Festival of Stocks #31

Welcome to the 31st edition of the Festival of Stocks. The Festival of Stocks is a blog carnival dedicated to highlighting bloggers best posts on stock market related topics. This is my sixth time hosting the Festival of Stocks here at Fat Pitch Financials, the birth place of this online weekly event. I want to thank everyone for making my idea for the Festival of Stocks become reality.

The home of the Festival of Stocks at Value Investing News has evolved quite a bit since I first launched the Festival. Value Investing News is rapidly becoming the leading site for value investors looking for news. I encourage you to consider joining in this cooperative news sharing service. If you join now, you can compete this month for a free subscription to the Value Investor Insight. This is a great newsletter founded by value investor Whitney Tilson.

This edition of the Festival of stocks includes ten entries. After this three day Easter weekend, everyone should be well rested and ready for this morning’s opening bell on Wall Street. Without further ado, let me present this week’s excellent submissions:

This Week’s Submissions

Stocks

15 Stocks I Like For Next Week and Beyond at Stock Rake
Here are the 15 stocks this blogger loved last week.
Stocks: ICOC,URRE,WTSLA,ACLS,XRTX,MTSN,SMDI,IIJI,PMCS,GTW,SKIL,BLTI,LWSN,NAPS

Holding onto HOV at Traders Insights
This brave contrarian trader is long home builder, Hovnanian, with long dated options. Dan admits the fundamentals and perception are bad, but he sees some positives in his trade model of HOV.
Stocks: HOV

Berkshire Owns More Than 10% of Burlington Northern at Gannon On Investing
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) has disclosed a greater than 10% stake in Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI). Berkshire was still buying as late as Thursday. This is Berkshire’s largest recent investment – it has a market value of $3.2 billion.
Stocks: BRK.A,BRK.B,BNI

Altria: Spin Day and It’s Effect at Value Plays
So the much awaited and talked about the spin became official just over a week ago and both Kraft (KFT) and Altria (MO) began trading on their own. Value Plays takes a look at the immediate effect of this spinoff.
Stocks: KFT,MO

Controlled Greed.com Portfolio Picks Average +4.6% in First Quarter of 2007 at Controlled Greed.com
John Bethel reviews the performance of the Controlled Greed portfolio for the first quarter of 2007. Overall, the group was up 4.6% vs. the S&P being up about 0.2% for Q1 of ’07.
Stocks: NIKOY.PK,AMGPF.PK,CBS,FFH,GM,WLT

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc (BR) at Value Discipline
Value Discipline looks at the recent spin-off, Broadridge Financial Solutions (BR). Spin-offs are often an excellent place to look for bargains. But, they require you to do some homework to come up with a reasonable estimate of the value for the newly independent unit – this post is a good place to start on Broadridge.
Stocks: BR,ADP

Special Situations Real Money Port First Quarter 2007 Update at Fat Pitch Financials
The Special Situations Real Money Port performed quite well this past quarter. Year to date, the rate of return has been 35.7% IRR, an absolute gain of 7.3% year to date. This post reveals the lastest investment in a split-off, Haliburton’s split-off of KBR.
Stocks: HAL,KBR,SBH,WSZL.OB

Commentary

Russia: We Don’t Need the West Anymore at Vitaliy’s Contrarian Edge
Vitaliy Katsenelson looks at the Sakhalin-2 sale and examines the long-term implications if Russia disregards Western investment.
Stocks: RDS.A,XOM,BP,COP

Buybacks Can Reduce EPS and Still Add Value To Firm Shareholders at Disciplined Approach to Investing
Disciplined Approach to Investing points out an interesting article that evaluates buybacks versus dividends. The analysis by Michael Mauboussin of Legg Mason Capital Management shows that stock buybacks that reduce EPS can still create value for remaining shareholders.

Constant Value Investing With Virtual Shares at My Simple Trading System
A look at the differences between constant value and virtual shares to manage positions in a portfolio.

That concludes this week’s Festival of Stocks. Next week’s Festival of Stocks will be hosted at Value Discipline.  You can submit an entry by using this form. 

If you are interested in hosting a future edition of the Festival of Stocks, please visit the schedule to find a free slot. Then contact me with the name of your site, blog URL, email address, and the date your prefer to host.