's second investment pick is Canam Group
Canam Group, a steel joint maker, trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (CAM).?
He says that it's undervalued and that the company is well-run.?
9:28 AM | Kian Ghazi of Hawkshaw Capital says they're shutting down the hedge fund.
He made the decision to wind down the business and close Hawkshaw after nine years of business. ?
"We endured our workst year in 2011," he says, adding that they lost 11% in 2011.
So far, Hawkshaw Capital has liquidated its portfolio and they're in the final stages of closing down.?
9:33 AM | Ghazi's investment pick is Layne Christensen (LAYN)
Layne Christensen is a water-well driller and mineral exploration company.
For the company's valuation, Ghazi says he sees limited downside and that the stock rarely trades below tangible book. He says there's limited downside because the mineral exploration business offers a "firm floor." ?
He also sees a very attractive upside. ?
There are two ways to play this investment.
1. ?He says you can play this investment by hedging the mineral exploration business. ?He says there is a risk that the business fundamentals diverge between Major Drilling and Mineral Exploration, causing the hedge to fail.?
2. ?If one doesn't hedge, one could face the situation where the mining cycle rolls and MinEx profits dry up. ?Without any earnings support how firm of a support will TBV provide. Gazhi?says he personally owns it unhedged in this manner.
In summary,?Ghazi says...?
* ?The MinEx value alone at $19/share supports the entire market cap.?
* ?The problems in the water segment are isolated to one unit generating heavy losses?
* There have been key steps taken by the new CEO for a significant ?margin recovery in the water division.?
* ?The concerns about municipal exposure are misguided.?
Finally, he says LAYN is trading at tangible book value and the downside is limited. ?He also personally owns the stock.?
10:17 AM | It's break time. The conference will resume at 10:50 a.m. ET with Whitney Tilson presenting some of his favorite ideas. Stay tuned.
10:52 AM | We're back. Whitney Tilson is up next to present his favorite ideas.
10:53 AM | Whitney Tilson is going to talk about three stocks today.
First, he's giving an overview of the U.S. economy going over GDP, consumer confidence, jobs reports, etc.?He notes that the U.S. economy's recovery has been "quite strong." ?
There's a lot of mythology about the causes of the economic weakness, Tilson explains. He says there's tremendous weakness in housing market, government spending and layoffs that are the real headwinds in the economic recovery. ?
He is cautiously optimistic that a tepid recovery will continue in the U.S. with the S&P 500 up more than 16% YTD. ?He says the markets have already had a good year and he doesn't see much upside unless the economy really takes off.?
11:03 AM | Tilson: 'What would you rather own over the next 10 years?'
1. A 10 Year U.S. Treasury currently at 1.65%?
OR
2. The following four stocks, all of which are rated AAA?
* Exxon Mobil
* Microsoft
* ADP
*Johnson& Johnson?
He thinks it's absolute madness to favor the Treasuries over those stocks. ?He says that investors with a 10 year horizion should diversify their portfolio of dividend paying blue-chips stocks purchased at moderate multiples.?
11:09 AM | His three stock picks
1.?Netflix?-- Tilson has experience on both the short and long side. ?
On the long side, his investment thesis is that it's a market leader in a rapidly growing global business in streaming video. ?Tilson says there's a lot of talk about competition, but very little is currently detectable, he explains. ?The company is difficult to value, he says, because it has chosen to forego current profitability to drive growth by investing in a.) more, better streaming content and b.) international expansion. ?
He's also comparing Amazon to Netflix. ?He says they both use technology and the internet to deliver an old product "in a new way." ?He says they both have "visionary, entrepreneurial CEOs." He says Amazon is a great, convenient service at a low price. ?He says that both of the companies have extremely large, global growth opportunities. ?
He says Netflix reminds him of Amazon circa 2001. ?However, Tilson thinks that Netflix is a better business than Amazon.?
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/value-investing-congress-day-one-2012-10
jeff saturday jason smith jon corzine austin rivers austin rivers sweet home alabama etch a sketch
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.