By Anh Hoang. Looking back in 2011, I think quite a few investors would like to see what has performed the best in the year in terms of capital gains for their shareholders. Here are the the four stocks with biggest gains in the year: Read more » »

By AlphaVulture. Today I’ll be looking at Argo Group, a small asset management firm that runs several emerging market funds. The company is trading for significantly less that net current assets, is profitable, paying a healthy dividend, and buying back shares. It’s listed on the AIM market in London, but reports results in USD, so all numbers in this write-up will be in dollars unless otherwise noted. Some key statistics of the company: Read more » »

By Jonathan Poland. I think it was Peter Drucker who said there are really only two aspects of business: innovation and marketing. Research in Motion (RIMM) is in need of both and 2012 may be the year they get it. Read more » »

By CanadianValue. January 3, 2012

Dear Mr. Cleghorn:

I write in response to your letter which I received from the press this morning. I too am troubled by inaccurate press reports about Canadian Pacific (CP). To set the record straight, neither I nor any representative of Pershing Square has made any inaccurate statements to the press. Your letter, however, includes a number of statements that should be corrected so that Canadian Pacific’s stakeholders are fully apprised of the facts.

Contrary to your statement in the letter that no one at Canadian Pacific expressed an interest in meeting with Mr. Harrison, on the Saturday after our Wednesday, November 2 meeting, you called me at home and asked that I arrange a meeting with him. Neither you nor Canadian Pacific expressed concern about Hunter’s contract with Canadian National at that time. Read more » »

By guruhl. Legendary investor David Dreman thinks that the euro crisis will begin to take a back seat in 2012 and investors overreacted to it. He is optimistic in spite of lingering problems such as unemployment. He likes Nestle (NSRGY), Unilever (UN), oil & gas, Apache (APA), Anadarko (APC). Read more » »

By Amit Chokshi. Media General (MEG) faced a difficult 2011, partly due to an off-political cycle year and also due to incompetent management. Management had repeatedly underperformed its own estimates from the very beginning of 2011 and would use the simple excuse of “it’s the economy.” Management also cost investors anywhere from $12-$25MM by missing one of the fattest pitches available for refinancing windows in the spring and summer of 2011 before the onset of the Euro-zone crisis made refinancings more challenging and expensive. At any rate, it appears that the market priced much of these concerns in through 2011 as the stock lost significant value and MEG now appears to be in position to perform well in 2012. The first bit of good news for MEG is that it appears that the company may have come out on top against Verizon (VZ) in its negotiations for retransmission fees in the latter part of December. Read more » »

By gurufocus. After a volatile and tough 2011 for a lot of value investors, we entered 2012 with a good start. While it always makes us feel good about ourselves when the market is up, investors should always keep in mind that the long-term market returns are determined by very simple factors: current market valuation, long-term business growth and the interest rate. Any excess gains today will reduce the future returns. Read more » »

By gurufocus. After a volatile and tough 2011 for a lot of value investors, we entered 2012 with a good start. While it always makes us feel good about ourselves when the market is up, investors should always keep in mind that the long-term market returns are determined by very simple factors: current market valuation, long-term business growth and the interest rate. Any excess gains today will reduce the future returns. Read more » »

By investingdaily. Since the European Union’s (EU) founding in the early 1990s, the currency union has been criticized for being just that: a monetary union that attempts to embrace fragmented fiscal interests and concerns. And while this monetary union might have worked initially with its 12 core member states, there are now 23 countries using the euro while pursuing their own fiscal interests. Read more » »

By investingdaily. For many investors, 2011 will be remembered as a year of white-knuckle volatility. This year, the S&P 500 experienced one-day swings in value of greater than 2 percent on almost 15 percent of trading days, compared to less than 9 percent of trading days in 2010. Read more » »