

Market Musings - January 29, 2018
We continue our blog series: Market Musings, Volume 2, Edition 6, giving our (hopefully not too random) thoughts on recent goings-on in the markets. Today, we present Whitney Tilson Vindicated (Sort Of). Everybody loves to mock Whitney Tilson. Or, at least, used to love mocking him prior to the demise of his hedge fund Kase Capital (fka T2 Partners). Witness, for example, the following snark-infested Tilson-related news items from recent years: Regarding the last Tilson snark

Market Musings - January 25, 2017
We continue our blog series: Market Musings, Volume 2, Edition 5, giving our (hopefully not too random) thoughts on recent goings-on in the markets. Today, we present Drive-By Analysis: Walter Investment Management Edition. In this edition of Market Musings, we take a quick look at Walter Investment Management Corp (WAC). WAC was originally established in 1958 by homebuilder-cum-industrialist (and later billionaire) Jim Walter. WAC operated as the captive financing business o

Market Musings - January 17, 2018
We continue our blog series: Market Musings, Volume 2, Edition 4, giving our (hopefully not too random) thoughts on recent goings-on in the markets. Today, we present Zais Group Holdings Buyout--An Offer Shareholders (Literally) Cannot Refuse. Zais Group Holdings (ticker ZAIS) is an investment advisory and asset management firm focused on specialized credit strategies with approximately $4.144 billion of assets under management as of the end of Q3 2017. In September 2017 the


Market Musings - January 12, 2018
We continue our blog series: Market Musings, Volume 2, Edition 3, giving our (hopefully not too random) thoughts on recent goings-on in the markets. Today, we present Et tu, Mangrove (Crypto Edition)? In a sign of the times, we noticed an interesting nugget in a recent SEC filing by hedge fund Mangrove Partners (company website here). By way of background, Mangrove is an extremely successful fund run by a late 30-something named Nathaniel August. Below is an excerpt from a 20

Market Musings - January 5, 2018
We continue our blog series: Market Musings, Volume 2, Edition 2, giving our (hopefully not too random) thoughts on recent goings-on in the markets. Today, we present Book Review: No More Champagne - Churchill and His Money. OK, so technically this post doesn't directly concern "recent goings-on in the markets", yet it covers finances generally and we have just read most of the book (only have about a quarter remaining), so...let's review it, shall we? (Link here for the book

Market Musings - January 1, 2018
We continue our blog series: Market Musings, Volume 2, Edition 1, giving our (hopefully not too random) thoughts on recent goings-on in the markets. Today, we present 2017 in Review and 2018 Resolutions. At the end of one year and the beginning of another, people usually pause to "take stock" (pun intended) of the year that has passed and make firm resolutions regarding the one ahead. Hope springs eternal (the future WILL BE BETTER, goshdurnit)...until early January resolutio