October 26th, 2008
Even for a billionaire hedge-fund titan, losing $30 million an hour has got to be a bummer.
That’s what Eddie Lampert, the chairman of Sears Holdings, has experienced with just his nine largest holdings since Sept. 19 - over just 26 trading days.
His massive holdings in Sears Holding, the parent of Sears and Kmart stores, and in AutoZone, AutoNation, Citigroup and five other companies have lost $5 billion in value over that time, based on the size of the holdings as of June 30, according to his 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
LAMPERT’S A HUGE LOSER: $30M/HOUR - nypost.com
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October 22nd, 2008
Bruce spent about an hour talking about the fund, stock market, and investment ideas. He includes about a 20 minute Q&A. Definitely worth a listen for any value investor watching the markets today.
800-642-1687 and the conference ID is 68956543
Posted in Bruce Berkowitz | 6 Comments »
October 21st, 2008
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September 26th, 2008
The retailer is opening at least 50 showroom-sized stores dedicated to home appliances this year in high-traffic strip malls. It has also boosted training in product knowledge and energy savings for its appliance staff.
“We’ve got great things to tell and we just haven’t been saying them in a way that has been clear to the consumer,” Steve Light, appliance general merchandise manager for parent Sears Holdings (nasdaq: SHLD - news - people ) Corp , told Reuters in an interview at company headquarters.
“We’ve got a vision .. to re-engage and rebuild our relationship with the American consumer,” said Light, who took up the post earlier this year.
Sears says it will beat any competitor’s appliance prices, even if it means looking them up on the Internet while the shopper is in the store. In October, it will begin a program offering zero percent financing and no payments for 12 months every day.
This week, the company launched an advertising campaign aimed at cash-strapped consumers who are seeking greater value for their money. Thirty-second TV spots feature an “appliance blue crew” touting low prices, financing offers and next-day delivery to most U.S. ZIP codes.
INTERVIEW-Sears woos appliance shoppers with new stores, ads - forbes.com
Posted in Sears Holdings | 1 Comment »
September 26th, 2008
The New York Stock Exchange added seven more companies on Thursday to the list of financial institution shares that are not permitted to be shorted, ahead of Friday’s market open.
NYSE had added nine firms ahead of Thursday’s market opening. In the last two days the Nasdaq Stock Market has added three stocks, including Sears Holding Corp, and dropped one from its list.
NYSE adds 7 companies to short-selling ban - reuters.com
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September 24th, 2008
Date Short Interest Percent Change Average Daily Share Volume Days to Cover
09/15/2008 32,382,772 3.09 2,832,244 11.43
08/29/2008 31,413,292 (6.67) 2,271,370 13.83
08/15/2008 33,656,888 (2.40) 4,113,146 8.18
07/31/2008 34,483,474 (7.38) 3,833,068 9.00
Good luck trying to find 32M shares to cover…
Posted in Sears Holdings | No Comments »
September 23rd, 2008
From NASDAQ.com :NASDAQ member firms are required to report their short positions as of settlement on (1) the 15th of each month, or the preceding business day if the 15th is not a business day, and (2) as of settlement on the last business day of the month.* The reports must be filed by the second business day after the reporting settlement date. FINRA compiles the short interest data and provides it for publication on the 8th business day after the reporting settlement date.
I need to wait two weeks in order to see the short interest for the first two weeks of the month. Instead of banning shorting, why not publish daily interest for individual securities sooner? Even weekly short interest would be helpful! Someone help me understand why this is not possible or feasible. Please SEC provide more transparency without intervening.
Publication Schedule for 2008 - nasdaqtrader.com
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September 21st, 2008
The Federal Reserve Board approved the applications of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to become bank holding companies, the Fed said.
The Federal Reserve Board on Sunday approved, pending a statutory five-day antitrust waiting period, the applications of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to become bank holding companies,” the central bank said in an e-mailed press release in Washington.
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley now have to deleverage and allow for additional government regulation. Morgan Stanley currently has a debt-to-equity ratio of 30:1, while Goldman Sachs has one of about 22:1.
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September 20th, 2008
From Notable Calls:
An extreme example comes from Pakistan where the local SEC responded to a stock slump last month by banning short selling and limiting daily price declines to 1% while allowing them to rise by 10%. The initial reaction was a massive 8.6% one day rally followed by 15 straight days of slumping prices amid extremely low turnover, the worst such period for that market in several years. As rioting investors stormed the Karachi Stock Exchange last week, the rules were rescinded.”
Trade Ideas:
Long Jan 09 $90 SKF Calls
Long Oct 08 and Dec 08 SDS Calls
Posted in Financials, Trade Ideas | No Comments »
