Weekend Reading – Contributors Corner Contest

I’m still recovering from being away the prior week, but I’m starting to finally catch up. The first thing I’ll be doing this weekend is checking out the top stories of the week at Value Investing News. Here they are:

1. Dashboard Tool for Fundamental Analysis
   Their is no limit to the tools that can be found for technical analysis, but when it comes to fundamental analysis I seem to always find myself staring at raw numbers on a balance sheet. So I started building one- have a look and let me know what you think.
2. Book Review: Animal Spirits
   George Akerlof and Robert Shiller’s book, Animal Spirits, offers an accessible look at how traditional economics can be expanded by incorporating some basic concepts from psychology.
3. Magic Formula Stock Review: Cherokee (CHKE)
   With a remarkably low capital business model and a dividend yield that stands over 10%, Cherokee makes an attractive Magic Formula pick.
4. Nine Dividend Stocks confident in raising dividends
   Several notable companies raised their dividends last week. Dividend raises are not only getting more frequent, but they also seem to be spreading globally as well. A dividend raise in this tough environment indicates confidence in the business and the ability to generate free chas flow.
5. Magic Formula Weekly Roundup 5/23
   Weekly roundup of stocks moving in and out of the Magic Formula Investing screen.
6. IPO Market Signals
   This article looks at the clue the IPO market provides regarding market valuation. The number and value of IPOs in a given year may help indicate whether or not valuations are high enough to entice companies to issue public shares.
7. Minority Interest: What it is, How it is accounted for, Why it matters
   Minority interest is an often overlooked concept when evaluating stocks. What is it? How is it accounted for? Why does it matter to Magic Formula investors?
8. Diversifying into small and mid cap dividend stocks
   As a dividend growth investor, my goal is to generate a rising stream of dividend income. Thus I would have to be selective not only about picking individual stocks, but also about selecting companies from a variety of industries, countries and size, in order to avoid a widespread implosion in overall dividend income.
9. Cheap Stocks Interview: Art Patten, President of Symmetry Capital, LLC
   This interview with Art Patten, President of Symmetry Capital, explores the investment philosophy of this deep value micro-cap investor.
10. The Writing Is on the Wall for HSN and John Malone
    Looks Like John Malone Wants HSN.
11. MLPs for tax-deferred accounts
    Master Limited Partnerships are very good investment vehicles for individuals looking for high current dividend income. There are some tax issues with reporting MLP income in a taxable account, which led me to explore investing in MLPs through an IRA or ROTH IRA account.
12. April Activist Investments – 58 Companies Targeted
    A summary list of 58 companies targeted by 61 shareholder activists during April 2009.
13. How I’m Investing Now
    Sounds like my kind of value investor. This blogger details his investment strategy and current holdings.
14. Dividend Stocks Are ‘Slow Good’
    For years Heinz ran commercials describing their product as ‘slow good’. It was an obvious inference to ‘so good’ and that it was worth waiting on. Investing in dividend stocks in very similar. You certainly won’t find sudden wealth on any given day, but over time the dividends will pay off.
15. 2009 Morningstar Investment Conference – Part 5
    In the final session of the day was a conversation with John Bogle, the founder of Vanguard. Don Phillips, Managing Director of Morningstar, was the moderator of the conversation. This was the highlight of the day.

Be sure to visit Value Investing News this weekend and vote on the best new value investing stories. Just click on the up arrow for the stories you like and on the down arrow for stories you don’t like or are not related to value investing. You’ll earn “user points” for each action you take on the site.

Those points are used for our monthly contest at Value Investing News. For the May contest at Value Investing News, we are giving away three subscriptions to my very own Fat Pitch Financials Contributors. The contest ends on May 31, 2009, so be sure to take advantage of this popular prize by spending your weekend voting on stories and providing comments.

I’ve also started a thread in the Value Investing News Forum soliciting your feedback on how to make the site even better in the future. I look forward to the discussion. Have a great weekend!