"I don't read economic forecasts. I don't read the funny papers."  - Warren Buffett


Stingy Links
http://www.stingyinvestor.com/SI/articles/articlearchive.shtml

Feast with the vultures
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_15/b4079062588168.htm
"A more rewarding approach may be to invest in companies such as Leucadia.
Like Berkshire Hathaway, these are publicly traded holding companies run
by managers with histories of sniffing out value. Yes, the risks are more
concentrated. But returns, on average, exceed those of the typical value
fund over the past decade. Patience is crucial, since returns can fluctuate
unpredictably, rising in years when managers sell profitable investments
and stagnating when they hold a lot of cash. Because of the stock market
sell-off, share prices of many of these players are cheap vs. historic
norms. And after largely sitting on the sidelines during the bull market, many
of the companies are flush with cash. They are positioned to take
advantage of lower stock prices as well as a projected spike in the default rate
for U.S. speculative grade bonds."

Crossing the rubicon
http://fpafunds.com/news_04022008_rubicon.asp
"In light of the above comments, the partners of FPA came to a unanimous
conclusion that the recent Federal Reserve actions and the potential new
Congressional policies under consideration are likely to lead to a
significantly higher level of long-term inflation in the U.S. We are more than
disappointed in the substandard decision making that has taken place within the
Federal Reserve and other governmental entities these last several years.
The misguided monetary policies of the former Chairman of the Federal
Reserve, Alan Greenspan, created an era of 'too big to fail' that has led to
two major asset bubbles. With each successive bubble, the policy actions
available to the Federal Reserve to reduce financial system risk have been
systematically reduced. The extraordinary actions taken by the Bernanke
Federal Reserve reflect acts of desperation rather than long-term policy
solutions. The rapidly changing events within the capital markets are forcing
the Fed to adopt policies that have the potential of long-term negative
consequences."

Lenders swamped by foreclosures
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aOluOO8Vy0gc&refer=home
"Banks are so overwhelmed by the U.S. housing crisis they've started to
look the other way when homeowners stop paying their mortgages. The number of
borrowers at least 90 days late on their home loans rose to 3.6 percent
at the end of December, the highest in at least five years, according to
the Mortgage Bankers Association in Washington. That figure, for the first
time, is almost double the 2 percent who have been foreclosed on."

Spanish property auction flop
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=ao4F2HvP_rWo&refer=home
"House prices began their surge in 1998 spurred by falling interest rates
as Spain prepared for euro membership. Spain has built about 5 million new
homes since then, attracting immigrant labor from Eastern Europe and Latin
America to fuel a boom that peaked in 2006. Now the turmoil in global
credit markets is cutting demand. The world's biggest financial companies
have reported about $232 billion in credit losses and writedowns since the
start of 2007 and the credit shortage is filtering through to Spain."

Student lenders stifled
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a8p51DTC.Pzk&refer=home
"The collapse of the $330 billion auction-rate securities market has
brought debt sales by U.S. public student-loan agencies to a halt. No municipal
bonds backed by student loans were sold in the first quarter, the first
time that happened in almost 40 years, according to Thomson Financial. The
inability to obtain financing differs from states, cities, schools and
hospitals, which sold $82 billion of bonds to fund public works and replace
failed auction debt that stuck them with penalty rates as high as 20
percent."

Graham's metrics still apply
http://www.financialpost.com/money/story.html?id=420327
"Benjamin Graham, the father of modern security analysis, was a professor
at Columbia University, taught Warren Buffett and wrote the most famous --
and arguably the best -- book on investing, The Intelligent Investor,
first published in 1949. In a chapter on stock selection for defensive
investors, he said they should look for large, dividend-paying companies with
little debt and a consistent record of profitability, whose shares trade at
low multiples to earnings and book value. We applied Graham's criteria to
the Canadian market, using the FP Corporate Analyzer program to identify
companies Graham would likely find attractive."

How fund manager didn't lose a bundle
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/how-fund-manager-didnt-lose/story.aspx?guid=%7BBA0B8B5B-49E4-4B8F-AE83-70E385CCCF5E%7D
"As for where Mr. Rodriguez is betting now? He's still bearish. He's on a
"buyer's strike." But he is considering his next moves. He views the recent
partial bailout of Bear Stearns as "a short term positive but a long term
negative . for the dollar and for inflation." The reason? Once again
those who behaved irresponsibly or worse are sticking everyone else with the
tab. "This has expedited the socialization of risk and moral hazard,
exponentially," he says. Stay tuned."

Dan on BNN
http://broadband.bnn.ca/bnn/?vid=42077
Dan cautions against Ticker Temptation. Read his articles over here.
">href="http://www.ndir.com/SI/funds/weekly.shtml">here.

Beware: A 'safety net' full of holes
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/2008/04/01/104584044/index.htm?postversion=2008040205
"Regardless of what they're called or the advantages they claim to offer,
these products have two things in common: very high commissions for your
adviser and, thanks to fees averaging about 2% to 3% a year, very low
returns for you. And you often have to pay a surrender charge, or exit fee, of
6% or more if you want to withdraw the money in the first six to eight
years. Another feature you'll commonly find with these safety nets is
confounding complexity. I've had plenty of clients who signed disclosure forms
stating that they had read and understood the 473-page policy, yet they still
had no idea what they were buying."

When I'm sixty-four
http://www.pimco.com/LeftNav/Featured+Market+Commentary/IO/2008/IO+March+2008.htm
Mr. Gross advocates government measures that attempt to stop the slide in
housing prices. Oh, and he's turning 64.

Revised CPR method helps save Arizonans
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/03/31/moh.cpr/index.html
"This is the worst-case scenario. If a person's heart stops pumping blood
through the body, and they aren't in a hospital, they have only about a 2
percent chance of surviving without serious disability. But Arizona cities
including Glendale are starting to find that a few simple steps can
radically improve the odds."

The clean energy scam
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1725975-1,00.html
"But several new studies show the biofuel boom is doing exactly the
opposite of what its proponents intended: it's dramatically accelerating global
warming, imperiling the planet in the name of saving it. Corn ethanol,
always environmentally suspect, turns out to be environmentally disastrous.
Even cellulosic ethanol made from switchgrass, which has been promoted by
eco-activists and eco-investors as well as by President Bush as the fuel of
the future, looks less green than oil-derived gasoline."

Out of print
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/03/31/080331fa_fact_alterman?currentPage=all
"Few believe that newspapers in their current printed form will survive.
Newspaper companies are losing advertisers, readers, market value, and, in
some cases, their sense of mission at a pace that would have been barely
imaginable just four years ago. Bill Keller, the executive editor of the
Times, said recently in a speech in London, 'At places where editors and
publishers gather, the mood these days is funereal' Editors ask one another,
'How are you?,' in that sober tone one employs with friends who have just
emerged from rehab or a messy divorce.' Keller's speech appeared on the Web
site of its sponsor, the Guardian, under the headline 'NOT DEAD YET.'"

Taleb outsells Greenspan
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aHfkhe8.C._8&refer=exclusive
"On a freezing day in March 2007, Nassim Taleb walked into a conference
room at Morgan Stanley's Manhattan offices on 47th Street and Broadway to
address a group of the firm's risk managers. His message: Your models don't
work. Using a whiteboard to scribble out his calculations, Taleb, now 48,
began one of his rants, this time against stress tests -- Wall Street lingo
for examining how a market rout will play out. Stress tests are
inherently risky because they ignore rare but potentially devastating events, Taleb
said. 'Past shortfall doesn't predict future shortfall,' the options
trader turned best-selling author recalls telling the assembled group of about
40. The risk managers, part of a tribe of mathematical model makers known
in the finance world as quants, stared back at him blankly, and a debate
ensued, according to people who were there. Only six months later, Morgan
Stanley experienced its own rout. The world's second-biggest mergers
adviser announced in December that it had written down its subprime-related
holdings by $9.4 billion after the firm's traders misjudged how fast and far
prices of the debt would fall. Their risk management had failed."


S&P/TSX60 Value Screens
http://www.stingyinvestor.com/SI/strategy.shtml 

High Dividend Yield Stocks                     P/E P/B P/S P/C P/D Yield*
============================================== === === === === === ======
Biovail (BVF)                                   5   5   4   5   5    5
Bank of Montreal (BMO)                          4   5   4   1   5    5
CIBC (CM)                                       2   4   5   4   5    5
National Bank of Canada (NA)                    3   4   4   5   5    5
Royal Bank (RY)                                 4   3   4   5   5    5
BCE (BCE)                                       5   3   4   5   5    5
Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS)                       4   3   4   1   5    5
TransCanada (TRP)                               3   4   3   4   5    5
Telus (T)                                       3   4   4   5   5    5
Toronto Dominion Bank (TD)                      4   4   3   3   4    4
More Info: http://www.stingyinvestor.com/SI/strategy/dogs.shtml 

Value Ratio Stocks                             P/E P/B P/S P/C P/D  VR
============================================== === === === === === =====
Biovail (BVF)                                   5   5   4   5   5   0.6
BCE (BCE)                                       5   3   4   5   5   1.8
Thomson (TOC)                                   5   5   2   2   4   1.8
Bank of Montreal (BMO)                          4   5   4   1   5   1.9
Royal Bank (RY)                                 4   3   4   5   5   2.8
National Bank of Canada (NA)                    3   4   4   5   5   2.8
Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS)                       4   3   4   1   5   3.0
Toronto Dominion Bank (TD)                      4   4   3   3   4   3.0
Telus (T)                                       3   4   4   5   5   3.2
Husky Energy (HSE)                              4   2   3   4   4   3.4
More Info: http://www.stingyinvestor.com/SI/strategy/valueratio.shtml 

Graham Stocks                                  P/E P/B P/D   G$   dG$(%)
============================================== === === === ====== ======
ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. (ACE.B)              5   5   0   92.83 342.90
Lundin Mining Corporation (LUN)                 5   5   0   18.31 139.30
MDS Inc. (MDS)                                  5   5   0   47.24 136.42
Thomson (TOC)                                   5   5   4   55.82  52.09
Biovail (BVF)                                   5   5   5   16.17  43.39
Magna Cl.A (MG.A)                               4   5   3  104.25  42.18
Nova (NCX)                                      5   4   3   36.10  42.02
Petro Canada (PCA)                              5   4   2   55.59  20.30
BCE (BCE)                                       5   3   5   41.27  14.64
Bank of Montreal (BMO)                          4   5   5   50.37   7.77
Weston George (WN)                              3   5   4   51.52   5.00
Canadian Pacific Rail (CP)                      4   4   2   70.14   4.22
Sun Life (SLF)                                  3   4   4   49.33   1.62
More Info: http://www.stingyinvestor.com/SI/strategy/graham.shtml 

*Notes: http://www.stingyinvestor.com/SI/strategy/notes.shtml 

Switch to the HTML version if the tables aren't formatted properly.
http://www.stingyinvestor.com/cgi-bin/email.cgi 


Books for Stingy Investors

Security Analysis
by Benjamin Graham & David Dodd

Graham and Dodd's Security Analysis is the investment bible for
smart investors. Regrettably the breadth of material that it
covers can be intimidating and only dedicated students are likely to
make it through its 770 pages. However, Security Analysis is
filled with Graham's practical investment philosophy and if you're
a serious investor then you should read this book.
Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0071448209/


Stock Research From Dan Hallett & Associates

The Rothery Report
http://www.rotheryreport.com/ 

The Rothery Report provides research on select deep-value stocks in
North America. Discover overlooked and undervalued stocks in quarterly
investment reports which provide detailed analysis of Canadian and
U.S. stocks.  Weekly email news and additional updates keep
subscribers informed about new opportunities and developments.

Rothery Report Performance (03/31/2001 to 12/31/2007)
  Average Capital Gain    Average Holding Period
          45.2%                   2.4 Years

Learn More
http://www.rotheryreport.com/store/store.shtml

Subscribe Today
http://www.rotheryreport.com/store/order.shtml 



If you'd like to suggest The Stingy News to a friend, please point them to:
http://www.stingyinvestor.com/cgi-bin/email.cgi

Please visit the StingyInvestor website at
http://www.stingyinvestor.com
To (un)subscribe please use our email centre at
http://www.stingyinvestor.com/cgi-bin/email.cgi
Email comments or questions to
info@stingyinvestor.com
Refer to legal & conflict of interest disclaimers at
http://www.stingyinvestor.com/SI/legal.shtml 
Privacy Policy 
http://www.ndir.com/SI/legal/privacy.shtml 
We do not rent or sell our email list to third parties.

ISSN 1499-2795 Copyright Dan Hallett and Associates Inc., 2008.
All rights reserved. The securities mentioned in this report are not
appropriate for all investors. Consult your professional investment
advisor before making any investment decision.  While all reasonable
effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information and data
contained herein, accuracy can not be guaranteed. Past performance is
not a good predictor of future performance.  Results are not
guaranteed and we assume no liability whatsoever for any material
losses that may occur.  No compensation for suggesting particular
securities or financial advisors is solicited or accepted.  The
information in this newsletter, and in its related website, is not
intended to be, nor does it constitute, financial advice or
recommendations.  Investing in stocks can be risky and may result in
substantial losses.  A Dan Hallett and Associates Inc.(DH&A)
publication.  DH&A is registered as Investment Counsel in the province
of Ontario. DH&A, or related-parties may have an interest in the
securities mentioned.