Value Investing News

For the past decade or so, Donald Yacktman of the Yacktman Fund (YACKX) have outperformed the indexes by investing in large well run companies that they could purchase at a discount. For the most part, they have done so with large companies and several smaller companies when the risk/reward is right.

As in the above example, where a few readers want to identify both Sirius and Bank of America together as being “cheap," I have come to realize there are various categories of that definition. One of the traits that fuse and unify all investors together in the market (or in the grocery store) is the need to find a bargain or a cheap stock to buy.

For most people fortunate enough to be born in the U.S., or any other industrialized country, they have access to the two main ingredients to achieve financial success: 1. Opportunity and 2. Time. Unfortunately, very few people are able to take advantage of the situation enough to even build a secure retirement.

Instead of giving a presentation at the Value Investing Congress, Pershing Square hedge fund manager Bill Ackman engaged in a question and answer session.

David Tepper—whose hedge fund made a killing during the crash by betting the government wouldn’t let the big banks fail—is coming out of the billionaire closet.

Yesterday U.S. markets traded down and world markets followed suit this morning. Both traders and investors are awaiting Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s speech from Jackson Hole. This will surely be the catalyst for Friday’s trading and tape action should be volatile

The question is which way does the stock go? Unlike penny stocks, large caps like GS are much more sensitive to earnings. As we all know many hot penny stocks have provided huge returns with extremely negative earnings.

The investment returns of most fund managers are generally compared against a common benchmark. This provides for an objective evaluation of their performance over a period of time. A common benchmark for most mutual fund managers is the total returns of the S&P 500 index. This benchmark is also useful for comparison to dividend investors as well.

Many investors ignore dividend investing, because they associate them with boring unexciting investments which are destined to fall into oblivion.

An interview with Bruce Berkowitz: Why the Fairholme founder finds AIG, Bank of America and Citi very attractive now.

Lender Processing Services is riding the historic wave of mortgage defaults, and with continuing high rates of late mortgages and a building backlog of foreclosures, business looks good for 2010 as well. But there are some real risks to consider before investing.

The most important dividend events of the past week included news that have regulators warned financial companies to restrict dividend increases and stock buybacks for the near future. According to Reuters, executives from Goldman Sachs (GS) and JP Morgan Chase (JPM) have had talks with regulators about returning more cash to shareholders.

Last year I introduced the Stock Ideas list and it has proven to be immensely popular. The list consists of Dividend Aristocrats, US Broad Dividend Achievers and U.S. Dividend Champions. Here are some highlights on this year’s changes:

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC), the biggest US lender, is scheduled to release financial results for fourth quarter before the opening bell on Wednesday, January 20, 2010.. Analysts, on average, expect the company to report net loss of 51 cents a share on revenue of $27.19 billion.