The Special Situations Real Money Portfolio ended the month of June with a record balance of $23,579.28.   That’s up 7.5% from the portfolio balance I reported in the May Special Situations Real Money Portfolio update.

The year-to-date return for the Special Situations Real Money Portfolio was 27.07% on June 30, 2009. The S&P 500 has returned less than 3.16% so far this year. I’m trouncing the market with my unique portfolio of special situations.

Looking back at the overall performance of this portfolio since inception, the total return is a whopping 135.79% since I started this Coverdell Educational Savings Account for my son on October 19, 2004. The annualized growth rate has now climbed to 28.29%. I believe that is the highest annualized growth rate I’ve ever reported and exceeds my outrageous goal of maintaining a 25% rate of return.

A couple of key events in June pushed the portfolio to new heights. You might recount XTENT (XTNT) was sold on June 4th. My $1,503.86 investment in this net-net on May 27, 2009 produced a profit of $1,489.11. That 99.0% total return was amazing, but I was left regretting I didn’t invest more in XTENT and I still wish I held out for the much higher prices that stock fetched shortly after I sold.

In addition to investing in a net-net, I also completed two tender offers for closed-end funds. In May, Neuberger Berman announced that it would be conducting a tender offer for its family of closed-end funds. Neuberger Berman was offering to pay 98% of NAV, and best of all, odd lot positions would not be subject to proration if the tender offer was oversubscribed. I bought 99 shares of Neuberger Berman Intermediate Municipal Fund (NBH) on May 6, 2009 at $12.51 per share for a total cost of $1,245.44. I also bought 99 shares of Neuberger Berman Dividend Advantage Fund (NDD) on May 14, 2009 at $6.71 per share for a total cost of $671.24.

On June 9, 2009, I received $13.46 per share in cash for the 99 shares of Neuberger Berman Intermediate Municipal Fund that I tendered. When those shares were cashed out, I received $1,332.54. However, I also got charged a $25 fee, but then on June 15, 2009 I also received a dividend of $5.37. The bottom line is that I netted $67.47, a 5.4% total return. If I assume that I received all the cash on June 15th, my average annualized rate of return for this closed-end fund odd lot tender offer came out to 48%.

On June 9, 2009, I received $7.76 per share in cash for the 99 shares of Neuberger Berman Dividend Advantage Fund (NDD) that I tendered. When those shares were cashed out, I received $768.24. However, I also got charged a $25 fee, but then on June 15, 2009 I also received a dividend of $6.44. The bottom line is that I netted $78.44, an 11.7% total return. If I assume that I received all the cash on June 15th, my average annualized rate of return for this closed-end fund odd lot tender offer came out to 129%.

While these two tender offers didn’t boost the overall balance of the Special Situations Real Money Port by much, they were still profitable and good practice for future tender offers that could potentially generate much larger returns. To keep up with the latest moves of this portfolio, consider subscribing to my premium service, Fat Pitch Financials Contributors Corner. Contributors Corner also has the complete transaction history of the Special Situations Real Money Portfolio. There you will also find my weekly list of stocks trading below two-thirds of net asset value, a list of current odd-lot tender offer opportunities, and much more.

Disclosure: I do not currently own shares of Neuberger Berman Intermediate Municipal Fund (NBH), Neuberger Berman Dividend Advantage Fund (NDD), or XTENT (XTNT).

The 146th Festival of Stocks was posted today at The Reformed Broker. What a great name for a blog! The Reformed Broker did a great job weeding out spam and off topic posts so you can quickly get to the best blog posts about stocks written last week.

Next week’s Festival of Stocks still needs a host. Please contact me if you are interested in throwing next week’s Festival.

Sponsored By: Arbitrage Special situation opportunities in the stock market for small time investors.

In the May Special Situations Real Money Portfolio update, I mentioned that I purchased 5,000 shares of XTENT (XTNT). Let me recount how this investment came about and how it turned out.

XTENT is a development stage medical device company focused on developing and commercializing customizable drug eluting stent systems for the treatment of coronary artery diseases. Based on the March 31, 2009 balance sheet, XTENT’s net current asset value is $0.46 per share and its book value is $0.53 per share. Net cash per share is about $0.40 per share. Insiders own over 60% of shares.

Management indicated on March 15, 2009 in a preliminary proxy that they estimate the amount ultimately distributed during the proposed business liquidation will be between approximately $0.11 and $0.40 per share, assuming the company is unable to sell its intellectual property. At the time, I thought there was a decent probability that the company would be able to sell some of its intellectual property, and thus boost the ultimate payout. I also thought there was the potential that someone would want to buy this company as a corporate shell.

I picked up the 5,000 shares of XTENT (XTNT) on May 27th at just under $0.30 per share for the Special Situations Real Money Portfolio. I shared news of my purchase with members of my premium Fat Pitch Financials Contributors Corner service. My total cost for these shares came to $1,503.86. I decided to buy these shares because XTENT was trading at less than 2/3 NCAV and the company also recently announced that it would be liquidating.

The 5,000 shares of XTENT (XTNT) were short lived in the Special Situations Real Money Portfolio. I made the mistake of keeping a limit order open to sell the shares at $0.38. I placed that limit order on June 3rd, since it appeared the shares might hit that price on no news the day before. I was also getting nervous about off balance sheet liabilities that I hadn’t originally accounted for and was more than happy to sell my shares if the stock approached $0.40 without news. Well, I guess there was news that was forthcoming.

News happened and I wasn’t quick enough to react. On June 4th, my shares were sold at the open for $0.60 per share. News broke that morning that the company received conditional approval from the FDA for an Investigational Device Exemption authorizing it to begin its pivotal clinical program for its Custom NX® drug eluting stent system. The market liked this news and sent shares of XTENT soaring.

When I sold the shares on June 4, 2009, I received $2,992.97 net of costs. My total profit came in at $1,489.11 for this investment. That comes out to a total return of 99.0%. The average annualized return was 4,016% for this 9 day investment.

I should have been thrilled by this performance. However, I suffered some sellers remorse. Shares of XTENT continued to climb until they hit a high of $2.69 on June 5, 2009. The momentum traders really hit this stock hard. However, since there has been no new news, shares have traded down significantly and closed today at $1.31, which around what I safely estimate the shares to be worth if the company is liquidated and the intellectual property is sold off. I think the lesson I learned here is not to underestimate the potential for momentum investors to drive up the price of a penny stock net-net.

I’ve recently been producing a weekly table of stocks trading below two-thirds of net current asset value and sharing it on Fat Pitch Financials Contributor’s Corner. Consider subscribing to this very affordable service to participate in our discussions of these great opportunities, and also gain access to going private transactions, odd lot tender offers, mergers, other special situations, and the current trades of the Special Situations Real Money Portfolio in the premium portion of my site.

Sponsored By: Graham Workouts at Fat Pitch Financials Contributors Corner

Welcome to the June 15, 2009 edition of the Festival of Stocks.  The Festival of Stocks is a blog carnival dedicated to highlighting bloggers best posts on stock market related topics. Fat Pitch Financials is the actual birth place of this online weekly event, so it is always a special occasion when I get the chance to host this roving event.

If you aren’t already familiar with my blog, Fat Pitch Financials, it is a value investing blog with a focus on wide moat companies selling at substantial discounts and Graham style workouts. I encourage you to subscribe for free to my blog feed to keep up with my latest postings.

You should also check my Fat Pitch Financials Contributor’s Corner while you are here. It is my premium members only community dedicated to unique arbitrage and special situation opportunities.

Now that you are familiar with Fat Pitch Financials, let’s take a look at this week’s Festival of Stock participants. Here are this week’s entries:

A Great Inflation Indicator posted at Investing School. Here’s a seldom talked about but great inflation indicator. Check out the video.

Zecco Zirens | Educational Trading Videos posted at Stock Trading Brokers. Zecco Zirens consists of attractive ladies teaching investing basics. Check them out here.

Nucor Corp. (NUE) Dividend Stock Analysis posted at Dividends Value. Nucor Corporation is engaged in the manufacture and sale of steel and steel products. As the largest minimill steelmaker in the U.S., Nucor has one of the most diverse product lines of any steelmaker in the Americas. Linked here is a detailed analysis and commentary.

My Journey to Become a Green Investor - Part 4: The Final Decision posted at Frugally Green. This is the final installment of my journey to become a green investor. After copious research, I have finally selected the best fit for me, explain my decision making process and reflect on the month of research done to allow myself the peace of mind in selecting an investment that I won’t need to fret about.

Safe withdrawal rate for retirement funds - 4% rule posted at ABCs of Investing. How much can you withdraw from your portfolio in retirement? The 4% safe withdrawal rule explained.

BDX – Stock Analysis for Dividend Growth Portfolio posted at Dividend Tree. BDX is a dividend achiever and has been raising dividends for last 10 years. The stocks current risk-to-dividend rating is 1.14 (low risk). This is a low yield dividend stock with dividend cash flow being equal to MMA cash flow after 10 years (at price of $56). This analysis shows that BDX continues to be a good stock for potential dividend growth investment.

Foseco: Stock Analysis for Long Term Investment posted at The Income Portfolio. This is an example where, the dividend rupees and dividend yield appeared very attractive, but balance sheet shows something else is going on. I do not understand company’s future plans. I do not understand its balance sheet. I do not understand management’s objective. I will not buy common shares of Foseco India Ltd. It does not meet my investing objectives.

The Art of Selling Stocks posted at Old School Value. Buying a stock is only the first half of the equation. It is the easy half. Knowing when to sell and having a strategy to lock in gains is even more important.

How to Drive Ahead Through Tough Financial Times posted at SectorMatic Money Journal. SectorMatic Money Journal - Personal Finance: Everything for the Big Spender on a Budget! Now you can live like a fat cat, even if you live on a money diet. Laugh all the way to the bank with Jack Schmidt and SectorMatic.

Smart Money 2009 Best Online Brokers posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

How to Profit from a Stock Market Crash posted at The Dough Roller. How to profit when the stock market goes down. HINT: It’s really easy.

Magic Formula Weekly Roundup 6/13 posted at MagicDiligence. Weekly roundup of stocks moving in and out of the Magic Formula Investing screen.

Oil ETF List posted at OneMint.

Dayton, Ohio: Final Fortune 500 Company Abandons City posted at Britannica Blog. At the turn of the last century, Dayton, Ohio, was something akin to the Silicon Valley of its day. It was the home to the Wright brothers, of course, as well as Charles Kettering, the automotive genius who would develop so many innovations that allowed General Motors to become the dominant player in a new industry. And the backbone of all this was the National Cash Register Co. (NCR), founded by John Henry Patterson.

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That concludes this edition of the Festival of Stocks. Be sure an leave comments as you visit each of the blogs that participated in this week’s Festival of Stocks. They’ll appreciate knowing folks are reading their articles.

Next week’s Festival of Stocks is still looking for a home. If you are interested in volunteering to host a future edition of the Festival of Stocks, just contact me right away with the name of your site, blog URL, email address, and the date your prefer to host. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Festival of Stocks using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our Festival of Stocks index page for those of you interested in reviewing the archives.

Sponsored By: FPF Contributor’s Corner Special situation opportunities in the stock market for small time investors.

I’m running a reader survey at Fat Pitch Financials. Don’t be alarmed if you see an overlay on the site asking you to complete a survey. Only a small portion of readers will receive the random pop-up for the survey.

Please participate in the survey. The survey will help me better understand my audience and it will also help me sell my advertising space. Thank you for your support.

Sponsored By: Special Situations Join FPF Contributor’s Corner for the latest arbitrage & special situations.

Welcome to the June 8, 2009 edition of the Festival of Stocks.  The Festival of Stocks is a blog carnival dedicated to highlighting bloggers best posts on stock market related topics. Fat Pitch Financials is the actual birth place of this online weekly event, so it is always a special occasion when I get the chance to host this roving event.

If you aren’t already familiar with my blog, Fat Pitch Financials, it is a value investing blog with a focus on wide moat companies selling at substantial discounts and Graham style workouts. I encourage you to subscribe for free to my blog feed to keep up with my latest postings.

You should also check my Fat Pitch Financials Contributor’s Corner while you are here. It is my premium members only community dedicated to unique arbitrage and special situation opportunities.

Now that you are familiar with Fat Pitch Financials, let’s take a look at this week’s Festival of Stock participants. Here are this week’s entries:

Special Situations Real Money Portfolio May 2009 Update posted at Fat Pitch Financials. This unique opportunistic portfolio continues to trounce the market. Note the mention of XTENT (XTNT), a stock trading below net current asset value last week. It’s up well over 400% since this post mentioned the stock.

List of Gold ETFs posted at OneMint. With all the talk of inflation and the need to hedge for it with gold, many will find this list of ETFs helpful.

Is This Stock Market Rally For Real? posted at Jeflin’s Investment Blog. That’s my question too. This informative article may help you decide.

I’m Not Buying this Rally posted at My Wealth Builder. Another blogger questions the current rally and decides to remain disciplined and wait for the inevitable correction before making major additional purchases.

Stock Prices Do Not Represent Stock Value (or Company Value) posted at ABCs of Investing. A lower priced stock isn’t “cheap”.

AFLAC Inc. (AFL) Dividend Stock Analysis posted at Dividends Value. Linked here is a detailed quantitative analysis with commentary. The author finds AFLAC to be a strong buy.

Can the Piotroski Method Improve Magic Formula Results? posted at MagicDiligence. In the investing nightmare of 2008, only one stock screening strategy returned positive results - the Piotroski method. Learn about this technique and see Magic Formula stocks that are ranked highly using it.

How To Be Listed on Dow Jones Industrial Average posted at Jeff Rose. A look at who is on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and how it might change with the removal of GM and Citi.

Sometimes You Bend Your Trading Rules… posted at My Simple Trading System. Taking an early profit to ease your comfort in a volatile market may seem smart or it might just increase your regret later.

What is investing? posted at Cash Money Life. A look at the difference between investing, saving, and trading.”

TradeKing vs Scottrade - Online Stock Trading Comparison posted at Investing School. Many people ask me whether Scottrade or TradeKing is better. Here’s a comparison for you.

How to Avoid a Mutual Fund’s Minimum Investment posted at The Dough Roller. Here’s an easy and inexpensive alternative to a mutual fund’s minimum investment requirement.

Long Term Investing posted at Everything Finance. Investing has its own language and understanding it can make it easier to be a confident investor. Two common terms you hear when people talk about investing are “bid” and “ask.” Here’s an explanation of what they mean.

Colgate Palmolive (CL) Dividend Stock Analysis posted at Dividend Growth Investor. Why this blogger would only consider initiating a position in Colgate Palmolive on dips below $58.66.

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That concludes this edition of the Festival of Stocks. Be sure an leave comments as you visit each of the blogs that participated in this week’s Festival of Stocks. They’ll appreciate knowing folks are reading their articles.

Next week’s Festival of Stocks is still looking for a home. If you are interested in volunteering to host a future edition of the Festival of Stocks, just contact me right away with the name of your site, blog URL, email address, and the date your prefer to host. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Festival of Stocks using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our Festival of Stocks index page for those of you interested in reviewing the archives.

The Special Situations Real Money Portfolio closed out the month of May with a balance of $21,944.03. This is up 2.2% from the record breaking performance in April. While the S&P 500 returned an amazing 5.5% last month, I’m still more than happy with how I did in May.

The year-to-date return for the Special Situations Real Money Portfolio is 18.25%. The S&P 500 has returned less than 3% so far this year. I’m trouncing the market with my unique portfolio of special situations.

Looking back at the overall performance of this portfolio since inception, the total return is a whopping 119.44% since I started this Coverdell Educational Savings Account for my son on October 19, 2004. The annualized growth rate has now climbed to 26.43%. I believe that is the highest annualized growth rate I’ve ever reported and exceeds my outrageous goal of maintaining a 25% rate of return.

Let’s take a look at some of the completed transactions in May that helped me acheive this amazing performance. I started off the month investing in two of the Neuberger Berman closed end funds. A tender offer was announced for this family of closed end funds. The goal of the tender offer was to reduce the discount to net asset value for these funds by offering to buy up to 10% of outstanding shares at 98% of net asset value. Best of all, odd lot holders (holding less than 100 shares) would not be subject to proration. I placed several low ball limit orders in for these Neuberger Berman funds and I ended up getting 99 shares of Neuberger Berman Intermediate Municipal Fund (NBH) for $12.51 on May 6th and 99 shares of Neuberger Berman Dividend Advantage Fund (NDD) for $6.71 per share on May 14th. The tender offer expired on May 29th and I should be getting cash for each of these positions shortly. I’ll report on how profitable these trades turned out when I get the final numbers.

On May 22nd I sold all 1,600 shares of Wilshire Enterprises (WOC) in the Special Situations Real Money Portfolio for $1.70 per share. I originally bought these shares on April 3, 2009 for $1.51 per share. I decided to buy shares of Wilshire Enterprises after the company agreed to conduct a future tender offer for at least 4 million shares at $2.00 per share as part of an agreement with activist investors Full Value Partners LP and Bulldog Investors. There are only 7.93 million shares outstanding, so proration shouldn’t be too bad. I decided ahead of time to sell the shares if the price ran up, especially since it was recently revealed that the tender offer is not planned to happen until late this summer. I sold when the stock jumped up, but I plan to watch this stock and potentially reenter this position if the price drops below my original entry point. I’m guessing it will.

For this first investment in Wilshire Enterprises, I made a net gain of just over $290. My total return was 12%. Given this investment took just 50 days, the average annualized rate of return comes to an amazing 87%.

Not all my investments turned out so perfectly in May. I had to sell out of my small position in Xedar Corp. (XDRC). I originally purchased 100 shares of Xedar on April 16, 2009 for $0.16 and a total cost of $22.95. Xedar was planning to go private via a reverse stock split where all shareholders holding less than 101 shares would be cashed out for $1.00 per share. However, on May 11, 2009, Xedar announced that it was able to reduce the number of shareholders of record below 300 without the reverse split and was therefore canceling the reverse split. I think this is the first time I’ve seen this happen. I was a bit worried I wouldn’t be able to sell my shares. Luckily the stock price drifted back up, and on May 20th, I sold these 100 shares for $0.30 share and received $23.04 after fees. I was glad I got shares of WOC at a low price, because commission costs made it difficult to exit this position without ending up with a loss.

Finally, I added two stocks selling at below two-thirds of net current asset value towards the end of May. We’ve been tracking stocks that are selling below two-thirds of net current asset value on Fat Pitch Financials Contributors Corner since last fall. Several Contributors Corner subscribers have made substantial returns on some of these stocks. Last month I booked a nice profit on Movado Group (MOV). This month I added 1,500 shares of Heelys (HLYS) at $1.83 per share and 5,000 shares of XTENT (XTNT) at $0.30 per share. Heelys recently had two board members resign in protest. One of the board members was the company founder and the other was his first cousin. XTENT has announced that it is planning to liquidate the company. It should be interesting to see how these net-nets play out.

You can follow the action and discussion of these stocks by subscribing to Fat Pitch Financials Contributors Corner. By becoming a subscriber, you’ll also get access to the complete portfolio history of the Special Situations Real Money Portfolio, announcement of new transactions, current special situation opportunities, community discussions, and full access of the archives that go all the way back to 2004. The discussions in those archives are jam packed with experiences and lessons learned that are invaluable, especially if you are new to investing in going private transactions, tender offers, split-offs, net-nets, and other odd ball opportunities.

Disclosure: I own shares of Neuberger Berman Intermediate Municipal Fund (NBH), Neuberger Berman Dividend Advantage Fund (NDD), XTENT (XTNT), and Heelys (HLYS). I no longer own shares of Wilshire Enterprises (WOC), Movado Group (MOV), and Xedar Corp. (XDRC).

Sponsored By: Arbitrage Special situation opportunities in the stock market for small time investors.

The Fat Pitch Financials Portfolio has gained a bit more ground in May. The portfolio ended May 29, 2009 with a value of $946,732.78. That is up 1.9% since I last reported on Fat Pitch Financials Portfolio in April. Over the past six months, this portfolio has continued to outpace the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. However, as you can see in the graph below, the NASDAQ has started to outperform the Fat Pitch Financials Port.

In terms of performance as of the close May 29, 2009, the Fat Pitch Financials Port was up 2.2% in May. The S&P 500 was up 5.5% over the same period. Over the last 12 months, the portfolio is still down 26.52%, but the S&P 500 was also down 32.47% over the same period. Finally, the portfolio is still down an annualized 1.22% since inception back in 2004, versus -2.30% for the S&P 500 over the same period of time.

Value: $946,732.78 Cash: $84,246.68 Stock Value: $862,486.10 Total Shares: 100,000 NAV: $9.47

Returns as of May 31, 2009

I did not add any new positions in May. I did, however, begin to sell off my position in Concord Camera (LENS). The company is in the process of liquidating. Normally, I would wait for that process to come to completion, but I’m not sure if Marketocracy will properly account for the liquidation payouts after the shares stop trading. For tracking purposes, I decided my best bet would be to sell this position. Due to the volume trading restriction imposed by Marketocracy, it will probably take several weeks for this position to be sold off.

I still have $84,246.68 left in cash in this Marketocracy portfolio that originally started out with $1 million. If the current market recovery falters, I will likely become fully invested. A summary of my current positions in the Fat Pitch Financials Portfolio as of May 29, 2009 are presented in the table below.

Disclosure: I own shares of Western Sizzlin (WEST), Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (PAC), Broadridge Financial Solutions (BR), Microsoft (MSFT), Western Union (WU), Kraft Foods (KFT), eBay (EBAY), Concord Camera (LENS), McGraw-Hill (MHP), Destination Maternity (DEST), Sotheby’s (BID), Pfizer (PFE), US Bancorp (USB), USG (USG), and Premier Exhibitions (PRXI).

Sponsored By: Graham Workouts at Fat Pitch Financials Contributors Corner

I’m still recovering from being away the prior week, but I’m starting to finally catch up. The first thing I’ll be doing this weekend is checking out the top stories of the week at Value Investing News. Here they are:

1. Dashboard Tool for Fundamental Analysis
   Their is no limit to the tools that can be found for technical analysis, but when it comes to fundamental analysis I seem to always find myself staring at raw numbers on a balance sheet. So I started building one- have a look and let me know what you think.
2. Book Review: Animal Spirits
   George Akerlof and Robert Shiller’s book, Animal Spirits, offers an accessible look at how traditional economics can be expanded by incorporating some basic concepts from psychology.
3. Magic Formula Stock Review: Cherokee (CHKE)
   With a remarkably low capital business model and a dividend yield that stands over 10%, Cherokee makes an attractive Magic Formula pick.
4. Nine Dividend Stocks confident in raising dividends
   Several notable companies raised their dividends last week. Dividend raises are not only getting more frequent, but they also seem to be spreading globally as well. A dividend raise in this tough environment indicates confidence in the business and the ability to generate free chas flow.
5. Magic Formula Weekly Roundup 5/23
   Weekly roundup of stocks moving in and out of the Magic Formula Investing screen.
6. IPO Market Signals
   This article looks at the clue the IPO market provides regarding market valuation. The number and value of IPOs in a given year may help indicate whether or not valuations are high enough to entice companies to issue public shares.
7. Minority Interest: What it is, How it is accounted for, Why it matters
   Minority interest is an often overlooked concept when evaluating stocks. What is it? How is it accounted for? Why does it matter to Magic Formula investors?
8. Diversifying into small and mid cap dividend stocks
   As a dividend growth investor, my goal is to generate a rising stream of dividend income. Thus I would have to be selective not only about picking individual stocks, but also about selecting companies from a variety of industries, countries and size, in order to avoid a widespread implosion in overall dividend income.
9. Cheap Stocks Interview: Art Patten, President of Symmetry Capital, LLC
   This interview with Art Patten, President of Symmetry Capital, explores the investment philosophy of this deep value micro-cap investor.
10. The Writing Is on the Wall for HSN and John Malone
    Looks Like John Malone Wants HSN.
11. MLPs for tax-deferred accounts
    Master Limited Partnerships are very good investment vehicles for individuals looking for high current dividend income. There are some tax issues with reporting MLP income in a taxable account, which led me to explore investing in MLPs through an IRA or ROTH IRA account.
12. April Activist Investments - 58 Companies Targeted
    A summary list of 58 companies targeted by 61 shareholder activists during April 2009.
13. How I’m Investing Now
    Sounds like my kind of value investor. This blogger details his investment strategy and current holdings.
14. Dividend Stocks Are ‘Slow Good’
    For years Heinz ran commercials describing their product as ’slow good’. It was an obvious inference to ’so good’ and that it was worth waiting on. Investing in dividend stocks in very similar. You certainly won’t find sudden wealth on any given day, but over time the dividends will pay off.
15. 2009 Morningstar Investment Conference - Part 5
    In the final session of the day was a conversation with John Bogle, the founder of Vanguard. Don Phillips, Managing Director of Morningstar, was the moderator of the conversation. This was the highlight of the day.

Be sure to visit Value Investing News this weekend and vote on the best new value investing stories. Just click on the up arrow for the stories you like and on the down arrow for stories you don’t like or are not related to value investing. You’ll earn “user points” for each action you take on the site.

Those points are used for our monthly contest at Value Investing News. For the May contest at Value Investing News, we are giving away three subscriptions to my very own Fat Pitch Financials Contributors. The contest ends on May 31, 2009, so be sure to take advantage of this popular prize by spending your weekend voting on stories and providing comments.

I’ve also started a thread in the Value Investing News Forum soliciting your feedback on how to make the site even better in the future. I look forward to the discussion. Have a great weekend!

Sponsored By: FPF Contributor’s Corner Special situation opportunities in the stock market for small time investors.

This week’s Festival of Stocks is up at Fundamental Insights and Ideas. Fundamental Insights is a relatively new blog by Sajal, a stock market and technology enthusiast. Sajal did a great job with this week’s Festival, so be sure to check it out.

I’m looking for hosts for future editions of the Festival of Stocks. Just contact me if you are interested in volunteering.

Sponsored By: Special Situations Join FPF Contributor’s Corner for the latest arbitrage & special situations.

Welcome to the May 18, 2009 edition of the Festival of Stocks. The Festival of Stocks is a blog carnival dedicated to highlighting bloggers best posts on stock market related topics. Fat Pitch Financials is the actual birth place of this online weekly event, so it is always a special occasion when I get the chance to host this roving event.

If you aren’t already familiar with my blog, Fat Pitch Financials, it is a value investing blog with a focus on wide moat companies selling at substantial discounts and Graham style workouts. I encourage you to subscribe for free to my blog feed to keep up with my latest postings.

You should also check my Fat Pitch Financials Contributor’s Corner while you are here. It is my premium members only community dedicated to unique arbitrage and special situation opportunities.

Now that you are familiar with Fat Pitch Financials, let’s take a look at this week’s Festival of Stock participants. Here are this week’s entries:

Value Traps posted at OneMint. There is no formula for detecting value traps, but, there are some common sense guidelines that can help investors watch out for value traps.

PowerShares Shut down 19 ETFs posted at The Sun’s Financial Diary. This post list the 19 PowerShares EFTs that closed recently and discusses why these funds were shut down.

Get the Most Effective Day Trading Charting Software posted at Mikes Millions.com. A quick review of three options for charting software: Sierra Chart, Trade Maven, and ESignal.

BMO InvestorLine Discount Brokerage Review posted at Quest For Four Pillars. Review of BMO InvestorLine discount brokerage in Canada.

Earnings Yield: Better than P/E for Valuing Stocks posted at MagicDiligence. The second component of Joel Greenblatt’s “Magic Formula Investing” (MFI), Earnings Yield represents a better way of measuring the valuation of a stock. This article tells you why as well as how it’s calculated for MFI purposes.

Stock Market Rally: First Stage Of A Primary Bull Trend? posted at Jeflin’s Investment Blog. This blogger believes we’ll be in a range bound market in the months to come.

Brady Corp (BRC) Dividend Stock Analysis posted at Dividends Value. A detailed quantitative analysis of Brady Corp (BRC).

Warning - Not All Index Funds and ETFs Are Low Cost posted at ABCs of Investing. Some index funds and etfs are too expensive.

Comparing Fixed Annuities & Certificates of Deposit posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. Jim covers the similarities and differences between fixed annuities and certificates of deposit.

Zecco Online Stock Trading for Free posted at The Dough Roller. A review of online broker, Zecco.

Should You Contribute to a 401k Without an Employer Match? posted at Cash Money Life. Why you should invest in your 401k even if your company doesn’t offer a matching contribution.

See No Evil… posted at My Wealth Builder. This blogger doesn’t understand the current rally in financial stocks, and I can’t blame him. However, abandoning contrarian investing and following the trend blindly sounds like another recipe for disaster.

What are Vanguard Admiral Shares? posted at fivecentnickel.com. You could safe money on expense fees by converting your Vanguard funds to this special fund class that rewards loyalty.

***

That concludes this edition of the Festival of Stocks. Next week’s Festival of Stocks is still looking for a home. If you are interested in volunteering to host a future edition of the Festival of Stocks, just contact me right away with the name of your site, blog URL, email address, and the date your prefer to host. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Festival of Stocks using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our Festival of Stocks index page for those of you interested in reviewing the archives.

Here are the top Value Investing News stories of the week:

• Eleven companies bucking the dividend cuts trend
• High-Quality Low-Risk Dividend Stocks
• Magic Formula Stock Review: Microstrategy (MSTR)
• Magic Formula Weekly Roundup 5/16
• The Top 40 Dividend Stocks for 2009 book review
• Five Companies Confident and Secure In Raising Their Dividends
• Highest paid CEO’s in 2008 didn’t perform that well as a group
• No Such Thing As Free (TARP) Money
• Stock Analysis: Illinois Tool Works Inc (ITW)
• Earnings Yield: Better than P/E for Valuing Stocks
• Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Holdings for Q1 2009
• Whitney Tilson (T2 Partners) files 13F for March 31st, 2009
• Marty Whitman (Third Avenue) files 13F for March 31st, 2009
• LoJack Stock Flat…Or Is It?
• Notes From Day 2: Value Investing Congress West
• Baupost Group March 2009 13F

Sponsored By: Arbitrage Special situation opportunities in the stock market for small time investors.

I’ve gotten a bit behind on my reading lately. In particular, I’m only just catching up with last week’s Festival of Stocks at Old School Value. I’m also looking forward to browsing this week’s Festival of Stocks posted at Battle Road Research Blog. There is also the excellent Carnival of Personal Finance hosted this week at Earn What You Spend that I also want to fit into my schedule. So much reading, so little time… What’s a value investor going to do?

To top it all off, I will be traveling all of next week. (If you have any advice on Newport, Rhode Island, I’m all ears.) I was planning to host the next Festival of Stocks, but it will be a challenge to post it while I’m traveling. If you are interested in hosting the upcoming Festival of Stocks, I’d really appreciate the help. Just drop me a quick note if you are interested in hosting a future edition of the Festival of Stocks.

Sponsored By: Graham Workouts at Fat Pitch Financials Contributors Corner

It’s been a while since I’ve reported on the Fat Pitch Financials Portfolio. I never got around to reporting on the portfolio at the end of March. The last report looked at the Fat Pitch Financials Portfolio February 2009 numbers.

A lot has changed in terms of the value of the portfolio since that time. On February 27, 2009, the Fat Pitch Financials Portfolio at Marketocracy ended with a value of $697,681.47. By the end of March, the portfolio had rebounded back to a value of $759,967.14. Now as of April 30, 2009, the portfolio has come back to life with a closing balance of $929,103.81. That’s an amazing 33% improvement. The orange line in the chart below illustrates this rebound. It also shows how the portfolio is now climbing faster than the indexes.

In terms of performance as of the close April 30, 2009, the Fat Pitch Financials Port was up 22% in April. The S&P 500 was up only 9% over the same period. Over the last 12 months, the portfolio is still down 29.13%, but the S&P 500 was also down 35.31% over the same period. Finally, the portfolio is still down an annualized -1.64% since inception back in 2004, versus -3.48% for the S&P 500 over the same period of time.

Returns as of April 30, 2009

There was actually some trading activity in April. As I reported earlier, I bought shares of Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (PAC) as fears of Swine Flu, or H1N1 as it is now being called, got out of hand. So far this airport stock has held firm, since I bought shares on April 28, 2009 for $20.28 per share. If the concern regarding H1N1 flu continues to decline, I expect Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico will recover back to the mid-20s. As I wait for this wide moat stock to recover, I’ll collect at least an 8% dividend.

I still have $85,729.71 left in cash in this marketocracy portfolio that originally started out with $1 million. If the current market recovery falters, I will likely become fully invested. A summary of my current positions in the Fat Pitch Financials Portfolio as of April 30, 2009 are presented in the table below.

Current Holdings as of April 30, 2009

Disclosure: I own shares of Western Sizzlin (WEST), Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (PAC), Broadridge Financial Solutions (BR), Microsoft (MSFT), Western Union (WU), Kraft Foods (KFT), eBay (EBAY), Concord Camera (LENS), McGraw-Hill (MHP), Destination Maternity (DEST), Sotheby’s (BID), Pfizer (PFE), US Bancorp (USB), USG (USG), and Premier Exhibitions (PRXI).

Sponsored By: Special Situations Join FPF Contributor’s Corner for the latest arbitrage & special situations.

In anticipation of this year’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa) annual meeting, I’m starting my 2009 annual meeting guide early this year. I’ve been getting quite a few questions already about this year’s meeting, so hopefully this guide will help answer some of those questions.

Official Releases

• Annual Meeting Information
• 2008 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Report

Premeeting Preparation

Source: Mark Wancier

• Background Reading
• 2009 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting Weekend Facebook Event page
• Value Investing News Calendar - May 2009

Meeting Schedule

• Borsheims cocktail receiption for shareholders on May 1, 2009 from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM.
• Door open at the Qwest Center on May 2, 2009 at 7:00 AM.
• The Berkshire movie will be shown at 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM.
• The question-and-answer session will start 9:30 AM and run until 3:00 PM.
• The annual meeting will start at 3:15 PM.
• Receiption for shareholders from outside of North America at 4:00 PM.
• Main Borsheims gala on May 3, 2009 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
• Gorat’s will be reserved for shareholders from 1:00 PM to 10:00 PM on May 3, 2009 (Requires reservation, call 402-551-3733 on April 1st).

Meeting Questions

There are several changes to how this year’s meeting questions will be handled. First, several journalists have been selected to participate in the question-and-answer period with questions that shareholders have submitted by email. These journalists include the following: Fortune’s Carol Loomis, CNBC’s Becky Quick, and New York Time’s Andrew Ross Sorkin. Just click on the previous links to send your questions to those journalists.  In your email, let the journalist know if you would like your name mentioned if your question is selected.

Second, there is no need to rush the doors this year when they open at 7:00 AM in order to get in line for the mics. There will be a drawing at 8:15 at each microphone for those shareholders hoping to ask questions themselves. Questions will alternate between those asked by the journalists and those from the winning shareholders.  Hopefully, this will improve the quality of questions this year and result in more questions directly related to Berkshire Hathaway.

If you are looking for question ideas, Marcelo P. Lima is organizing questions for this year’s Berkshire Hathaway meeting at his website. His goal is to create a list of great, unanswered questions.

Jeff Matthews is also asking his readers to provide him with great questions regarding Berkshire Hathaway. Readers who submit the Top Ten vote-getters as of the New York Stock Exchange close on April 15, 2009, will receive an autographed copy of Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett’s Omaha. Updated: Here are the Top 10 Questions for Warren Buffett.

Live Blogging from Annual Meeting in Omaha

Twitter Streams:

Source: Mark Wancier

• Liz Claman, Fox Business anchor
  “up now, it’s 4am CT, not as freezing as last year. Buffett has a staged cowboy shootout at Qwest to kick off day”
• Alex Crippen, CNBC.com
  “Buffett: Not every CEO wants a “rational” compensation system because irrational systems often pay better”
• Joe Ponzio - FWallStreet
  “Buffett: Wells Fargo under $9 again, I’d put my entire net worth in it.”
• Andrewr Sorkin - DealBook
  “Buffett says “I was dead wrong” about Gen Re when he bought it. Commends management for fixing it.”
• Jason McGowan
  “Warren suugests reading the book “the Great Crash”
• Matthew Dettinger
  “You can bet on inflation & I guarentee the dollar will buy less in 5 yrs -Buffett”
• David Spitz
  “sue decker and billg are sitting within whisper distance”
• David Burn
  “Over time people will live better and better in this country. Our system works.” - Warren Buffet”
• 3dcheckers
  “At goreshims cocktail party. Trying to find the bar.”
• #Berkshire - Follow all the #Berkshire tweets!

Live Blogging

• Live from the Berkshire Shareholders meeting - Omaha.com
• Warren Buffett Watch - CNBC.com

Videos

• Charlie Munger on CNBC regarding the economy - CNBC

Articles

• Berkshire’s Munger Favors ‘100% Ban’ on Credit Swaps - Bloomberg
• Buffett dispenses gloom at Berkshire fest - Reuters

Blog Posts

• Top 5 Quotes From Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting - The Manual of Ideas

Berkshire Hathaway 2009 Annual Meeting Notes

• From the AGM - The Motley Fool Berkshire Hathaway Board
• NEW meeting notes - The Motley Fool Berkshire Hathaway Board
• Berkshire Hathaway 2009 Meeting Notes - ValueHuntr
• NEW 2009’s Woodstock for Capitalists: Recap - buffettologist.com

Please let me know of any other resources to add to this list. I suggest you bookmark this page and check back often. I will be updating this page as new information becomes available.

Sponsored By: Special Situations Join FPF Contributor’s Corner for the latest arbitrage & special situations.

The Special Situations Real Money Portfolio closed out the month of April with a balance of $21,478.13. That’s up 14.2% from the $18,800 portfolio balance at the end of March. If I’m correct, I believe this is also a record high balance for this portfolio. 

For those of you unfamiliar with this portfolio, the Special Situations Real Money Portfolio is a Coverdell Educational Savings Account that I started for my son on October 19, 2004. I decided to focus this portfolio on special situations, or what Benjamin Graham called workouts. The majority of the earlier investments were in going private transactions, but as I have discovered new opportunities, I have branched out into tender offers, split-offs, mergers, net-nets, and other unique opportunities that I have researched or that have been shared by the Fat Pitch Financials Contributors Corner community.

So far this year, the Special Situations Real Money Portfolio has outperformed the indexes with a year-to-date return of 15.75%. The S&P 500 total return year-to-date has only been -2.5%.

Looking back at the overall performance of this portfolio since inception, the total return is a whopping 114.79%. The annualized growth rate has now climbed to 26.37%. I believe that is the highest annualized growth rate I’ve ever reported and exceeds my outrageous goal of maintaining a 25% rate of return.

Let’s take a look at some of the completed transactions in April that helped me acheive this amazing performance. First, I started off by opening an order for FortuNet (FNET) on April 6, 2009 at $2.74 per share. FortuNet first appeared in Contributors Corner in March as a stock trading below 2/3 net current asset value. Then on March 24th, a member of Contributors Corner notice that FortuNet was proposing to issue a $2.50 per share special dividend. Shares were only trading at $2.78 at the time, so the market was only valuing the company’s assets and business at $0.28 per share! I couldn’t believe it, so I looked over the business again and decided that this was a fat pitch worth swinging at.

It took me until April 9th to accumulate 549 shares of FortuNet. In retrospect, I probably should have raised my limit order a bit, since I really wanted to acquire 2,000 shares. There is always a fine line between maintaining pricing discipline and missing an opportunity.

Eventually, the market finally figured out this bargain. After the special dividend was approved by shareholders and a clarification was posted on April 19th regarding the record date of the dividend being April 27th, the price of FNET shares finally caught up with reality. On April 21, 2009, I decided to sell my 549 shares at $3.85 per share. At that price, FortuNet was selling significantly above its net current asset value and I was concerned that this gaming machine manufacturer faces significant headwinds in their industry given the current economic climate and decline in revenues in the casino sector. My total profit for this trade came to $588.48, a gain of 38.8% on my investment. The average annualize rate of return given it only took 16 days comes out to be a staggering 884%.

The next day, I decided to sell another position, Movado Group (MOV). Last month, I wrote about how Movado Group stock was trading below Graham’s 2/3 of net current asset value criteria. I bought 200 shares at $7.61 per share on March 23, 2009 and then I added another 200 shares at $7.15 on April 13th after the disappointing new quarterly report was released. I calculated the net current asset value of Movado Group to be $11.10 per share using the Jan 31, 2009 balance sheet. Therefore, two-thirds of the NCAV is $7.33, so I decided to buy more when the price of Movado shares dropped below that threshold. I’m sure Movado Group will continue to struggle with sales this quarter, so when Movado shares jumped up to $8.61 on April 22, 2009, I sold all 400 shares. My total profit for this trade came to $471.06, a 15.9% gain on my investment. Considering this investment all occurred within 31 days, the average annualize rate of return for this play came to 187%.

Finally, I received cash for a tiny little going private transaction reverse split for Grill Concepts (GLLC). As I mentioned last month, Grill Concepts was going private through a reverse stock split, where every 35 shares would become 1 share in the future. Those holding less than 35 shares will be getting $1.50 per share in cash. I bought 34 shares of Grill Concepts on February 24, 2009 for $0.35 per share and finally on April 22nd I received the cash for this deal. My total profit for this trade was $32.15 after expenses, but the net gain was 170.6%! Even though the total profit potential for this trade was tiny, I think it was perfect trade for someone who was just getting started in special situations and wanted to learn how these going private transactions work.

I must admit that it is getting harder and harder to find good special situation opportunities in this market. I currently hold $9,249.31 in cash, which is 43% of the portfolio. I will be working hard to uncover some new opportunities to put this cash to work. You can follow my efforts by subscribing to Fat Pitch Financials Contributors Corner. There you will also be able to see the complete history of the Special Situations Real Money Portfolio along with its current holdings.

Disclosure: I no longer hold shares in FortuNet (FNET), Movado Group (MOV), or Grill Concepts (GLLC).

Sponsored By: Special Situations Join FPF Contributor’s Corner for the latest arbitrage & special situations.

The Mexican airport industry has received an almost perfect storm of bad news. The recent news of drug related violence in the region, the global decline in economic activity, swine flu, and an earthquake on April 27th in Mexico City have slammed shares of Mexican stocks. Fear has hit Mexican airline stocks particularly hard.

Shares of Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico ADR (PAC) fell over 17% in price on April 27th after news that the WHO elevated the flu pandemic risk level. This likely short duration health risk event has created an opportunity for value investors to take advantage of the fear by being greedy and buying up some of these shares on the cheap. I added shares of PAC on April 28th to the Fat Pitch Financials Portfolio for a net average price of $20.28 per share. I announced the trade on Twitter since I was press for time on Tuesday. This position is now approximately 5.5% of the Fat Pitch Port by value.

While there is the potential that short term risks associated with swine flu might increase, it is unlikely that this will impair the important transportation infrastructure assets of Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico, S.A.B. de C.V., also referred to as GAP. GAP is particularly attractive since it is less exposed to the tourism industry than the other airports that operate in the eastern coastal vacation areas of Mexico and its shares provide a better relative value.

Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico operates twelve airports throughout Mexico’s Pacific region, including the major cities of Guadalajara and Tijuana, the four tourist destinations of Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos, La Paz and Manzanillo, and six other mid-sized cities: Hermosillo, Guanajuato, Morelia, Aguascalientes, Mexicali and Los Mochis. The Mexican government commissioned GAP to manage these airports through 2048, and the company currently faces no competition in its geographic area. The shares are listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol GAP and it also has an ADR on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PAC, which are the equivalent of 10 GAP shares. Shares started trading in February 2006.

As of the recent first quarter financials for the period ending March 31, 2009, earnings per ADR share for the past trailing twelve months are $1.96 per share. Given yesterday’s closing price of $20.95 the P/E is 10.7. The enterprise value to EBITDA ratio is a very reasonable 7. The trailing dividend yield is an attractive and safe 8.8% and the forward dividend yield is likely to be over 10%. The potential of earning a 10% yield while waiting for this perfect storm to blow over is very attractive.

Net income for the first quarter decline 6.6% from the prior year, but that is less than the -25.8% change that occurred in fourth quarter of 2008. While it is likely the second quarter will be as brutal as the fourth decline of last year or worse, it is very likely this cash cow will keep producing. GAP had a 64% EBITDA margin in FY08 and an operating margin of 41.5%. Those fat margins provide a nice buffer to the challenges ahead.

The real value opportunity here lies in the balance sheet. The price to book ratio is 0.59. There is $2.81 in cash per share of PAC. The company has a very low debt to equity ratio. As things settle down in Mexico and the global economy recovers, we see no reason why GAP would not eventual trade at least at a price to book ratio of at least 1 or more. Therefore, my target price is $35, which is where PAC traded at last June.

Here are some other key financial statistics for Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico adjusted to ADR shares and the U.S. dollar (using 10 shares per ADR and 0.0726 dollars per Mexican peso):

Stock price: $20.95
Discount: 40%
Shares outstanding: 56.1 million*
Market Cap: $1,175 million
Cash & short term investments: $158 million
Debt: $113 million
Enterprise value: $1,130 million
Dividend (trailing): $1.85 per share
Yield: 8.8% 
Total debt/EBITDA ttm: 10.4
EPS ttm: $2.20
P/EPS: 9.5
FCF ttm: $87.1 million 
EV/FCF: 13.5
Sales ttm: $249 million
P/Sales: 4.5
Book value: $1,971 million
P/Book: 0.59
Cash/Share: $2.81 

*There are actually 561 million shares but I divided that by 10 to adjust everything in terms of the ADR.

Disclosure: I own shares of Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (PAC).

Welcome to the April 27, 2009 edition of the Festival of Stocks. The Festival of Stocks is a blog carnival dedicated to highlighting bloggers best posts on stock market related topics. Fat Pitch Financials is the actual birth place of this online weekly event, so it is always a special occassion when I get the chance to host this roving event.

If you aren’t already familiar with my blog, Fat Pitch Financials, it is a value investing blog with a focus on wide moat companies selling at substantial discounts and Graham style workouts. I encourage you to subscribe for free to my blog feed to keep up with my latest postings.

You should also check my Fat Pitch Financials Contributor’s Corner while you are here. It is my premium members only community dedicated to unique arbitrage and special situation opportunities.

Now that you are familiar with Fat Pitch Financials, let’s take a look at this week’s Festival of Stock participants. Here are this week’s entries:

Stock Analysis

Retailers Surprisingly Strong Today, PXG a Net-Net? posted at Stock Pursuit. As retail stocks are poised for big gains if the economy turns is this one of the better deep asset value bargains out there? Phoenix Footwear Group is trading for less than it’s net quick liquidation value aka net current asset value. Tickers: (PXG), (SKS), (PIR), (GOLF). *Editor’s Choice*

Fortune 40 Best Stocks to Retire on: Part 1 posted at Old School Value. Putting a fair value estimate on 40 of the best stocks to retire on. This is part 1 where we take a look at the first 10. Tickers: (ABT), (KO), (CL), (GIS), (ITW), (JNJ), (PG), (USB), (ACN), and (CB).

MySQL: The Common Denominator of Oracle and Sun Microsystems posted at Battle Road Research Blog. As a result of the Oracle acquisition of Sun Microsystems, this author this revenues from MySQL will eventually decline as Oracle draws focus back to its core database products. Tickers: (ORCL) and (JAVA).

Abbott Laboratories (ABT) Dividend Stock Analysis posted at Dividends Value. Abbott Laboratories is engaged in the discovery, development, manufacture and sale of a diversified line of healthcare products including: drugs, nutritional products, diabetes monitoring devices and diagnostics. Linked here is a detailed analysis and commentary. Ticker: (ABT).

24 Dividend Increases in a Row from a Company You’ve Never Heard of posted at Everyday Finance. This article highlights an obscure company that has a 24-quarter strong dividend increase streak. Ticker: (HCSG).

Magic Formula Stock Review: Qiao Xing Mobile (QXM) posted at MagicDiligence. A true cigar butt valued at well under net cash, Qiao Xing Mobile is nevertheless a growing and quite profitable Chinese mobile phone maker. Can the company survive, or is the market correct in valuing the business at 0 against strong competitors? Tickers: (QXM), (NOK), (MOT), (RIMM), and (AAPL).

Special Dividends Unlock Hidden Value in Stocks posted at Dividend Growth Investor. A look at several small caps stocks announcing a special dividend. Tickers: (FNET), (EDEN), and (TSCM).

IPOs on Deck: Rosetta Stone (RST) and Bridgepoint Education (BPI) posted at The Sun’s Financial Diary. A look at the new IPOs last week. Tickers: (RST) and (BPI).

What Stocks am I Buying, Selling and Keeping, 2009 Edition? posted at Uncommon Cents. This blogger updates us on his various portfolio changes. Tickers: (IAR), (ACAS), (AMZN), (AAPL), (MO), (GOOG), (RPM), (WFC), (PM), and (TM).

Solar Penny Stocks posted at Buy Penny Stocks. Brief analysis of several solar company stocks. Tickers: (ESLR), (LDK), and (CSIQ).

Is Citigroup Vikram Pandit’s Job Safe? posted at Bank Savings Review. Is Vikram Pandit going to be sacked? Ticker: (C).

Rumor Mill Lifts NYSE Euronext posted at ZachStocks. NYSE is trading higher on rumors of a takeover by Deutsche Borse. A combination could create a giant in the industry with a strong presence in the US as well as across Europe. Ticker: (NTX) and (ICE).

Reviews

The Best Brokers in the Land posted at fivecentnickel.com. A look at the top brokers in the latest Consumer Reports survey, which included USAA Brokerage, Vanguard, and Edward Jones.

OptionsXpress Review posted at Investing School. OptionsXpress is great for options trading. Good commissions, free tools and more. Ticker: (OXPS).

TradeKing Review: How Does TradeKing Measure Up? posted at The Digerati Life. Here’s a review of TradeKing.

Best Books About Making Money posted at Money Blue Book. An overview of the books on the best selling list for personal finance at Amazon.com.

Exploring Wall Street Survivor posted at Fat Pitch Financials. I take Wall Street Survivor for a test drive in my review of this free fantasy stock market game.

Investor Education

Why Dividends Suck posted at Bootstrap Investing. Someone had to say it sometime. My contrary stance on dividends. Ticker: (PFE).

Is It Time To Get Back Into The Stock Market? posted at Moolanomy. Introduction to Investment Policy Statement and how to use it to make better investment decisions.

Who Cares About Where The Stock Market Is Headed? posted at Wisebread. This post provides arguements why the market might go up, down, or stay flat next. The point is that it’s hard to predict, so the best bet is to follow your investment strategy.

Market Cycles Kept Secret From Losing Traders and Investors. posted at Top Dog Trading. Learning how to trade stock market cycles can turn an amateur trader into a pro.

Buying Municipal or State Bonds posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. This is a good municipal bonds 101 post.

Fees in Your 401(k) posted at Money Ning. Mind the small little fees in your 401k. 

Funds

How to Invest in Cuba - Does Obama’s Cuba Deal Spell Gains? posted at Darwin’s Finance. With Obama’s recent olive branch to Cuba, a CUBA focused Fund rallied 40% overnight. Will the trend continue? Ticker: (CUBA).

How To Pick A Profitable Mutual Fund posted at SectorMatic Money Journal. A few basic tips on choosing mutual funds.

Leveraged Vehicles for Commodity Investment and Speculation posted at Nevada Gold Investor. This post contains detailed descriptions of commodities funds, their stock symbols, and their options. Useful starting point for commodities investors and speculators. Tickers: (COW), (MOO), (DBA), (AGF), (DAG), (ADZ), (AGA), (USO), (UGA), (UHN), (UNG), (DBO), (OIH), (FCG), (OLO), (DXO), (SZO), (DTO), (IEO), (XOP), (DIG), (DUG), (IXC), (IYE), (XLE), (DBE), (ENY), (PXE), (GLD), (DGP), (DGZ), (DZZ), (SLV), (TAN), (KWT), (CGW), (PIO), (FIW), (PHO), (GEX), (PBD), (PBW), (NLR), (PKN), and (KOL).

The Definitive Gold ETF Guide posted at ETFdb. A look at the various gold ETF funds out there. Tickers: (IAU), (DGL), (GLD), (GP), (DZZ), (DGZ), (GOE), and (UBG). 

Gold ETF: iShares Comex Gold Trust (IAU) posted at OneMint. Ticker: (IAU).

***

That concludes this edition of the Festival of Stocks. Next week’s Festival of Stocks is still looking for a home. If you are interested in volunteering to host a future edition of the Festival of Stocks, just contact me right away with the name of your site, blog URL, email address, and the date your prefer to host. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Festival of Stocks using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our Festival of Stocks index page for those of you interested in reviewing the archives.

* Photo by _PaulS_

Sponsored By: Arbitrage Special situation opportunities in the stock market for small time investors.

Here are the top stories this week at Value Investing News:

1. Image Entertainment (DISK) Valuation Despite Merger Failure
   A reader provided a detailed analysis of DISK and why it is cheap even now without the merger. A high LBO target.
2. For Value Investors, Smaller Is Better
   Value investors are always looking for inefficiently priced stocks. Such stocks are often found among smaller cap issues, since these securities are not worth the time and the effort of analysts and institutions catering to billion dollar funds. Empirical evidence also supports the fact that small caps have the potential for greater returns…
3. Procter & Gamble (PG) – a reliable dividend aristocrat
   One company, which, despite the current financial meltdown, continues business as usual, is Procter & Gamble. Other companies which show their confidence in their ability to grow earnings and generate enough cash in the future include Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (EPD), H.B. Fuller Company (FUL), People’s United Financial (PBCT) and Anworth Mortgage Asset Corporation (ANH).
4. Hopping Happenings at eBay
   eBay’s management looks to be stirring the pot. Skype’s founders want to buy their creation back, though eBay denies that they’re close to a deal. StumbleUpon’s founders disclosed that they had brought their baby back home, which they had sold to eBay for $75 million two years ago. And lastly, eBay appears close to purchasing a 34% stake in Korean online auction operator Gmarket.
5. Buffett’s Berkshire Letter for 1981
   Buffett compares buying controlled v. non-controlled businesses, and the relative attractiveness of American stocks v. bonds, after accounting for taxes.
6. Pricing Power and Economic Moats
   For many goods and services, tight economic times trigger the tightening of budgets. However, even during such times, the most desired goods and services will still command a premium and increasing price. For the investor, these are the wide moat businesses that should find a home in one’s portfolio, at an attractive price.
7. Stock Analysis: McDonald’s Corp. (MCD)
   McDonald’s Corporation is the largest fast-food restaurant company in the world. Its restaurants serve a varied, yet limited, value-priced menu in more than 110 countries around the world. Linked here is a detailed analysis and commentary.
8. When to Sell Stock
   Read any investment book, blog, or magazines and you will see a multitude of recommendations related to buying stocks. Unfortunately, little is written about selling the stocks that you already own.
9. Companies Faking It
   In order to determine whether a company is worthy of an investment, it is important to understand exactly how it makes money. This post looks at the strange business activity at Daxor Corporation to make its point.
10. Abbott Labs (ABT) Dividend Stock Analysis
    Abbott Laboratories manufactures and sells health care products worldwide.
    The companyis a component of the S&P 500 and is a dividend aristocrat, which has been consistently increasing its dividends for 37 consecutive years. Most recently Abbott raised its quarterly dividend payment by 11% to $0.40/share.

I hope the weather is as nice as it is here. If it is, be sure to go outside an enjoy the weather this weekend.

Sponsored By: Graham Workouts at Fat Pitch Financials Contributors Corner

This week’s Festival of Stocks is up at Disciplined Approach to Investing. The Carnival of Personal Finance is at Mighty Bargain Hunter. Finally, last week’s Money Hacks Carnival was at The Consumer Boomer. It featured my story on Banking Your Savings.

Sponsored By: FPF Contributor’s Corner Special situation opportunities in the stock market for small time investors.