I have a soft spot in my heart for companies that are out-of-the-way, meaning that no one thinks about what they do. CSG Systems, for example, does nothing but handle the billing paperwork for other companies. And John B Sanfilippo & Son, Inc. (JBSS), is a producer of nut products. Owing to high levels of […]
Lexmark, the well-known printer company, presently offers a robust free cash flow yield of roughly 15%, and also has a vast cushion of cash and investments representing more than a third of its market cap. Although a lot of that money is in overseas subsidiaries, whatever isn’t is being wisely used to buy back shares […]
In my last article discussing Black Box, part of my positive opinion of the company was its performance in 2009. This led me to consider how far back into a company’s earnings history we should go. Ben Graham in his Security Analysis recommends at least a decade, but that runs into the situation that a […]
Black Box Corporation (BBOX) is a provider of network infrastructure services, which embraces design, sourcing, installation, and maintenance of network. Roughly 60% of the company’s income is from voice communications, but the data infrastructure portion has been slowly increasing and represents 23% of income based on the latest two quarters. The company also has a […]
As you may know, I generally adopt a fairly quantitative process when looking for potential investments, at least at the screening stage. I first consider an excess cash position if there is one, both because it provides a source of primary liquidity and also because it often can be considered separately from the company’s operating […]
Hello all. Some of you may have noticed that I have not been posing as much as I normally do, and the reason for that is that I have been studying for the CFA examination. The test was last week, so I now find myself again at your disposal. I thought I would kick things […]
I said in my comments for my previous article about the River Rock Entertainment Authority bonds that I would have an update when there was something to update people about. I think the default and exchange offer qualifies River Rock has filed with the SEC a forbearance agreement that has the votes of over 60% […]
Update: There is a new article pertaining to the default and proposed exchange offer here. As I’m sure most of you know, the River Rock Entertainment Authority has $200 million in bonds coming due at the beginning of November of this year, and although the company has expressed confidence that a refinancing will occur, time […]
I’ve been meaning to mention this, but my latest article at seekingalpha (and third editors’ pick in a row) deals with DST Systems, a company that provides IT and automation services for the mutual fund industry, among other clients, has a portfolio of stock and private equity investments that is worth a little under half […]
I have been indisposed recently, but I will be ready to resume m usual schedule of posting in the near future. But before then I have some old news that needs addressing, and that is Windstream’s planned merger with PAETEC. Whenever there is a merger announced, at least one and usually more than one plaintiff’s […]