Muzie

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88 Comments

    • Tue Nov 25th 19:42 PM
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      Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Take-Two Should Be a Bigger Acquisition Target
      I too am puzzled how breaking the record for most ever sales in one day on a PC game makes Activision's numbers "mediocre"..... hmmmm...

      ERTS underperformed TTWO by quite a bit in the last month so they are in less of a position to do the buyout now. It's anyone's guess if ATVI would be interested.
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    • Mon Nov 24th 18:33 PM
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      Rating: +2 0
      Commented on:
      Citi's Share Price Problem
      "the share price was so low that absent a major announcement it would almost certainly continue to decline all the way to zero."

      Felix, you write good articles most of the time.

      This statement you just made implies you believes that the stock price going too low implies it will cause the company to go bankrupt. Call me old-fashioned, I thought it was always the other way around.

      Am I missing something in your reasoning here? It's one thing to say a low stock price indicates uncertainty about a company's prospects, it another entirely to see a low stock price actually becomes the cause for those low prospects.
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    • Mon Nov 24th 18:26 PM
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      Rating: +2 0
      Commented on:
      Value Investors: Stay Strong, and Follow Warren Buffett
      "BRK now has a potential 37 billion dollar bomb sitting on its balance sheet IF the market doesn't recover in ten years...37 billion?...ten years?...."

      Duh.

      1) "37 Billion" is if the entire stock market goes to zero. You're being facetious here. If you think that's going to happen, then maybe you should just move on and not follow the stock market. It won't exist.
      2) The puts are not in ten years. SEC documents say fifteen to twenty years.
      3) BRK has cashed in 5B$ of premiums from the puts. The loss must exceed that amount before being a true loss.
      4) Calculate the value of this "potential" 30B$ loss twenty years from now when accounting for inflation. Calculate that the 5B$ premium that is now is now in Buffet's hands can be put into Treasuries or CDs or invested and yield a non-negative return, mitigating any "loss". Finally establish how significant this 30B$ loss would be in a Berkshire's cash flow twenty years in the future.

      "how does one assess the "value" of that?..."

      There are ways and I've shown you some. That questions suggests to me it is you, not Buffet, who is out of his element here.
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    • Mon Nov 24th 03:00 AM
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      Rating: +1 0
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      Buffett Serving Free Lunch?
      "***I*** don't know anything? I? "

      Hmm, no, apparently, you don't. As it's been stated a million times before, the puts are non-exercisable before expiration. Please look up "non-exercisable&... in a dictionary. Buffet got the premiums, and he doesn't pay up until the options expire (15 years from now).

      Looks like it needs to be broken down in little bitesize pieces. for you. The flow of cash:

      - Buffet engages in contracts with counterparty.
      - Buffet receives premiums = cash flows to BRK.
      - Market tanks. Contracts are quoted at a higher value on open market. Counterparty offers to sell contracts at higher ask. Cash flows to counterparty.
      - Other counterparties engage in trade, exchanging cash. BRK does not trade its own contract.

      Get it?

      Your spurious argument about "the market may not be higher twenty years from now" is irrelevant. The market is down now, not twenty years. When the market is still at S&P 1200 twenty years you can come back here and strut your stuff - but it has NOTHING to do with the current decline.

      Did you really expect Buffet to engage in these contracts at a twenty-year low and they would NEVER get in the money for twenty years??? You must be some kind of magician - whenever I write options, most of them do end up being in-the-money at least momentarily, ESPECIALLY long-dated ones.

      Anyone who studies the markets expects the market will crash at some point over a twenty year period - always has, always will. And in fact crashing early on when the puts have just been written is actally the least detrimental to the reported losses, because the delta on them is low as the time value is quite high.
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    • Fri Nov 21st 21:02 PM
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      Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Berkshire Hathaway's Peculiar Volatility Numbers
      Also, if Berkshire per chance goes back up another 13%, was your friend "right" or "wrong"? Of course he made money and perhaps that is all that matters - but could anyone argue that any of this was really logical if the dip lasts just a few days?
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    • Fri Nov 21st 21:00 PM
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      Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Berkshire Hathaway's Peculiar Volatility Numbers
      "It's worth noting, however, that long-term volatility at 38% implies a random walk in the index of near 2.5% every trading day for the next 20 years. If and when that number comes down, Berkshire's noncash losses today will simply be cancelled out by noncash profits tomorrow.
      "

      And this is where I'm lost as to why this affectes any of the company's valuation at this point. We're talking imaginary dollars here no? Even if these are marked to market, shouldn't these outflow be discounted twnety years in the future, making them rather muted?
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    • Fri Nov 21st 20:28 PM
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      Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      S&P Set To Launch New Indexes of Condo Prices
      Oh that's awesome! Now we we have another statistic for the whole nation to obsess over so the markets can have another reason to crash everyday! Thumbs up!
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    • Fri Nov 21st 17:34 PM
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      Rating: +4 -2
      Commented on:
      Buffett's Gamble: $40 Billion Bet on Volatility
      dlaw: They expire TWENTY FREAKIN' YEARS FROM NOW.

      There's no "bath" taken because he's not going to trade in or out of them. Your "bath" is simply he could have written off those same puts for more money now then before. That's like saying he's taking a "bath" because he could have bought a rising stock for the lowest possible price but instead bought it 10$ more while turning down a profit.

      You wake up!
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    • Fri Nov 21st 17:23 PM
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      Rating: +17 -1
      Commented on:
      Citigroup: The End Draws Near
      Isn'tit amazing how these "Stock X is dead" articles only get written AFTER a stock goes down 50%.

      It's ridiculous how these writers operator:
      a) look at stock market
      b) jot down list of biggest gainers and losers
      c) cross-reference with archives to see if you can find old bits of informations to throw around
      d) write doomsday article

      Good job, smartass. But you're going to have to do better than say "It's dead and I don't know quite exactly why in details it's dying right now but the stock is down 50% so there you go".
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    • Fri Nov 21st 13:38 PM
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      Rating: 0 0
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      Can You See Apple Under $60?
      "Zach, this implies the determining factor of a depression is the valuation of the stock market. Is that really what you mean?"

      Ya isn't that funny logic, heh.

      Unfortunately that's the way the MARKET seems to think. Aka. "If I crash so hard that people tremble in their homes, maybe I can trigger the depression by myself".
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    • Fri Nov 21st 11:39 AM
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      Rating: +1 -1
      Commented on:
      Google Has More Room to Fall - Merriman
      Are they been serious?? Saying there's possibly further downside of minimum 8% on a stock that moves 5% every day?? Who is paying these clowns?
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    • Fri Nov 21st 03:25 AM
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      Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Exploiting the Downside of the Markets
      Let me recap the article for you:

      "Hello silly longs! Mark here, folks, hey who do these losses feel? Bad huh? Well, psst, let me whisper in your ear. See, it doesn't have to be that way. You can look like a genius like me, and make money too! Just short everything! It's easy! It always works! "Short & Hold" baby! Here's 4 stock tips to get you started - I did a lot of research on these. Here's my investment thesis, I'll write it doesn on this piece of napking: "Short these stocks because Cramer liked them at some point before". That's it! Just go run through those old Cramer tapes, short it all, that's all you need!

      Why be a sucker when you can make easy money like me!"
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    • Thu Nov 20th 19:07 PM
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      Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Ugly
      "I'd wager you really don't have any hard data to know you're going to know you're job but you're preparing for it. "

      Gah. Let me rephase that.

      I'd wager you really don't have any hard data to know you're going to get fired from you're job but you're preparing for it
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    • Thu Nov 20th 19:06 PM
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      Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Ugly
      "I work for a multi-national company. My company has not reduced head count yet but soon will and I might be one of these heads. Hopefully the new adminstration in D.C. will find a way to restore confidence. If it happens later than sooner, so be it. "

      Re-read your comments and yuo will know why the stock market falls endlessly.

      I'd wager you really don't have any hard data to know you're going to know you're job but you're preparing for it. Everybody's doing the same thing.

      Perception becomes reality, and what was a small snowball becomes an avalanche only through mass hysteria.
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    • Fri Nov 14th 19:43 PM
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      Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Can We Use the 1970s, 1980s or 1990s as an Unemployment Benchmark?
      vbierschwale: Yes, please go ahead and keep "believing". Whatever religion suits you.

      Meanwhile, in the real world, I got a 10% raise today.

      Hmmm, how is that even possible? Isn't this 1929? Isn't there a soup line right around the corner? What about those flaming cars I should be seeing in the street?
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