"The stock market is filled with individuals who know the price of
everything, but the value of nothing."  - Philip Fisher


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

Investors tune in predictions
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/28/business/28forecasts.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
"Mr. Taleb pointed to the reliance of some investors on financial
models, the quantitative wizardry that can churn reams of data
in an instant. These were the same models that, in the lead-up
to the subprime mortgage meltdown, assumed home prices would
never decline on a nationwide basis. They also ran so-called stress
tests on complex investments that ended up losing money when the
economy went south. But despite this decidedly mixed track
record, forecasters still enjoy a rapt audience, particularly at a
moment when so much in the markets depends on the uncertain
course of the housing market and the broader economy."

Manulife shows Mawer love
https://secure.globeadvisor.com/servlet/ArticleNews/story/gam/20080724/RCARRICK24
"Mawer is that rarity in the mutual fund industry, a company that
does everything well, whether it be Canadian equity, U.S. and
international equity, balanced or bond funds. You've probably
never heard of Mawer, but Manulife certainly has. Just recently, it
introduced a new lineup of Mawer-managed funds that are sold by
Manulife agents. Announcements like this aren't rare in the
fund industry. Many insurers strike deals in which they stick their
names on funds run by smart outside firms. What's different
here is the marketing fuss that Manulife is making over its new
lineup of Mawer funds. You'd almost think Warren Buffet himself was
on board."

'Stealth' housing bailout
http://biz.yahoo.com/cnbc/080725/25851253.html
"The numbers are staggering and likely to get much larger. What
we have here is, through a variety of programs, a stealth bailout
where more than a trillion dollars of taxpayer guarantees have
been extended to the housing market, both to keep it going and
to clean up the mess from the past."

Do economists need brains?
http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11785391
"These new neuroeconomists saw that it might be possible to move
economics away from its simplified model of rational,
self-interested, utility-maximising decision-making. Instead of
hypothesising about Homo economicus, they could base their research on
what actually goes on inside the head of Homo sapiens. The dismal
science had already been edging in that direction thanks to
behavioural economics. Since the 1980s researchers in this branch of
the discipline had used insights from psychology to develop more
'realistic' models of individual decision-making, in which
people often did things that were not in their best interests. But
neuroeconomics had the potential, some believed, to go further
and to embed economics in the chemical processes taking place in
the brain."

Patient Capital Q2 2008
http://www.patientcapital.com/newsletters/newsletter-2008-06.pdf
"As we had hoped these investor fears have provided us with some
investment opportunities. Indeed we have invested some of our
capital in what we believe to be very strong companies that offer
the potential for excellent long [term] returns."

U.S. turns away from decades of deregulation
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB121694460456283007.html?mod=2_1577_leftbox
"The housing and financial crisis convulsing the U.S. is powering
a new wave of government regulation of business and the
economy. Federal and state governments alike are increasingly hands-on
in their effort to deal with failing businesses, plunging house
prices, worthless mortgages and soaring energy prices. The steps
add up to a major challenge to the movement toward deregulation
that has defined American governance for much of the past
quarter-century since the "Reagan Revolution" of the early 1980s. In
fact, some proponents today of a bigger oversight role for
government are Republican heirs to the legacy of President Reagan."

Sometimes even I will go with the flow
http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/25072008/399/david-stevenson-sometimes-flow.html
"One such process suggested itself a few months back in the ABN
Amro Global Investment Returns Yearbook for 2008, written by Paul
Marsh, Elroy Dimson and Mike Staunton. It contains a
fascinating chapter on momentum in the stock market. The conclusion was
that buying momentum stocks is a rather sensible strategy, not the
work of a raving madman determined to lose all his wealth."

From good to great ... to below average
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/28/from-good-to-great-to-below-average/
"Nine of the eleven companies remain more or less intact. Of
these, Nucor is the only one that has dramatically outperformed the
stock market since the book came out. Abbott Labs and Wells
Fargo have done okay. Overall, a portfolio of the 'good to great'
companies looks like it would have underperformed the S&P 500."

Legg Mason Q2 letter
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/07-30-2008/0004858430&EDATE=
"A group of us were standing around a few weeks ago when Warren
Buffett wandered over. Chris Davis had dubbed us the Value
Support Group, as we all adhered to that approach to investing. We
were commiserating over how badly we had done in this market, how
valuation appeared not to matter and had not for the past couple
of years, how it was all about momentum and trend, and how we
were all losing clients and assets over and above our losses in
the market. It seemed like we needed a 12-step program to cure us
of our addiction to buying beaten-up stocks trading at large
discounts to our assessment of their intrinsic value."

How can the New York Times be worth so little?
http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/jul2008/pi20080725_458084.htm
"At its current $12.48 stock price - down 46.3% from a year ago -
Times Co. has a $1.79 billion market cap. To put this in
perspective, CBS recently acquired tech publisher CNET, a much weaker
media brand, for $1.8 billion. Add in the company's $1.1 billion
of debt, subtract $42 million for its cash on hand, and the
company's total enterprise value - a valuation measure that totals
up those items in such a fashion - is just $2.85 billion."

Selling the family jewels
http://www.slate.com/id/2195866/
"Selling heirloom assets is frequently a last-ditch alternative.
In instances in which assets have appreciated massively (such as
SunTrust's Coca-Cola stock or Merrill's stake in Bloomberg),
the sales can generate hefty tax bills. Such moves are also
recognitions that management has screwed things up so royally in the
core business that it has no alternative but to sell the
remaining assets that the market still likes. But in this climate, many
banks may find they don't have a choice."

Sell-side analysts more accurate than buy-side
http://www.advisor.ca/news/article.jsp?content=20080722_150607_9224
"Investors rarely have access to the buy-side analyst reports of
institutional investors, and according to a new study by a trio
of Harvard Business School researchers, they likely aren't
missing much. The study finds buy-side analysts are more optimistic
and less accurate than their sell-side counterparts, who freely
distribute their recommendations."

Fairfax Financial beats bad markets
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/francis/archive/2008/07/27/prem-watsa-fairfax-financial-s-homer.aspx
"Prem Watsa, Chair of insurance conglomerate Fairfax Financial
Holdings Ltd., began to worry about a credit meltdown a few years
ago. So he and his investment team devised a defensive strategy.
Today, Fairfax is in great shape financially, despite lousy
markets. The company has even defied gravity and two weeks ago its
credit was upgraded. This reflected its stellar investment
performance on its US$19.8 billion investment portfolio, good
operations at its underlying insurance companies and a jump in
shareholders. equity from US$2.856 billion in 2006 to US$4.8 billion
today."

Financial education unlikely to be of any help
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/18536bec-5c3d-11dd-9e99-000077b07658.html
"Teaching people how to manage their money is unlikely to make
them any better off, research by the financial regulator reveals.
As Britons struggle to adjust to rising inflation, higher
borrowing costs and general economic uncertainty, it has emerged that
there is little evidence that the millions poured into financial
education programmes are of any help."

Bear market opportunities
http://www.forbes.com/personalfinance/forbes/2008/0811/106.html
"Should you flee the market, given all this? It's a tough call,
but I wouldn't. For one thing, the Administration and Congress
can play a much larger role in alleviating the liquidity crisis
than they have up to now. This being an election year, I have a
strong feeling we'll see considerably more help from them in the
next few months. Most likely the Fed will eventually move to
fight inflation. Raising rates usually hurts the markets at first,
but over time stocks have been one of the best inflation hedges
you can find. In these circumstances, I wouldn't try to be too
clever. You don't see market timers who own yachts. If you pack up
now, chances are you'll miss a good part of the next bull
market. A large part of the gains are always made in the first few
months of one, when market-timing investors are still on the
sidelines."

How to leave your wife
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/SuddenlySingle/HowToLeaveYourWife.aspx?page=all
"If your marriage is crumbling, you need to pay attention to
money matters -- or suffer harsh consequences. Here's what to do,
men." [A link to a similar article for women is provided near the
top of this article. But thrifty couples will work hard to avoid
divorce.]

Can a family eat on $100 a week?
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/RaiseKids/CanAFamilyEatOn100AWeek.aspx?page=all
"Did we make it? First, let's say that any reduction in my
grocery bill was welcome, as most weeks we spend nearly $250 at a
grocery store. That's well above the $182 budget the U.S. government
considers "moderate" for a family of our size and ages.
Spending less than half what we normally do was tough. A $100 budget
gave us $1.19 a meal per person, obviously not enough for dinners
or coffees out and barely enough to put decent meat on our
plates."

The Big Mac index
http://www.economist.com/daily/chartgallery/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11784836
"Many of the currencies in the Fed's major-currency index,
including the euro, the British pound, Swiss franc and Canadian
dollar, are overvalued and trading higher than last year's burger
benchmark. Only the Japanese yen could be considered a snip. The
dollar still buys a lot of burger in the rest of Asia too. China's
currency is among the most undervalued, but a little bit less so
than a year ago."

Lawyer finds gaping hole in securities law
https://secure.globeadvisor.com/servlet/ArticleNews/story/gam/20080723/LAWCOLUMN23
""Allowing a member to resign and therefore escape sanction for
improper acts committed while a member of a [self-regulatory
organization] can hardly be said to protect investors. ...
Certainly, the public would have less confidence in capital markets where
sanctions for misconduct could be avoided by a simple letter of
resignation," Judge Carnwath wrote."

SEC plans to broaden curbs on short sales
http://www.cnbc.com/id/25829544
"The top U.S. securities regulator remains steadfast in a plan to
broaden an emergency rule to curb abusive short selling despite
opposition from the hedge fund industry and other short
sellers. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher
Cox told lawmakers Thursday the agency would soon propose
expanding the rule covering the shares of 19 major financial firms to
the entire market."

Shortsighted naked-short solution
http://www.forbes.com/home/2008/07/24/sec-shorting-regulation-biz-cz_rl_0726croesus.html
"The latest Wall Street cesspool is the short-selling arena,
where greedy hedge funds, beleaguered investment and commercial
banks and an incompetent regulator--the Securities and Exchange
Commission--have made bollocks out of a crucial arena of the
markets."

Selling your cottage needn't be so taxing
https://secure.globeadvisor.com/servlet/ArticleNews/story/gam/20080717/RCESTNICK17
"Let's assume that James now owns the cottage. He could shelter
the cottage from tax by designating it as his PR for the years
prior to 1982. For years after 1981, only one exemption is
available and the couple would designate the cottage for those years.
The result is twofold: There is no tax to pay on the sale of the
cottage this year since it has been designated as a PR for every
year it was owned. Further, Kate has not yet designated a
property as her PR for the years prior to 1982. She could designate
the Oakville home for those years. The result? We've now
sheltered part of the eventual gain on the Oakville home as well."

Dividends more reliable than share price rises
http://professionaladviser.co.uk/showPage.html?page=padv_display_news&tempPageId=805779
"Growth in dividend payments is far more reliable than rises in
share prices, according to analysis by Fidelity International.
The research found that dividend payments from the UK market have
shown an annual increase in all but five years since the
beginning of 1965."


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)                               4   5   4   5   5    5
Bank of Montreal (BMO)                      4   4   4   1   5    5
CIBC (CM)                                   0   4   5   5   5    5
National Bank of Canada (NA)                2   4   4   4   5    5
Telus (T)                                   5   4   4   5   5    5
Husky Energy (HSE)                          5   2   2   3   5    5
Royal Bank (RY)                             3   3   4   5   5    5
Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS)                   3   2   3   1   5    5
Toronto Dominion Bank (TD)                  4   4   3   3   5    5
BCE (BCE)                                   5   3   3   4   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)                               4   5   4   5   5   0.6
Telus (T)                                   5   4   4   5   5   1.9
Thomson (TOC)                               5   4   2   2   4   1.9
Bank of Montreal (BMO)                      4   4   4   1   5   2.0
Husky Energy (HSE)                          5   2   2   3   5   2.2
BCE (BCE)                                   5   3   3   4   4   2.2
Sun Life (SLF)                              5   5   5   1   4   2.6
Royal Bank (RY)                             3   3   4   5   5   2.9
Toronto Dominion Bank (TD)                  4   4   3   3   5   2.9
Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS)                   3   2   3   1   5   3.3
More Info: http://www.stingyinvestor.com/SI/strategy/valueratio.shtml 

Graham Stocks                              P/E P/B P/D   G$   dG$(%)
========================================== === === === ====== ======
ACE Aviation (ACE.B)                        5   5   0   84.58 708.63
Magna Cl.A (MG.A)                           4   5   3   99.99  68.27
Thomson (TOC)                               5   4   4   55.77  48.79
Petro Canada (PCA)                          5   4   3   66.58  37.51
Biovail (BVF)                               4   5   5   14.12  34.71
Sun Life (SLF)                              5   5   4   49.81  28.39
Canadian Tire (CTC.A)                       4   5   3   66.94  26.33
Nova (NCX)                                  5   4   2   32.34  25.32
Weston George (WN)                          4   5   4   52.60  18.45
Telus (T)                                   5   4   5   44.40  17.03
Inmet Mining (IMN)                          5   4   1   68.92  11.02
MDS Inc. (MDS)                              2   5   0   15.94  10.92
Bank of Montreal (BMO)                      4   4   5   49.91   5.21
Canadian Pacific Rail (CP)                  4   4   3   64.81   2.97
BCE (BCE)                                   5   3   4   40.00   2.63
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

What Works On Wall Street
by James O'Shaughnessy

Historical stock data is what O'Shaughnessy's book is all about.
If you want to know how straightforward stock selection
techniques have done, pick up What Works on Wall Street and you'll find
out. O'Shaughnessy's book is a must have reference for any
serious student of the market.
Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0071452257/


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 06/30/2008)
  Average Capital Gain    Average Holding Period
          40.7%                   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.