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Fat Pitch Financials

Special situation stocks and value investing

Archive for the 'Special Situations' Category

Questions About Tender Offers

Nov 30th, 2007 @ 9:25 AM

I recently received an email that contained several good questions about stock tender offers from someone interested in joining Fat Pitch Financials Contributor’s Corner. I thought you might be interested in those questions and my answers to them.
When acquiring an odd-lot following the announcement of a tender offer, what must be done next to ensure participation in […]

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Concord Camera 2007 10-K Numbers

Sep 28th, 2007 @ 4:47 PM

Concord Camera (LENS) released its 2007 10-K yesterday.  Last week I calculated the net current asset value of Concord Camera, so I figured I should update my figures in the June 30, 2007 balance sheet.  Here’s what I found:

  Cash and Equivalents: $3,853,000
  Restricted Cash: $6,200,000
  Short-term Investments: $30,475,000
  Accounts Receivable, net: $10,702,000
  Inventories: $15,806,000
+Prepaid Expenses & Other: $1,401,000
= Total Current […]

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Special Situations Real Money Port July 2007 Update

Aug 1st, 2007 @ 9:38 AM

July has been a really busy month.  I spent most of my time avoiding losing money and that was no easy feat in this market.
I closed July out with $12,044.13 in the Special Situations Real Money Port.  Back in May, the account was worth $12,239.27.  As you can see, I’ve lost a little bit of ground over […]

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Valuing the Tyco Spinoffs

Jul 8th, 2007 @ 9:44 PM

On June 29th, Tyco International (TYC) spun off Covidien (COV) and Tyco Electronics (TEL). Many investors, including several prominent value investors, had been waiting for this spinoff opportunity for quite some time.  But as you can imagine, if everyone was waiting for this opportunity, the likelihood of the market mispricing these stocks was slim to none.  Nevertheless, […]

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A Tale of Two Tender Offers

Jun 20th, 2007 @ 6:31 AM

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the market of bulls, it was the market of bears, it was a period of expansion, it was a period of recession, we were awash in liquidity, we were buried in debt.
There were tender offers that […]

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Special Situations Real Money Port May 2007 Update

Jun 4th, 2007 @ 8:00 AM

The Special Situations Real Money Portfolio has had another great month. The April Special Situations Real Money Port was up 7.3% for the year and had an annualized rate of return of 22.7% since inception. The May numbers are even more impressive. The Special Situations Real Money Port is now up 16.4% for the year […]

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S&P 500 Passes 1,500, Time for Special Situations?

May 3rd, 2007 @ 11:13 PM

It’s hard to believe that the S&P 500 surpassed 1,500 today.  I’m starting to question the margin of safety on all my holdings now.  Unilever PLC (UL) , my best performing position since I started the Fat Pitch Financials Portfolio, was up over 3% today and is now trading about $32. I was having trouble […]

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Broadridge Financial Solutions Analysis

Apr 13th, 2007 @ 11:07 AM

I added shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions (BR) to the Fat Pitch Financials Port earlier this week.  Broadridge is the recent spin-off from ADP (ADP).  Shareholders of ADP received one share of BR for every 4 shares of ADP they owned.  The spinoff was completed May 30th.  There was considerable discussion regarding Broadridge on Value Investing […]

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Profit With Split-Offs

Mar 18th, 2007 @ 5:35 PM

Many of you are probably familiar with spinoffs, especially since I’ve written about a few spinoffs here in the past. However, I bet most of you are not familiar split-offs, a close relative to spinoffs. I discovered my first split-off this past autumn and I’ve made some serious profits with these special situation opportunities since then.
What are split-offs?
Split-offs […]

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Western Sizzlin Rights Offering Experience

Mar 9th, 2007 @ 2:52 PM

Western Sizzlin (WSZL) hit my limit price of $10.00 Wednesday, March 7th as a result of  Sardar Biglari’s letter to Friendly Ice Cream (FRN) shareholders and Friendly’s decision to consider selling the company, so my 600 shares were sold. As many of you have probably noticed, Western Sizzlin has been part of the Special Situations Real Money Port since last […]

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