The price to book ratio is one of the better valuation numbers for finding stocks with a margin of safety. Stocks with a low price to book ratio often have very good upside, as well as the protection of a large loss due to assets held by the firm.
Warren Buffett had a rare miss in his economic calls. The Oracle of Omaha expected a recovery in US housing and real estate prices by 2012.
In his most recent 2011-2012 Berkshire Hathaway letter to shareholders, Buffett noted that his call was incorrect. Housing remains in what he calls a “depression of its own” but still believes that the real estate market can be viewed as recovering. He remains bullish on housing prices.
Mastercard is one hot stock. After an IPO at $50 per share in 2006, the company has rewarded shareholders with a return of nearly 700% as the stock hovers around $400 per share.
The company is certainly successful. Mastercard’s “priceless” advertising spree made it one of the best known payment processors in the business. It’s diversification away from credit card issuance helped it avoid an otherwise awful credit crunch.
The Empire State Building is up for sale – and you soon might be able to grab a piece of it!
The Empire State Realty Trust Inc., which owns the Empire State Building as well as 11 other buildings in Manhattan and around New York, filed with the SEC to go public.
The company will trade under the ticker symbol ESB, an obvious abbreviation for a building that is one of the United States’ best known landmarks.
Gold has certainly made a mark in the investment world. More people are now considering investing in gold stocks, a small part of the total stock market.
There are a few things investors should know about before they take the plunge, however. We’ve outlined some things that make gold investing different from other investments.
Coinstar (CSTR), the parent company of video rental service Redbox, announced a new joint venture with Verizon (VZ) to bring a streaming solution to more devices.
The joint venture will involve both Redbox’s offline distribution service, as well as a new service geared toward other devices through the online streaming business. The companies plan to offer a subscription service that, I’m guessing, will be very similar to Netflix’s current offerings.
New investors often wonder why companies pay dividends to investors. Given that not all companies are in a position to pay dividends – and even those that can pay dividends sometimes do not – why should a company pay dividends to investors?
This is a very good question.
In fact, dividends are a very “old school” part of any stock investment. A long time ago, most companies paid dividends to investors. That’s the very reason that anyone would ever consider buying a stock that pays dividends. Investors wanted access to the cash flow that a company generated and would naturally seek out the safest dividend paying stocks.
