"First, many in Wall Street - a community in which quality control
is not prized - will sell investors anything they will buy."  - Warren Buffett


Stingy Links
http://www.stingyinvestor.com/SI/articles/articlearchive.shtml

Stealing from the dead
http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/10/news/funeral_home.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2007081017
"In March 2006, the Tennessee board that regulates cemeteries got a
five-page complaint, in neatly penned cursive longhand, from Geraldine Story, an
elderly Memphis woman. Story's husband Ralph had died on January 22. In
preparation for that day, he and she had each, more than thirty years
earlier, purchased prepaid funeral services from the Forest Hill Funeral Home in
Memphis, to make sure that each's burial expenses would not be a burden
to the other or to their families. Six hours before her husband's wake,
however, Story learned that the casket would not look anything like the
bronze one promised in the contract. Instead, it would be made of brown painted
wood, with "a single latch on the lid that resembled a cheap tool box,"
as she wrote. If she wanted an upgrade, the least expensive alternative
would run $3,995.00. She bought that one, of course, but after the funeral
she followed up and was eventually told by a candid funeral home staffer
that the funds set aside to fulfill her contract had been "skimmed off the
top several times," and now the home was stuck with more than 13,000
"pre-need" contracts just like hers with no way to pay them. "He said they had to
operate the way they are doing," she wrote, "or go out of business in two
months and we don't want that, do we?" The then-unraveling scam that
victimized Ms. Story turned out to be worse than that, even. The same folks
who looted Forest Hills, according to Michigan authorities, were also
looting trust funds from 28 cemeteries in that state (including the final
resting places of Rosa Parks and Henry Ford)."

A world of winners, Warren's way
http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/aug2007/pi2007089_349429.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_businessweek+exclusives
"We have been running this screen for more than 12 years. Since its
inception on Feb. 13, 1995, through July 31, 2007, the screen has had an
annualized return of 15.69% vs. 9.28% for the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index.
Year-to-date through July 31, 2007, the Buffett screen stocks outperformed
the market, returning 7.69% vs. the 2.61% gain for the S&P 500 (all
results are price appreciation only)."

Tend to overanalyse stocks?
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e5430126-4104-11dc-8f37-0000779fd2ac.html
"Contrast this with the investment process of Warren Buffett and his
partner, Charlie Munger. Their record is astounding, yet they have no analysts
on staff to crank out spreadsheets or discounted cash flow valuations. I'm
not even sure these two guys know how to use Microsoft Excel to model
financial projections (probably not). How can two people out-research a staff
of 100 highly-trained CFAs using the latest and greatest computer
technology? The answer is that Buffett and Munger are able to filter out the noise
better than just about anyone else."

Bill Miller Q2 Letter
http://www.leggmason.com/funds/knowledge/management/2007MillerCommentaryQ2.pdf
"Owning housing stocks in the midst of the worst housing market in at least
15 years, and one where the problems may linger until 2009, may prompt a
reaction similar to that one client had when we bought a company in the
midst of a scandal: don.t you read the papers? At LMCM we actually try to
buy low and sell high, and you don.t buy low when everything is great and
the headlines reflect it. Usually, but not always, when you read about some
industry or company having the worst time since some period of years, or
even decades ago, you will find that buying that industry or company when
it was going through those difficulties proved quite profitable if your
time horizon wasn.t measured in days or months. The headlines today are all
about this being the worst housing market since the early 1990.s. Had you
bought housing stocks during that previous period of duress, you would have
made many times your money and handily outperformed the market over the
subsequent decade."


S&P/TSX60 Value Screens
http://www.stingyinvestor.com/SI/strategy.shtml 

High Dividend Yield Stocks                     P/E P/B P/S P/C P/D Yield*
============================================== === === === === === ======
Biovail (BVF)                                   4   4   2   5   5    5
Bank of Montreal (BMO)                          4   4   3   3   5    5
National Bank of Canada (NA)                    5   4   4   3   5    5
BCE (BCE)                                       3   3   3   4   5    5
Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS)                       4   3   2   2   5    5
TransCanada (TRP)                               3   4   2   4   5    5
CIBC (CM)                                       5   3   4   2   5    5
Royal Bank (RY)                                 4   2   3   2   5    5
Transalta (TA)                                  0   4   3   3   5    5
Enbridge (ENB)                                  2   2   5   3   4    4
More Info: http://www.stingyinvestor.com/SI/strategy/dogs.shtml 

Value Ratio Stocks                             P/E P/B P/S P/C P/D  VR
============================================== === === === === === =====
Biovail (BVF)                                   4   4   2   5   5   1.5
National Bank of Canada (NA)                    5   4   4   3   5   2.5
CIBC (CM)                                       5   3   4   2   5   2.8
Bank of Montreal (BMO)                          4   4   3   3   5   3.2
Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS)                       4   3   2   2   5   3.3
Teck Cominco Limited (TCK.B)                    5   5   4   5   4   3.5
Royal Bank (RY)                                 4   2   3   2   5   3.9
BCE (BCE)                                       3   3   3   4   5   3.9
Toronto Dominion Bank (TD)                      4   4   3   3   4   4.6
TransCanada (TRP)                               3   4   2   4   5   4.6
More Info: http://www.stingyinvestor.com/SI/strategy/valueratio.shtml 

Graham Stocks                                  P/E P/B P/D   G$   dG$(%)
============================================== === === === ====== ======
MDS Inc. (MDS)                                  5   5   0   40.36  99.80
Teck Cominco Limited (TCK.B)                    5   5   4   59.31  37.92
Lundin Mining Corporation (LUN)                 5   5   0   14.05  11.57
ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. (ACE.B)              5   5   0   25.51   5.26
Husky Energy (HSE)                              4   5   4   39.50   3.80
Magna Cl.A (MG.A)                               3   5   3   91.29   2.45
National Bank of Canada (NA)                    5   4   5   59.27   2.19
More Info: http://www.stingyinvestor.com/SI/strategy/graham.shtml 

*Notes: http://www.stingyinvestor.com/SI/strategy/notes.shtml 


Books for Stingy Investors

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ISSN 1499-2795 Copyright Dan Hallett and Associates Inc., 2007.
All rights reserved. The securities mentioned in this report are not
appropriate for all investors. Consult your professional investment
advisor before making any investment decision.  While all reasonable
effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information and data
contained herein, accuracy can not be guaranteed. Past performance is
not a good predictor of future performance.  Results are not
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information in this newsletter, and in its related website, is not
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recommendations.  Investing in stocks can be risky and may result in
substantial losses.  A Dan Hallett and Associates Inc.(DH&A)
publication.  DH&A is registered as Investment Counsel in the province
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securities mentioned.