From the category archives:

157

Fair Value is Fair Value

August 7, 2008

“Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.” – Lord Acton
The accounting standard known as FAS 157, otherwise known as mark-to-market accounting (see How Mark To Market Turned Mr. Market Into Mr Magoo for detail on how it works), has been [...]

More on this topic (What's this?)
5 Dividend Stocks Trading Below Fair Value (Dividends Value, 1/13/10)
Is Fair Value Marking Fair When The Price Is Irrational? (Bull Bear Trader, 9/17/08)
Sunday Morning Coffee (Random Roger's Big Picture, 2/15/09)
Read more on Fair Value at Wikinvest
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High Yield Mortgage REITs: The Perfect Storm?

April 17, 2008

Volume of Maturing Mortgages to be Low in 2008 and 2009, Reducing Refinance Risk Even Further, but Mark to Market is Discounting REITs to the Depths of Atlantis.
After a couple of alarming headlines in Seeking Alpha related to commercial real estate, the most recent of which was “Commercial Real Estate Collapsing”, REIT Wrecks decided to [...]

More on this topic (What's this?)
Increasing Dividend Yield Part II: REITs (Dividends Value, 3/10/10)
Is Now the Time for US REITS (Buying Value, 3/14/10)
The ten year dividend growth requirement (Dividend Growth Investor, 3/3/10)
Read more on Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), Office REITs, Dividend Investing at Wikinvest
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How Markit Turned Mr. Market Into Mr. Magoo

April 8, 2008

In order to understand the answer to this question, it helps to first ask another: How could a Commercial Mortgage REIT, with absolutely no credit losses and no non-performing assets across its entire $7.4 billion portfolio, be forced to take a $180 million loss?
Part of the answer lies in an earlier post I wrote about [...]

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Mr Market trips on Mark to Market, Gives REITs Away

March 5, 2008

In this bountiful era of REIT wreckage, with liquidity having virtually disappeared from the mortgage market, the auction rate securities market, and last week, even the municipal bond market, it is helpful to be reminded of the irrationality that can sometimes rule daily trading gyrations.
According to Warren Buffett, Ben Graham said that you should imagine [...]

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