What We're Reading ~ 11/22/17

Honored to be listed: 100 best finance Twitter accounts you should follow [Forbes]

If you don't already, follow us on there @marketfolly [Twitter]

Bill Miller is staging another comeback [Washington Post]

Mohnish Pabrai on spinoffs [Forbes]

Profile of nVidia's founder/CEO [Fortune]

Profile of founder of dating app Bumble [Forbes]

Caesars returns to building its gaming empire [Barrons]

Very old profile of Lou Simpson when he was at GEICO [Washington Post]

Lessons from successful turnarounds [Boston Consulting Group]

Top 100 most valuable US brands [Brandz]

Is bitcoin another tulip craze or a legitimate investment? [Washington Post]

Spurned by ESPN, Barstool Sports is staying on offense [NYTimes]

What We're Reading ~ 11/8/17

Lou Simpson explains his portfolio strategy [Kellogg Insight]

Carl Icahn's making a $5 billion bet on the future of cars [Bloomberg]

A closer look at Ray Dalio's 1937 scenario for current markets [A Wealth of Common Sense]

Bill Miller has 30% of his assets in bitcoin?! [WSJ]

Analysis of Equinix and Interxion: network effects in a box [Scuttleblurb]

The psychology of designer handbags [Business of Fashion]

The biggest stock collapse in history has no end in sight [Bloomberg]

JD.com shares a better deal than Alibaba's [Barrons]

Asia has more billionaires than the US for the first time [Daily Mail]

Caesars returns to building its gaming empire [Barrons]

A look at Snap Inc [Seeking Alpha]

The war to sell you a mattress is an internet nightmare [Fast Company]

Universities take a hard look whether MBA programs are worth it [WSJ]

On trying to boost your productivity [Thrive Global]

Lee Cooperman Dumps Caesars Entertainment Stake

Omega Advisors' Lee Cooperman has filed a 13G with the SEC regarding shares of Caesars Entertainment (CZR).  Per the filing, Cooperman no longer owns any shares of CZR and has exited his position entirely.

He previously reported ownership of over 7.33 million shares at the end of the first quarter.  The updated filing was made due to activity on June 5th.

CZR shares recently hit a 52-week low as the company's subsidiary, Caesars Entertainment Operating Company is in bankruptcy and is fighting with creditors and this could have implications for the parent company. 

Per Google Finance, Caesars Entertainment is "a holding and casino-entertainment and hospitality services company. The Company's facilities include gaming offerings, food and beverage outlets, hotel and convention space, and non-gaming entertainment options."

What We're Reading ~ 6/10/15

Focus on the key variables of an investment [Base Hit Investing]

Bias from overconfidence [Farnam Street]

Robert Shiller: things are overvalued [Zero Hedge]

The most important concepts in behavioral economics [StockTwits]

A pitch on Charter/Time Warner Cable [Value Venture]

A look at Precision Castparts [Jnvestor]

Why did John Malone invest in Lions Gate? [Punch Card]

On the looming rental crisis in the US [SoberLook]

Weak consumer spending: the canary in the bear market coal mine [Mauldin]

How Tesla will change the world [Wait But Why]

The state of Chinese social media in 2015 [AdAge]

Why China is blowing an equity bubble [FT]

Xiaomi, China's new phone giant, takes aim at world [WSJ]

Coal woes are spreading but it still has fans [Economist]

Caesars: a private equity gamble in Vegas gone wrong [Fortune]

On the truly exceptional business [Value Investing World]

Japan's economy grows faster than estimated [Bloomberg]

Apple is the new king of bonds [Bloomberg]

What Twitter can be [lowercase capital]

Protections for late investors can inflate start-up valuations [NYTimes]

Lee Cooperman Adds To Caesars Entertainment Stake

Lee Cooperman's hedge fund firm Omega Advisors has just filed a 13G with the SEC regarding their position in Caesars Entertainment (CZR).  Per the filing, Cooperman has revealed a 5.41% ownership stake in CZR with over 7.81 million shares.

He's boosted his stake by 824,967 since the end of the third quarter and the filing was required due to activity on December 12th.

Per Google Finance, Caesars Entertainment is "a diversified casino-entertainment provider.."

John Paulson on Caesars, AngloGold Ashanti, & CVR Energy: Ira Sohn Presentation

We're posting up notes from the Ira Sohn Conference.  Paulson & Co founder John Paulson gave a presentation on three long ideas: Caesars (CZR), AngloGold Ashanti (AU) and CVR Energy (CVI).  Paulson is featured in the book, The Greatest Trade Ever.

Paulson's Three Long Ideas

Caesars (CZR): Stock with high option value. Was LBO. Common is only 7% of valuation, $1.7B, Opco Debt $16.9B, Net PropCo debt $4.8B. $23B total cap. So equity gets the upside. LBO guys put $6B in, now equity only $1.7B. Says they are turning around.

Stock owners have not only gaming properties, but Social gaming company worth $6-9, Online gaming could be $24 per share. Key is growth. Are seeing RevPAR growth. Added Octavius Tower. Adding Cleveland. 2013 LINQ in Vegas, Cincinnati.

Online gaming upside option. No debt due until 2015. Three years runway. 2007 they did $2.8B EBITDA, LBO at 11x. Guess they get back, adjusted to new facilities, $3.2B Likes hotels because the rates increase with inflation. Online gaming may be another $300M, so total to peak, get to $3.5, with 11x multiple stock is $138, a 10x upside. (that's way too rosy)


AngloGold Ashanti (AU): Pure gold upside. Been getting crushed, much worse than gold price, correlation has broken down. Bears say just buy the ETF. He says, you're paying more by doing that. Says you're getting the company at only $133 per proven reserves.  It's also worth highlighting that Paulson was buying fellow gold miner NovaGold Resources (NG) in April as well.  We've also previously posted a look at Paulson's gold fund.


CVR Energy (CVI): "A gift from Carl Icahn" Merger Arb transaction. Buy stock at $30.35, tender to offer at $30.00, cost of CCP is $0.35. "Contigent Cash Payment" rights. If they sell company for $36.15 CCP could be worth $6.15, with cost of $0.35, that's a 17.6x return.


P.S. - Don't miss other presentations from David Einhorn, Bill Ackman, Larry Robbins & more: notes from Ira Sohn Conference 2012.