Showing posts with label BABA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BABA. Show all posts

Monday, February 25, 2019

Graham & Doddsville New Issue: Polen Capital, Glenn Hubbard & Joseph Stiglitz, DG Capital

The winter issue of the Graham & Doddsville newsletter is out.  Columbia Business School's publication this time around interviews Glenn Hubbard and Joseph Stiglitz, as well as Damon Ficklin and Jeff Mueller of Polen Capital, and finishes up with DG Capital Management's Dov Gertzulin.

The newsletter also features student investment pitches from the 2018 Women in Investing conference: long Nordstrom (JWN) and a pitch from the 2018 CSIMA stock pitch challenge: long Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF.A).

Polen Capital talks about their positions in Alibaba (BABA), Adobe (ADBE), Align Technology (ALGN), and Starbucks (SBUX).

Embedded below is the Winter 2018 issue of Graham & Doddsville from Columbia Business School:



You can download a .pdf copy here.


Monday, January 22, 2018

TCI Fund Trims Altaba Stake (AABA)

Sir Christopher Hohn's TCI Fund Management (The Childrens Investment Fund) has filed an amended 13G and a Form 4 with the SEC regarding its stake in Altaba (AABA).  Per the filing, TCI now owns 9.99% of AABA with 84,709,952 shares.

The Form 4 indicates they sold 750,000 shares at a weighted average price of $74.2795 on January 18th, and another 464,000 shares at weighted price of $74.0791 on January 19th.  Perhaps this transaction was possibly made to keep them below the 10% ownership threshold, though that's purely speculation on our part.

Altaba is the former Yahoo stub that was left after the company was sold to Verizon (VZ).  Altaba is basically a collection of ownership stakes in the likes of Alibaba (BABA), Yahoo Japan, etc.  The thesis has been that the company was trading at a discount to its NAV and that management would look to close the gap or monetize the stakes in a tax efficient manner.

As of the end of the third quarter of 2017, AABA was TCI's largest US holding worth almost $6 billion.  Given the run-up in AABA shares since then, this stake is likely worth even more.  However, there's no way to know if TCI has hedged out this play in anyway, as some other funds involved in the trade have shorted BABA shares to offset the exposure.

Per Yahoo Finance, Altaba "operates as a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company in the United States. Its assets consist primarily of equity investments, short-term debt investments, and cash. The company was formerly known as Yahoo! Inc. and changed its name to Altaba Inc. in June 2017."


Thursday, August 31, 2017

What We're Reading ~ 8/31/17


The Emotionally Intelligent Investor: How Self-Awareness, Empathy & Intuition Drive Performance [Ravee Mehta]

The death of many brands [Intrinsic Investing]

The global economy coalescing around a few digital superpowers [HBR]

A dozen attributes of a scalable business [25iq]

On Disney's tough choice [Stratechery]

Beauty industry gears up for an ugly market share war [Barrons]

Javascript is eating the world [dev.to]

Blue Apron's struggles show why it's tough to make it with e-commerce subscription [Bloomberg]

Louis Vuitton knows fashion is a money pit and keeps throwing money at it [Bloomberg]

How brokerage app Robinhood got millennials to love the market [Fast Company]

Primer on the gaming sector [Ethereal Value]

How the three-tiered beer distribution system works [Fermentarium]

On the two systems that determine and influence every decision you make [Thrive]


Wednesday, August 23, 2017

What We're Reading ~ 8/23/17


New book from Bridgewater's Ray Dalio, Principles: Life and Work [Ray Dalio]

What is and isn't a moat [Johnson Inv]

Always invert [Above the Market]

The stereo speaker company giving sight to self-driving cars [SF Chronicle]

The internal combustion engine is not dead yet [NYTimes]

Is Tesla (TSLA) really a disruptor? And why the answer matters [HBR]

Chill: robots won't take all our jobs [Wired]

TripAdvisor (TRIP) can fly higher [Barrons]

The incredible shrinking Sears (SHLD) [NYTimes]

Amazon vs Maersk: the clash of titans shaking the container industry [Platts]

Jack Ma (BABA) is ahead of Jeff Bezos in grocery store ambitions [Bloomberg]

How Softbank (SFTBY) is reshaping global tech [The Information]

How Baidu (BIDU) will win China's AI race, and maybe the world's [Wired]

Quantum computing comes of age [Alphr]

Your brain on money [A Wealth of Common Sense]


Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Third Point Q2 Letter: Re-enters Alibaba, Adds BlackRock Stake

Dan Loeb's hedge fund firm Third Point was up 4.6% for the second quarter and is up 10.7% for the year.  Third Point's second quarter letter reveals they've re-entered Alibaba (BABA).  They feel now is the time to re-enter due to the company's launch of personalized advertising, new ad tech for brand advertisers, as well as revenue potential from higher ad loads, among other reasons.

Backing out net cash and some other stakes, Loeb's firm feels Alibaba's core business alone is worth $121 per share (around 15x their 2019 EPS estimate of $8.20) with earnings growing 30% year-on-year.  They feel BABA can close the valuation gap with competitors like Tencent, which trades at 32x consensus 2018 EPS.

Third Point also reveals a stake in BlackRock (BLK) in the letter.  Rather than simply being an asset manager. they feel it's "becoming a network or index-like business, with earnings power driven by ETFs (via iShares) and data & analytic services (via Aladdin).  They point out they're basically oligopoly businesses.

Also, a few months ago we highlighted how this hedge fund has gone activist on Nestle and we posted Third Point's letter on Nestle here.

Embedded below is Third Point's Q2 2017 letter:



You can download a .pdf copy here.

For other recent hedge fund letters, you can also read Greenlight Capital's Q2 letter here.


Wednesday, September 28, 2016

What We're Reading ~ 9/28/16


Investing to avoid the consequences of being wrong [aaii]

Comments on investment philosophy [Bronte Capital]

9 ways to improve investing performance [Livewire Markets]

The traits and processes that lead to better forecasts [aaii]

Cognitive bias cheat sheet [Better Humans]

How to build a business that lasts 100 years [TED]

KLX shares could lift off [Barrons]

Why the great divide is growing between affordable and expensive US cities [WSJ]

Amazon's latest ambition: competing with UPS and FedEx [WSJ]

Why video games could be causing a big problem in America [Washington Post]

Jack Ma's grand ambitions [Fortune]

Negative rates nails savers [Mauldin Economics]

When restaurants ditch the dining room [Eater]


Thursday, May 12, 2016

SALT Conference Notes 2016: Griffin, Cooperman, Burbank, Chanos & More

The Skybridge Alternatives Conference, better known as the SALT Conference, is taking place in Las Vegas this week.  It's a multi-day affair with many speakers on a broad range of subjects.  We've condensed notes into primarily finance/investing thoughts from various hedge fund managers and investors below.


2016 SALT Conference Notes


Ken Griffin (Citadel):  Talked about how he built Citadel and the importance of culture at an organization.  'Avoid marrying a strategy' and instead focus on building a platform with the best people.  Business really taught him how to delegate and manage people.  On finding good talent: you've gotta be able to sell them on why they should leave and come to you.  You have to go out and find that talent instead of waiting for them to come to you.  The ones that 'knock on your door' aren't the best.  One interesting quote:  "Who is the number five manufacturer of personal computers?  Who cares?  We're in a more and more winner take all world."


Leon Cooperman (Omega Advisors):  He talked about a trend of investors moving from active to passive strategies and says that hedge fund performance can't really justify the fees these days, so fees need to come down.  He said that long-term (i.e. 'permanent') capital is doing good because they don't have to worry about lockups (citing Warren Buffett).  The other winner has been quant strategies.  Pitched the stock First Data (FDC) which recently IPO'd.  Says he's got around ~20% of his fund in structured credit at the moment.  Reiterated his belief that conditions for a recession are not present (a concept he's talked about for a while now).  Thinks the bubble is in fixed income.  Government bonds are a bad idea.  Likes Tetragon Financial, yields 7%, dividend coverage of 4x.  Buying a stock trading at half of book.


Kyle Bass (Hayman Capital):  Implied that investors need to lower their return expectations over the next few decades (5% global real return expectation).  Also agreed that fees for funds need to come down.  Says it's much harder to maintain investors than it is conviction.  Thinks we're in the early part of '07 in terms of credit/equity markets.  Says a hard landing in China is happening as we speak. Argues that China credit system is one of the biggest macro imbalances, something has to give sooner rather than later.  Hong Kong real estate is collapsing.


Roslyn Zhang (China Investment Corp):  Sovereign Wealth Fund.  Disappointed with hedge fund performance.  Compared Chinese retail investors to hedge fund herding.  Criticized those betting against the Chinese Yuan.  Argued that China's economy is still strong and that all of the building is due to the massive population; supply can be absorbed.


Sam Zell (Equity Group Investments):  Cost of regulation has gone up around 5x over the last decade.  Have been big investors in Brazil, Far East, Mexico. 


Ty Wallach (Paulson & Co):  Thinks specialty pharma stocks are oversold.  Specifically pointed out Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX) bonds.  Bought at 80cents on the dollar and says the co still has $10bn in equity value.  Could sell one of the many companies they've acquired if they need to cover debt payments.


Jeff Smith (Starboard Value): Activist investor.  Says settled with Yahoo (YHOO), put four new members on the board.  Notes the parts of the company are worth more than where its trading.  Core biz with $4bn in revenue, huge stake in Alibaba, Yahoo Japan, add it all up and it's more than the current market cap.  Said 'we're friendly but no one describes us as passive.'


Scott Ferguson (Sachem Head Capital):  Sold out of Zoetis (ZTS).  We noted how Pershing Square was also selling ZTS recently.  Ferguson was the one that brought the idea to Ackman to begin with (he used to work at Pershing).  Talked about how to change leadership and achieve things on behalf of investors: "Money's a great way to effectuate things" i.e. severance for getting rid of a CEO.  Says things are easier for activists these days and companies are more likely to engage. 


Clifton Robbins (Blue Harbour Group):  Activist investor.  Owns 10% of Investors Bancorp (ISBC), says it's trading at a discount to peers.  Also talked about Xilinx (XLNX), a net-cash semiconductor play; says they have some ideas as to how to utilize the balance sheet.


Michael Lewis (Author of Flash Boys and The Big Short):  Said he was surprised that both Moneyball and The Big Short were made into movies.  Said Christian Bale was dead-on with his interpretation of Michael Burry after just spending some hours with him.


Richard Chilton (Chilton Investments): Sherwin Williams (SHW): makes premium paint and coatings.  Says the company's purchase of Valspar was years in the making and they can repay the price with free cashflow in about 5 years.  Thinks there's a lot of synergies and margin overlap.  SHW does higher margins in paint/consumer and VAL does better margins in industrial coatings.  "You can't buy paint online."


John Lykouretzos (Hoplite Capital):  Takes a bit of an issue with the 'oligopoly' theme of airlines, saying it's still a competitive industry with margin pressure.  Bearish on the industry.  Main threats: excess capacity, union labor wage hikes, and of course higher oil prices.  Says that low cost carriers (LCC's) have basically destroyed the chance for legacy airlines to become a true oligopoly.  Thinks American Airlines (AAL) is the most compelling short play there.  Has some of the highest costs & exposure to rising oil.  High leverage.  Weakest FCF generation of the group.  Thinks that Southwest Airlines (LUV) can still add capacity even at higher oil prices (~$80 or so) and still generate high IRR.


John Burbank (Passport Capital):  Says China won't let outside companies 'win' especially Facebook.  "It's a hard place to win if you're not Chinese."  (While he didn't mention it, just look at Amazon's failed venture there as well).  Burbank owns Tencent (700.HK) with short Chinese Renminbi as partial hedge.  Thinks it isn't as much of a crowded trade as Facebook (FB) is.  His slide also said "Short FXI: Hedge out 'Old China' country-specific risk with China large cap ETF."


Jim Chanos (Kynikos Associates): Still short Cheniere Energy (LNG), calling it a 'pipe dream' and very expensive to peers.  Trades at 11-12x EV/EBITDA using "base case" 2021 EBITDA of $2.1bn.  Peers trading between 5-7x 2020 EBITDA.  Also commented on Alibaba (BABA) saying their accounting is dubious and that you don't really know what they're earning, calls it some of the most questionable he's ever seen. Chanos also recently talked about some of his short positions at the Sohn Conference.


For other recent hedge fund manager thoughts, head to our notes from Sohn Conference New York 2016.



Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Jim Chanos Still Short Valeant, Alibaba, Tesla, SolarCity

At the Sohn Conference in New York today, Kynikos Associates' founder Jim Chanos appeared on CNBC to talk about what he's seeing in the markets lately (stay tuned for our full Sohn Conference notes later on).   Here are some takeaways:


- Still short Alibaba Group (BABA) with his bearish China bet

- Notes that some hedge funds charging 2/20 that generate 8% return will only give their investors a 4-5% return - is that worth paying for?

-  Still short Valeant (VRX) after originally shorting in 2014; thinks it's still not cheap and argues people are using valuation metrics that aren't right.  Doesn't think the company is trading at 3x earnings like Bill Ackman suggested recently.  Chanos: "Valeant was genius at gaming the system. That game is over."

- Cheniere Energy (LNG): Says he agrees that the contracts are money good, but the company's cost estimates are too low.  "You're paying a ridiculous price for 2020 cashflows compared to any other energy play you can buy today."  Asks how profitable can the plants operate and at what capital cost?

- Short Elon Musk: betting against Tesla (TSLA) and SolarCity (SCTY) still.  Sees flood of executives leaving TSLA as a negative sign.  Since the company can't really make money selling a $100,000 car, how are they going to do so selling a $35000 car (upcoming Model 3)?  Feels TSLA will need to raise money eventually.  Thinks SCTY gets in financial trouble in 2016.

We'll post video of his appearance if/when it becomes available.


Wednesday, April 20, 2016

What We're Reading ~ 4/20/16



The Great Minds of Investing [William Green]

On simplicity versus complexity in investing [Reformed Broker]

Capital allocation - defining what is good and what is bad [Value and Opportunity]

Why we think we're better investors than we are [NYTimes]

Billing by millionths of pennies, cloud computing takes in billions [NYTimes]

Inside Amazon's cloud computing infrastructure [DataCenter Frontier]

Inside the nondescript building where trillions trade each day [Bloomberg]

The Energy Transfer - Williams poker game [SL-Advisors]

Kinder Morgan: asymmetric upside potential [Value and Opportunity]

India's thirst for oil is overtaking China's [Bloomberg]

HDR is TV's next big format war [CNET]

Profile on Google's Sundar Pichai [Buzzfeed]

How Jeff Bezos became a power beyond Amazon [Fortune]

Inside the house that Jack Ma built [Bloomberg]

The billionaire behind Walgreens' quest for global dominance [Fortune]

Media websites battle faltering ad revenue [NYTimes]

Ugg: the look that refused to die [The Guardian]

Critical things successful people do every day [Linked In]


Thursday, October 22, 2015

What We're Reading ~ 10/22/15


10 poor investment theses [Irrelevant Investor]

The case against short selling [Long Short Trader]

The five "why's" in problem solving [Wallbuilder]

The danger of 1-year performance numbers [A Wealth of Common Sense]

Latest post from the Valeant (VRX) bear camp [Bronte Capital]

How bad will it get for American Express? [Bloomberg]

China is not collapsing [Project Syndicate]

Kingmakers of China's internet: Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent [WSJ]

A look at wireless tower stocks [Barrons]

Tribune Media shares at a 50% discount [Barrons]

Fossil Group (FOSL): a value stock with temporary problems? [Value & Opportunity]

Netflix is creating a cordless nightmare for traditional media [Institutional Investor]

Light beer gets in touch with serious side [WSJ]

Auto parts retailers' immunity to Amazon drives stock surge [Bloomberg]

Why investors don't fund dating [Andrew Chen]

Robots and us [MIT]


Wednesday, September 16, 2015

What We're Reading ~ 9/16/15


The most dangerous trade: How short sellers uncover fraud [Richard Teitelbaum]

5 common mental errors that sway your decision making [James Clear]

Forecasting a global recession [Economist]

Avoiding the certainty trap [A Wealth of Common Sense]

What's not to like about wireless towers? [Morningstar]

Alibaba: Why it could fall 50% [Barrons]

Alibaba's response to that article [Alizila]

On the size and scope of Alibaba [Bronte Capital]

A look at fund manager current asset allocations [Fat Pitch]

Why the internet won't be the next TV for advertising [WSJ]

The US economy is just starting to tap into a big source of dry powder [Bloomberg]

Cheniere: America's most unlikely energy project [Bloomberg]

The Bloomberg Terminal faces upstarts [NYTimes]

Why Wall Street loves to hate Mylan's CEO [Fortune]

Nine of the world's biggest banks form blockchain partnership [Recode]


Thursday, September 10, 2015

David Tepper "Not as Bullish as I Could Be": Interview

David Tepper of hedge fund Appaloosa Management appeared on CNBC today to share his thoughts on markets.

In the interview, Tepper talked about the concept of flows and if all the money is flowing one way, then you have to buy the dips.  But if all the money starts flowing the other way, then you've got to sell the rips.

Tepper said, "I'm not probably as bullish as I could be because I have problems with earnings growth, I have problems with multiples... so I can't really call myself a bull.  However, I will say this, if you invest today in the stock market if earnings grow 5.5% per year you will make money at the end of five years."

He also noted that if you're fully invested now, it's not a bad time to take some money off the table.  Tepper also went on to say that if we had a 15-20% correction, "I would buy."

He says that valuations are adjusting to new realities and before "jumping back in the water" he wants to see big stocks with emerging markets components have their P/E's come down and mutual funds with higher cash levels.

Tepper notes that the US is fine with low unemployment and that it's an individual stockpicking moment.  But he also says that you "don't have that cushion of safety" in the stock market right now.

When you have lower global growth, you'll see lower P/E's, Tepper says.  The Appaloosa manager said that Apple (AAPL) has a low multiple and he owns it (though it's only around a 0.75% position for them now that they're just maintaining).  He says it will always have a low multiple because it's a device company with technological risk.  But it has China exposure, which the market dislikes these days. 

He mentioned he no longer owns Alibaba (BABA) as well.  He said he read the Chinese situation wrong and got out in early July.  "They just keep making policy mistake after policy mistake over there," Tepper notes.

Tepper also says that he thinks it's going to be hard to hit earnings estimates next year.  He argued that "flat is not a bad place to be" right now, referring to his exposure levels in equities.  He says he's not a great short seller and doesn't think levels are high enough right now.  But if the Federal Reserve doesn't tighten and the market gets excited about that, then he might bring himself to short.

He again reiterated that, "We don't have a huge equity book" right now.

Tepper then noted: "I have a saying in my office: 'There's a time to make money, and there's a time not to lose money.' What time is this? Not to lose money."


Video 1:



Video 2:



Video 3:



Video 4:



Video 5:



Video 6:



Video 7:



Video 8:



Video 9:



Video 10:



Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Julian Robertson on Greece/Europe, China & Various Stock Picks

CNBC's Kelly Evans interviewed Tiger Management's Julian Robertson and he talked about a range of topics, including Greece and Europe, China, Puerto Rico, and various stocks.

He doesn't seem too terribly concerned by the situation in Greece in and of itself, but if contagion spreads to Spain or Italy and potentially other countries, then things could get dicey.

Robertson says European equities "have been a very good place to be and may still be ... but you certainly want to hedge the currency."

His main concern now is that we're in the midst of a serious credit bubble.  Money that normally would flow into bonds has been forced into stocks.  This is something he's mentioned previously as well.

On Chinese equities, he notes, "I think the prospects for Chinese companies... some of them are very great.  I have changed from Alibaba (BABA) to JD.com (JD) ... JD has an advantage in that it's never had any knock-off problems.  We are very bullish on JD now and we have sold Alibaba for it."  Our Hedge Fund Wisdom newsletter back in May highlighted that many Tiger Cub funds were betting big on JD.

Robertson continues to like Apple (AAPL) but he's not overly concerned about the Watch.  He said, "Apple would be selling at double or triple its present price now if this was the 70's or 80's."

Additionally, he continues to like Gilead Sciences (GILD).  He's been short Assured Guaranty (AGO) as well.

On his industry, Robertson notes that, "I think the hedge fund industry is suffering from the expansion of the industry."  He says now you're competing with so many other hedge funds whereas back in the day you were competing with less managers and less sophisticated rivals.

Embedded below is the video of Robertson's interview on CNBC:



For more on this legendary investor, head to Morgan Creek's Q1 letter on learning from Robertson.


Wednesday, February 25, 2015

What We're Reading ~ Analytical Links 2/25/15

An interview with The Outsiders author William Thorndike [Joe Magyer]

The extraordinary story of America's most successful industry [Morgan Housel]

Howard Marks: have an approach and hold it strongly [Reformed Broker]

Observations from a decade in the investment business [Wealth of Common Sense]

What is Yahoo worth after the Alibaba spinoff? [MicroFundy]

A look at CDK Global [Scuttlebutt Investor]

The problem with intuitive investing [Wealth of Common Sense]

Profile of SC Fundamental: old school investors [Barrons]

Calculating the odds of a Comcast / Time Warner Cable deal [NYTimes]

The high cost of falling prices [Economist]

Robert Shiller's CAPE ratio recently passed its 2007 high [Twitter]

Americans are borrowing more [WSJ]

Russia's Yandex takes on Google, Android [Barrons]

Millennials ditching their TV sets at a record rate [NYpost]

Capitalism's unlikely heroes: activist investors [Economist]

Profile of one of the most important people at Apple: Jonathan Ive [New Yorker]

Amazon bought this man's company, now he's coming for them [Bloomberg]

Netflix's long-term view [Netflix]


Thursday, December 4, 2014

Julian Robertson On What Stocks He Likes Now: Interview

Tiger Management's Julian Robertson has been making his rare yearly media tour and this time he sat down with Fox Business to talk about the markets.


On the Markets & Global Economy

On the global economy, Robertson said that: "Europe is in serious trouble and not improving much.  Japan has had a little bit of revival but at the cost of doing a lot of things that are questionable.  And I think the US is doing better than anybody.  China's got some serious problems, too."


On What Stocks He Likes

As has been the case in his other recent interviews, Robertson was again bullish on Google (GOOG / GOOGL) and Apple (AAPL).

He said that, "Apple's below the market multiple and that's true of Google."  Robertson has bought AAPL within the past 2-3 weeks and thinks it's "an extremely reasonably priced stock."  He also labeled GOOG as the "premier technology company of them all."

The Tiger man also admitted he's owned Alibaba (BABA) for four years now, long before the company came public.

He's also liked airlines, saying Delta Airlines (DAL) is the class of the industry and that they've all obviously benefited from lower oil prices.  Robertson also said he likes Netflix (NFLX).

One company he bought up that he hasn't mentioned previously was Naspers, traded in South Africa.  This has been somewhat of a Tiger Cub / Tiger Seed favorite and the company owns Tencent and various stakes in Chinese companies.  The company is basically trading at the value of these investments, but they also have television assets and a bunch of other stakes as well.


On the Hedge Fund Industry

He says the problem is that the industry has expanded so rapidly and that competition among funds has really ramped up.  Back in the day not as many people were shorting, but now it's really prevalent.  He also said that it's difficult to run a hedged portfolio in a market that seemingly only wants to go up.


For more from this investing legend, head to Julian Robertson's 3 most important things to look for in a stock.

Embedded below is Robertson's interview with Fox Business:



And here's the second video of his interview:



And here's the third video:



Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Third Point's Q3 Letter: Long Amgen, eBay & Alibaba, Exited Sony

Dan Loeb's hedge fund firm Third Point is out with its third quarter letter.  In it, the firm reveals that they've added to their stake in Amgen (AMGN), established a sizable new position in eBay (EBAY), and have a significant direct investment in the newly public Alibaba (BABA). 

Additionally, they've exited their long of Sony.  They also reduced or exited positions in AIG, Hertz, Softbank, LNG.

Then, with the recent market volatility, they lifted some hedges and added back to positions that they had previously sold at higher levels.  Third Point writes, "Although consensus has shifted to lower growth, slower inflation, modest rates, and continued monetary expansion, we think the markets will resume an overall upward trajectory in the US through year-end."

Embedded below is Third Point's Q3 letter where they specifically talk about AMGN, EBAY, BABA and SNE:



You can download a .pdf copy here.


Wednesday, September 17, 2014

What We're Reading ~ Analytical Links 9/17/14

Edge, time arbitrage and the shame of short-term thinking [Lux Capital]

A fireside chat with Charlie Munger [WSJ]

Buffett on market valuation [Brooklyn Investor]

Bears at their lowest level since 1987, now what? [Yahoo]

8 lessons from the first year of a registered investment advisory firm [Reformed Broker]

Competition is for losers [Peter Thiel]

An independent Scotland could become an energy powerhouse [Fortune]

Britain needs greater unity not a messy break-up [George Soros]

The tollbooth businesses of Visa & Mastercard [Scuttlebutt Investor]

A discussion on Apple Pay [Twitter]

Why banks are buying into Apple Pay [American Banker]

Thoughts on what the Apple Watch means [Daring Fireball]

Hermes takes the long view in China [FT]

Inflection point for Western Union? [YGC]

Alibaba's coming out party & valuation [Aswath Damodaran]

Alibaba IPO is a bonanza for select firms [WSJ]

On the rise of NY regulator Benjamin Lawsky [Bloomberg]

There is no bond bubble [Barrons]


Wednesday, August 27, 2014

What We're Reading ~ Analytical Links 8/27/14

Profile of Alibaba's Joseph Tsai [Bloomberg]

Carol Loomis' latest on BlackRock: the $4.3 trillion force [Fortune]

Profile of 108 year old investor Irving Kahn [Telegraph]

Lessons learned in 30 years of investing [What Works on Wall Street]

Share sleuth's investment checklist [Interactive Investor]

A look at Post Holdings [View From the Blue Ridge]

A look at WL Ross Holding Corp [Brooklyn Investor]

What makes Warren Buffett a great investor? [Farnam Street]

Amazon: not an e-commerce company [Stratechery]

The inside story of how Netflix came to pay Comcast for traffic [Quartz]

Morningstar: a force to be reckoned with [FT]

Nonprofit hospitals' earnings fall as costs outrun revenue [WSJ]

Interview with Burger King's CEO [Financial Post]

The company speeding a genetic revolution [Forbes]

Google's valuation: much cheaper now than 10 years ago [WSJ]

Family Dollar bidding war suggests 'peak dollar store' is here [Yahoo]

Match.com might not light IAC's fire [WSJ]

Peculiar habits of incredibly successful people [Morgan Housel]

Interview with venture capitalist Bill Gurley [Forbes]