Value Investing News - WSZL - Comments

Biglari sheds kid gloves

George — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:03:48 -0500

Thank you for posting this letter about the latest move by Western Sizzlin on ITEX. Biglari sounds like he is taking off the kid gloves. I can't wait to see the response and the next move.

You are welcome. For obvious

George — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:09:35 -0500

You are welcome. For obvious reasons I'm watching this one closely. I'm trying to find a copy of the conference call.

Thanks George, I wouldn't

Nick — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 10:08:02 -0500

Thanks George, I wouldn't have looked for this on my own.

Nelson Peltz is on the

billytickets — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 07:06:39 -0500

Nelson Peltz is on the Forbes400 and if you google search him you will get some backround.He has takena large stake in Wendy's and Arby's and his backround is in the food business.Yes I think anyone who is serious about investing in restaurant or food businesses should check him out.He has a large stake in Kraft as well

I've seen references to

George — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:08:56 -0500

I've seen references to Peltz several times in the past, but I don't really follow him. Should I be?

I agree George hopefully he

billytickets — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 23:59:45 -0500

I agree George hopefully he will not pull a Pabrai and search for a stock with alot of uncertaintity like DFC.Pabrai's past track record showed NOTHING to "predict" a risky gamble like DFC. Good luck with sizzler Iam nota restaurant guy but MANY like Nelson Peltz have made billions.Do you follow Peltz?

Thanks for the feedback,

George — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 23:08:18 -0500

Thanks for the feedback, Billy. You are probably right that 15% isn't really conservative. I think $50 million is still a small enough amount to move around, but you probably have more experience with that than I do.

Regardless of whether Biglari acheives 15% returns, the operating portion of the business is still likely worth $17 by itself not counting the cash and investments. All I hope is that Biglari does make a significant misstep investing the capital and I should do pretty well with this little company.

George great

billytickets — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:40:19 -0500

George great analysis.Personally I think that him compounding 16 million dollars at 15% overa 10 year period is too"optimistic"

Could he do it? Perhaps but its much harder to do with 50 million than it would be with 3 million. I enjoyed the detailed analysis though

Spot any flaw in my analysis

George — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 10:47:56 -0500

Spot any flaw in my analysis of WSZL? I got some positive feedback via email so far, but no challenges to my assumptions or math yet.

Wow great recap -very

Nick — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 17:05:02 -0500

Wow great recap -very actionable in future rights offerings. I am also interested in Geoff's questions, "Where would this stock look attractive to you? What would you be willing to pay to be in the same boat as Biglari?"

Western Sizzlin

Geoff — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 16:40:32 -0500

George wrote:

"I discovered that I like the management of Western Sizzlin. They are very straight-forward and Sardar Biglari appears to be a top notch value investor that might turn Western Sizzlin into a mini restaurant Berkshire Hathaway. If the price of Western Sizzlin drops in the future, I might even add this stock as a permanent holding. I did not keep Western Sizzlin because all the event driven activity on this stock is pretty much over now and the Special Situations Real Money Port is not the place for my long term holdings. Maybe someday, Western Sizzlin might end up appearing in the Fat Pitch Financials Port instead, where my long term picks reside."

I remember looking at Western Sizzlin last year (when I mentioned Biglari in a quick blog post). If memory serves me right I don't think it was all that far from book. If so, you wouldn't have to pay much of a Biglari premium. Of course, after his success (and publicity) with Friendly's that might change. I'm expecting to see a piece on Biglari in the mainstream media any day now.

You said: " If the price of Western Sizzlin drops in the future, I might even add this stock as a permanent holding."

Where would this stock look attractive to you? What would you be willing to pay to be in the same boat as Biglari?

Rights Offering - Great Description

Geoff — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 16:33:24 -0500

It's great to be able to read a description of a rights offering through a single individual's eyes and through the whole process. The details given here are great – I think a lot of people wouldn't have any idea what a rights offering was, but after reading your description they'll know what it is, how to approach it (mentally), and exactly what steps they need to take.

Fat Pitch Financials is great for this sort of thing. I hope a lot of people get to see this post. It's more useful than what most investors are reading in the weekly business mags.