This portfolio focused on arbitrage and special situations was up 10.5% in September and is up over 20% so far this year. Read how the portfolio is adapting to the changing investment climate by temporarily focusing on merger arbitrage opportunities.

Another update of the Special Situations Real Money Portfolio, my experiment in arbitrage investing. This month I talk about a profitless tender offer and the decline in price of three positions that have been held for several months.

The Special Situations Real Money Portfolio is still maintaining an impressive 22.8% internal rate of return since inception. The portfolio is down 3.9% since the beginning of the year, but still much better than the 9.4% decline in the S&P 500 so far this year. Shares of Sally Beaty Holdings (SBH) were added in reaction to its price decline this month. 

The Special Situations Real Money Portfolio of Fat Pitch Financials Contributor's Corner continues to maintain a 25% annualized rate of return even in this challenging market.  Cash is king for now as I wait for new opportunities to materialize.

The Special Situations Real Money Portfolio managed by Fat Pitch Financials is a real Coverdell Educational Savings Account turned mini-hedge fund for his son. Performance to date has been 25.4% annualized rate of return and year to day the account is up 36.3%. The month of October brought a slight decline in the account and opportunities in special situations and tender offers were scarce.

This week's Festival of Stocks was hosted by Ashish's Niti. The Festival of Stocks features the top posts submitted by stock bloggers this week.

Part of the reason for Sally Beauty’s stock price rise today may be due in part to this past weekend’s Barron’s 2007 Roundtable article. Sally Beauty Holdings was one of Oscar Schafer’s picks for this year’s roundtable.

The 2006 annualized rate of return for the Special Situations Real Money Port was 16.4%. Discover the details of how this was done.

According to academic research, special situations like stock splits, special dividends and spin-offs could provide fertile hunting grounds for investors.

This week's Festival of Stocks was hosted by Rick of Value Discipline. He included a review of last week's market activity and provided excellent commentary on this week's submissions to the Festival.

Five reasons why Sally Beauty Holdings is a fat pitch of a spinoff opportunity. Joel Greenblatt would be proud of this one.

Also see the latest performance number for the Special Situations Real Money Port.