Can Turtles Fly?

I took a position in Nevsun (TSX: NSU) which is being bought out by Zijin Mining, which is one of the largest gold mining companies in the world. zijin is a chinese company that trades in Hong kong and there should be no risk with financing and the like. I owned Nevsun about 10 years ago and this buyout would bring closure to one of my earliest stocks. Since the spread is so small, this deal is not worth it for you if your holdings are in a different currency and you don't hedge; or have a US$-denominated account. C$ currency fluctuations can wipe out any gains. NSU also trades in USA but company is Canadian and all my dealings are in C$ and on TSX. Purchase price (TSX: NSU): $5.72 Return Expectation Takeover price: $6 Purchase price: $5.72 Probability of success (my estimate): 99% Return on success: 5% Probability of failure (my estimate): 1% Return on failure (my estimate): -56% (assume it drops to $2.50, the multi-year low from early 2018 (it has traded...

Since getting back into investing, here are some articles I found interesting/worthwhile. Since I'm catching up, some are really old so you may have seen them already (if it is stock ideas or macro themes, pay attention to date it was written). Hope you find them useful. I'm also trying to rebuild my blog and website list. Quite a number of blogs I used to read are gone or don't really cover what I find useful. If anyone has blogs that are worth following (especially anything new started in the last 3 or 4 years), let me know (email me or leave a comment at the bottom). (Recommended) " Should You Buy Net-Nets or 'Desert Island' Stocks? " (Geoff Gannon for GuruFocus ): Good to see Geoff Gannon writing articles again. I probably learn more from Gannon than anyone else on the Internet. Lately, I have been reading through his past articles at GuruFocus and there is always a nugget I pick up from each one. The linked article is one that touches on the in...

Happy Canada Day to fellow Canadians... and Happy Fourth of July to my neighbours down south. Here are some articles that have been on my list that I have read or plan to read. As usual, unlike other blogs, I don't necessarily link to recent articles so do keep the timeline in mind when reading my posts. (Recommended) Bitcoins - a novel, virtual, currency (Bloomberg Businessweek): Interesting story of a virtual online currency. I don't know if the US government, and others, will start cracking down on this—it's a threat to the existing currency scheme—but it remains to be seen. It's also interesting to see how the value of fiat currencies—bitcoin is purely virtual but limited by an algorithm—is set. Bitcoin's value appears to fluctuate wildly but that is likely due to the small number of users. "Reinsurance explained" (Liarspoker for Gurufocus): A basic introduction to reinsurance companies. (Recommended) Retained earnings for net-net stocks (Geo...

Here are some articles that I found interesting and insightful... (Recommended) "Stephen Elop's Nokia Adventure" (Bloomberg Businessweek): This is a good article on Nokia and its CEO, Stephen Elop. This article touches on why Nokia rejected Meego, its internal operating system, and also why Google and its Android platform was rejected. Anyone interested should check out the accompanying video and audio as well. Unfortunately for Elop, Nokia stock has fallen off a cliff and things aren't pretty. Investigation of Muddy Waters' allegations against Sino-forest (James' Analysis): Not sure who this person is but he seems to have started a blog with good analysis of the allegations by Carson Block of Muddy Waters. According to 'James,' some allegations appear incorrect while others may be plausible. I think the Sino-forest saga is only in chapter 1 and there is likely to be more to all this. Fundamentally-weighted passive investing and pure passive in...

Some articles, including some important ones summarizing the Berkshire Hathaway meeting held a few weeks ago. (Highly Recommended) Warren Buffet 2011 shareholder meeting notes (Ben Claremon for GuruFocus): Very detailed and extensive notes from last week's shareholder meeting. Too bad it's in scribd format (am I the only one on the planet without a Facebook account yet? ;) ) (Recommended) Summary of Warren Buffett 2011 shareholder meeting (Epic Investor): Another pretty lengthy summary of the shareholder meeting from earlier in the month. (Recommended) TV interview of Warren Buffett and Ajit Jain (NDTV via GuruFocus): First time I've seen the publicity-shy Ajit Jain... I wish someone would ask Buffett to walk through one of his past investments. The canned questions and short TV-oriented questions have been repeated a million times and are a complete waste of time for people like me. Oh well. Maybe Alice Shroeder will write an investment book soon. (Recommended) ...

Here are some articles I ran across over the last few weeks. Articles near the very-bottom have nothing to do with investing so read it at your discretion. Fortress Paper & Chad Wasilenkoff (Report on Business magazine): Profile of a Canadian success story in the forestry industry " Is Apple once again riding for a fall? " (The Globe & Mail): Eric DeCloet, one of the best business writers in Canada, wonders if Apple is headed for a fall similar to what it experienced in the 90's. (Highly Recommended) John Paulson on the risk in risk arbitrage (market folly; h/t GuruFocus ): Good job by market folly on finding this gem from John Paulson. Before Paulson became famous for his bet against real estate, he was mostly into risk arbitrage. Anyone into risk arbitrage should check out the referenced article. ( PDF of cited article can be found here.) Is Steve Ballmer hurting Micrsoft? (Fortune): The company has been rock solid but on the other hand, it hasn't a...