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Buffett's Secret to Become Rich In her excellent biography on Warren Buffett entitled "The Snowball", Alice Schroeder finally reveals the secret behind the success of multi-billionaire from Omaha! His...

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The Subtleties of the P/E Ratio The price / earnings ratio is probably the most famous and most used financial ratio in the investment world. It is calculated by dividing the price of a stock by its earnings...

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Fortress Paper 1. Description Fortress Paper (FTP - TSX) is a Vancouver company that specializes in the production of security papers (banknotes, passports, visas) and non-woven wallpaper...

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The Thirties The high government debt load and monster budget deficit  are scaring many people right now. This is unquestionably the number one fear of investors and the argument most...

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Warren Buffett and You Warren Buffett has bought a few weeks ago all the remaining shares of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad that it did not already own. As we could expect, stocks of...

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No, Warren Buffett wouldn't buy RIM

A Castle Under Siege

TMX Group has published disappointing 3rd quarter results. The  Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal  stock exchanges operator saw its revenues and profits fall 6% and 18% respectively. It would be easy to simply blame the recession, but it would obscure what appears to be the weakening competitive position of the company. Indeed, revenues from the Toronto Stock Exchange fell by 42% (from 26 million to 15 million) because of competition from new alternative trading system (ATS) such as Alpha, Chi-X and Pure Trading. This decrease was significantly higher than management had anticipated.

Posted on : 04-02-2010 | By : Philippe Rancourt | In : Stock analysis

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Life and Death of a Growth Stock

The publicly traded companies that post strong revenue and profits growth for many years in a row have proved to be excellent investment. Holding one of these stocks in a portfolio can make all the difference between mediocre performance and above average results. Companies such as Microsoft, Wal-Mart and Starbucks have incredibly enriched their shareholders over the years.

Posted on : 29-01-2010 | By : Philippe Rancourt | In : Investment Philosophy

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Buffett’s Secret to Become Rich

In her excellent biography on Warren Buffett entitled “The Snowball”, Alice Schroeder finally reveals the secret behind the success of multi-billionaire from Omaha! His method is simple and very effective: just spend your whole life obsessing about accumulating the greatest possible amount of  money ! Never taking a vacation, having no interest outside the business world, neglecting your wife and children and having an obsessive-compulsive personality are obvious key elements of this method.

Posted on : 25-01-2010 | By : Philippe Rancourt | In : Warren Buffett

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The Subtleties of the P/E Ratio

The price / earnings ratio is probably the most famous and most used financial ratio in the investment world. It is calculated by dividing the price of a stock by its earnings per share for a twelve months period. For example, a stock trading at $ 10 and having achieved $ 0.50 in earnings per share over the last twelve months will have a price / earnings ratio of  20 (10 / 0,50 = 20). While it is fairly simple to calculate, its interpretation has many subtleties. Here are some that must be taken into account to determine if the price / earnings ratio for a stock is attractive or not …

Posted on : 19-01-2010 | By : Philippe Rancourt | In : Investment Philosophy

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Fortress Paper

1. Description Fortress Paper (FTP - TSX) is a Vancouver company that specializes in the production of security papers (banknotes, passports, visas) and non-woven wallpaper  (the wallpaper that peels off easily). Although the company is Canadian, all of its operations are located in Europe. The production of security papers is done at the Landqart mill in Switzerland and the wallpaper production takes place at the Dresden mill in Germany. The company was created from scratch in 2006 by canadian businessman Chad Wasilenkoff when it took advantage of the rationalization of a company called Mercer International to purchase the paper mills of Landqart and Dresden.

Posted on : 18-01-2010 | By : Philippe Rancourt | In : Fortress Paper, Stock analysis

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The Thirties

The high government debt load and monster budget deficit  are scaring many people right now. This is unquestionably the number one fear of investors and the argument most often invoked to justify an imminent fall of the stock market. For a lot of people, it is completely illogical to have used excessive debt to fight a crisis caused by… excessive debt ! They said it would have been better to purge capitalism by allowing irresponsible companies and individuals to go bankrupt.

Posted on : 12-01-2010 | By : Philippe Rancourt | In : History of Capitalism

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Warren Buffett and You

Warren Buffett has bought a few weeks ago all the remaining shares of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad that it did not already own. As we could expect, stocks of others public listed railroads have gone up in the days following that acquisition. It was the third time that the sector has appreciated following a significant investment from the oracle of Omaha. This phenomenon is easily understandable because Buffett is probably the most watched and imitated investor in the world. After all, if railroads are a good investment for Buffett, why shouldn’t they be for you and me?

Posted on : 11-01-2010 | By : Philippe Rancourt | In : Warren Buffett

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