Entries by Simon Lack

Unlocking Value In Microsoft The Einhorn Way

This morning David Einhorn on CNBC elegantly highlighted the inconsistency in pricing of different asset classes, specifically in the case of Apple (AAPL), which he owns. Einhorn believes AAPL should exploit the low yields/high prices of preferred equity to the advantage of stockholders. You can read the transcript of Einhorn’s interview here so we won’t […]

Buying Stocks, Gingerly

Money has been flowing into bond funds for a long time. During the financial crisis of 2007-08 many of us contemplated hitherto unthinkable risks to our investments. I spent a few miserable evenings in September 2008 calculating the fall in the value of my own portfolio and wondering where it might stabilize. Avoiding leverage, and […]

The Challenges of Finding Investment Income

I was fortunate to be in Boca Raton, Florida last week at the GAIM conference on hedge funds, enjoying a 50 degree temperature advantage over NY. I had the opportunity to meet with several retired people who live in Florida either part-time during the winter or all year. Chatting with them about investments really brought home to […]

Stocks That Look Like Bonds

Terry Smith, UK-based CEO of Tullett Prebon AND Fundsmith, LLP (obviously a man of prodigious energy) has written an interesting piece in the FT commenting on the attraction of owning less volatile stocks. He is highlighting the Low Beta Anomaly, a weakness in the theory behind efficient markets which predicts more risky investments need to generate a […]

Quarterly Outlook

Fiscal issues dominated the last few weeks of 2012 and are likely to provide headlines during the next several months as well. Therefore, it’s worth contemplating what it means for investors. Following this most recent skirting of disaster with the Fiscal Cliff, it’s possible to draw some inferences about how the ongoing budgetary debate will […]

Why Compromise in Washington is so Elusive

As we approach the Fiscal Cliff, or more properly Slope, I thought the Republican negotiating strategy was very revealing. Gerrymandering, the process by which Congressional districts are tortured into shapes that resemble something drawn by a drunk with a permanent marker, are certainly part of the issue. Although the original intention was  to allow for districts that reliably […]

Brief 2013 Outlook Written for FinAlternatives.com

2013 will be the year when bond investors begin to acknowledge the inevitably low future returns caused by the Fed’s multiple rounds of Quantitative Easing and debt monetization. Negative after tax real returns will reach high grade bond investors as they already have for holders of government debt. The relentless Math, whereby the return on […]

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