Welcome to the value edition of Happy Hour! Sit back, relax and enjoy some of the more interesting things I’ve come across this week.
Zuckerberg
The Facebook IPO is about a week away. It will be interesting to see how it all turns out. I’ll be sitting on the sidelines, watching to see how much people will overpay for the stock. If you’re planning to buy Facebook, take the time to read The Maturation of the Billionaire Boy-Man about Mark Zuckerberg. Remember, he’ll have a 57% controlling interest in the company, stockholders are just along for the ride.
Butt Dialing 911
The biggest misuse of the 911 emergency number is from your butt. At least it is in New York, where the city dealt with 3.9 million butt dials in 2010. A study showed that butt calls, not to be confused with booty calls, amounted to 38% of all 911 calls. That’s an average of about 10,700 per day. The good news, 911 booty calls were down to 7%.
J.P. Morgan
The recent news out of J.P. Morgan is a blow to confidence and a fear catalyst the way the media has played it out so far. The speculation hedging being used at JPM is beyond complicated. But if it was a hedge, where is the offsetting gain. It’s an argument for a return to Glass-Steagall. The reality is, if the CEO doesn’t really know what’s happening under his watch, how do the regulators. On another note, if your nickname is the London Whale, you’re having a very bad day.
Last Call
I jumped on the value investing bandwagon this week since there was such a large amount written thanks to the Berkshire annual meeting, Value Investing Congress, and Value Investor Conference in Omaha.
- The Complete Transcripts Of Berkshire 2012 Annual Meeting – This transcript offers what an annual meeting entails but more importantly how some guy named Warren Buffett views things from a value investing perspective.
- All Notes & Presentations From Value Investing Congress Omaha 2012 – If you have any interest in value investing, this has links to 14 presentations made at the Value Investing Congress. It’s too much information to break down, you’ll just have to head over and dig through it all.
- World’s Simplest Stock Valuation Measure – Offers the quick and dirty valuation tool to find out if a stock is under, over or fairly valued. It’s hardly perfect, but it’s a good start before the real research begins.