Not too long ago, I gave a one thumbs up, one thumbs down review of Guru Focus--a site that you might find useful when doing research, despite its ever-increasing lack of focus.
Simoleon Sense, a site that presents "business issues through an interdisciplinary lens," is almost without fault. In any case, it's close enough to perfect (at what it tries to do) to earn a two thumbs up from me.
The site focuses on a number of areas, providing a plethora of valuable links that show how the brain works, how to make better decisions, what talented businessmen and professors are saying (about their craft or current events), and so on.
Miguel Barbosa, Simoleon Sense's owner, names the areas of research (rather than the benefits) when describing the site. For example, it presents data on value investing, neuroeconomics, behavioral finance, psychology, economics and private equity.
One of the things I like about the site is its simple layout. It is not crowded with information, or ads, so your main attention goes directly to the most important information in the middle. While ads exist, as do links to previous posts (on the side of the screen), they don't compete for your attention like at many other sites.
Another simple feauture is the link to "related posts" at the end of each one. This is not remarkable in and of itself--given that it's a free add-on that many bloggers use--but for Simoleon Sense readers it is remarkable, simply because of the quality of posts linked to (and the fact that, surprise, they really are relevant).
An improvement the site recently made, to keep its focus on business "through an interdisciplinary lens" was to move the nightly investment links to its own site. This site too is a good resource, and I plan to review it at some later point.
Until then, if this review interested you, head to the resource and judge for yourself. I think you'll find that it exceeds your expectations--and that the material provided is useful not just for business but for your life in general.
Showing posts with label guru focus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label guru focus. Show all posts
Friday, May 1, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Guru Focus Review
While The Guru 5 primarily looks at the actions and thoughts of--you guessed it--only five of the best investors, GuruFocus is a good site with a much larger scope.
They have some useful data on portfolio positions, show how much money of an invested portfolio is in a given industry, and a decent news feed. They also just added portfolio performance charts, which allow you to see what Warren Buffett or Ken Heebner or Bill Miller has done for investors lately. (For a good example, showing Berkshire's performance relative to the market, click here.)
One of the things that GuruFocus does well is show the activity of a lot of different managers with regards to a single stock (over a set amount of time). And, on the same screen, it will show whether insiders were selling or buying, or both, and in what numbers. This is good stuff--great stuff actually. So, if you have a single stock you're interested in, this is one of the best places to get a broad view of what others are thinking and doing with regards to it.
However, the growing lack of focus at the site can be as much a vice as it is a virtue. It really depends on what you are looking for, and how much time you have. I noted above that the news feed was just "decent" above, for example, because I really don't care about many of the articles linked to (written on lesser investors) and I definitely don't care to read some of the articles posted there (written by lesser investors).
The same that can be said about the news and articles feed, can be said about the site's forum. Some good discussions can be found there and a bunch of worthless one's as well (relative to what could be read elsewhere). I don't have the time to wade through the bad, or argue with it, in order to reach the good.
And, while I don't think it's necessarily wrong to do that, given other options I would not recommend it--especially for new investors. Far better to read everything the greats wrote, or good books on them, then start reading the letters of lesser investors, and so on down the chain.
Summary:
GuruFocus is a great site, but because of the volume of managers and information, one should clearly define one's purpose in going to it, rather than mindlessly click around. If you do this latter, you will likely waste a lot of time and not learn a tenth as much as if you read a book or a handful of shareholder letters.
If, however, you use the site for getting a quick view of what managers are doing in general or with regards to a specific company you're focusing on, I think you'll find it very valuable. From there, you can judge for yourself the value of each passing news item or article.
Note: the site's forum contains a steady stream of articles cut and pasted from other writers or sites. That's a copyright infringement issue for the owners of that data or of the site itself to end, but I mention it here simply to say I was not referring to it above--when mentioning the good parts of the forum.
They have some useful data on portfolio positions, show how much money of an invested portfolio is in a given industry, and a decent news feed. They also just added portfolio performance charts, which allow you to see what Warren Buffett or Ken Heebner or Bill Miller has done for investors lately. (For a good example, showing Berkshire's performance relative to the market, click here.)
One of the things that GuruFocus does well is show the activity of a lot of different managers with regards to a single stock (over a set amount of time). And, on the same screen, it will show whether insiders were selling or buying, or both, and in what numbers. This is good stuff--great stuff actually. So, if you have a single stock you're interested in, this is one of the best places to get a broad view of what others are thinking and doing with regards to it.
However, the growing lack of focus at the site can be as much a vice as it is a virtue. It really depends on what you are looking for, and how much time you have. I noted above that the news feed was just "decent" above, for example, because I really don't care about many of the articles linked to (written on lesser investors) and I definitely don't care to read some of the articles posted there (written by lesser investors).
The same that can be said about the news and articles feed, can be said about the site's forum. Some good discussions can be found there and a bunch of worthless one's as well (relative to what could be read elsewhere). I don't have the time to wade through the bad, or argue with it, in order to reach the good.
And, while I don't think it's necessarily wrong to do that, given other options I would not recommend it--especially for new investors. Far better to read everything the greats wrote, or good books on them, then start reading the letters of lesser investors, and so on down the chain.
Summary:
GuruFocus is a great site, but because of the volume of managers and information, one should clearly define one's purpose in going to it, rather than mindlessly click around. If you do this latter, you will likely waste a lot of time and not learn a tenth as much as if you read a book or a handful of shareholder letters.
If, however, you use the site for getting a quick view of what managers are doing in general or with regards to a specific company you're focusing on, I think you'll find it very valuable. From there, you can judge for yourself the value of each passing news item or article.
Note: the site's forum contains a steady stream of articles cut and pasted from other writers or sites. That's a copyright infringement issue for the owners of that data or of the site itself to end, but I mention it here simply to say I was not referring to it above--when mentioning the good parts of the forum.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Gayner Increases Leucadia Stake
After noting that Tom Gayner, of Merkel Corp, is selling more than he is buying (at least as of the latest report), Guru Focus points out that the well-respected money-manager has increased his stake in Leucadia.
Quoting: "Tom Gayner added to his holdings in Leucadia National Corp. by 54.39%. His purchase prices were between $14.56 and $31.83, with an estimated average price of $22.3."
The investment vehicle of Ian Cumming and Joseph Steinberg, was also added to Jean-Marie Eveillard's portfolio. He joins a long list of fellow value investors--including Marty Whitman and Bruce Berkowitz--who are confident in LUK's strategy, management team, and its market price relative to its intrinsic value.
Quoting: "Tom Gayner added to his holdings in Leucadia National Corp. by 54.39%. His purchase prices were between $14.56 and $31.83, with an estimated average price of $22.3."
The investment vehicle of Ian Cumming and Joseph Steinberg, was also added to Jean-Marie Eveillard's portfolio. He joins a long list of fellow value investors--including Marty Whitman and Bruce Berkowitz--who are confident in LUK's strategy, management team, and its market price relative to its intrinsic value.
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