"Value stocks are about as exciting as watching grass grow. But
have you ever noticed just how much your grass grows in a week?"  - Christopher Browne


New @ StingyInvestor


5 Graham Stocks for 2008
http://www.ndir.com/SI/articles/1107.shtml
"Over the past seven years I've used my take on Benjamin Graham's
time-tested strategy for defensive investors to uncover undervalued U.S. stocks.
I'm pleased to say that the overall results have been stellar and last
year's numbers were outstanding. The performance of each year's Graham stocks,
the performance of the S&P500 (as tracked by the SPY exchange-traded
fund), and the difference between the two is shown in Table 1. You can see that
the Graham stocks have beaten the S&P500 in six of the last seven years
and often by a substantial margin. An investor who bought each year's
Graham stocks, sold, and then bought the next crop of stocks would have gained
507% (or 32% annually**) whereas a buy and hold investment in SPY units
would have gained only 22%."


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

Third Avenue Q4 2007
http://www.thirdavenuefunds.com/taf/documents/shareholderletters/aboutus-letters-07Q4.pdf
"The mortgage meltdown-housing collapse seems nothing new for the U.S.
economy. During the last 60 years, virtually every sector of the American
economy has gone through depressions as bad as anything that occurred in the
1930s. Remember the melt-downs during the past 40 years for, inter alia
energy, banks, real estate, savings & loans, Wall Street brokerages, row
crops, steel, automobiles, machine tools, etc. Unlike the 1930s, all these
depressions occurred without domino effect. The probability seems to be that
the next ten years in the U.S. will be more like the last 40 than they
will be like the 1930s. Put otherwise, the odds favor overcoming the current
crisis in residential housing and residential housing finance without
underlying damage to the U.S. economy."

Buffett starts up bond insurer
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aYcW9pKO2OT8&refer=home
"Buffett, who has described derivatives as 'financial weapons of mass
destruction,' told the Journal he will focus on insuring municipal debt rather
than CDOs."

Con artists turn shell companies into cash
https://secure.globeadvisor.com/servlet/ArticleNews/story/gam/20071227/RSHELLCO27
"Oklahoma lawyer John Heskett logged onto his computer one day in late
June, 2005, to check out an inactive shell company owned by his clients who
were considering using it in a business deal. What he saw made no sense. "I
saw this wild trading going on, and I couldn't imagine why," he said. "I
was in total disbelief. I knew there could not be that many shares in the
market, not even close, not even 1/100th of those shares in the market ...
I had to pinch myself and say, 'Am I crazy?' " After some online searching
and a few phone calls to the company's transfer agent, Mr. Heskett
contacted the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to report a bizarre crime:
Someone, he said, had stolen his client's public company. Sixteen months
later, the SEC and the British Columbia Securities Commission announced
they had reached settlements with two Canadian men who admitted to illegally
taking control of Greyfield Capital Ltd. and arranging to have 600
million new shares issued using the company's ticker symbol. Surprisingly, the
unusual case is not the only one of its kind in Canada or the United
States. Regulators say corporate identity theft has become another twist in the
world of securities fraud, where criminals seem to find endlessly creative
ways to dupe investors." [Another great day for Canadian regulators.]

Home prices post record decline
http://money.cnn.com/2007/12/26/real_estate/Case_Shiller_down/index.htm?postversion=2007122615
"Home prices fell 6.7 percent in October, compared with a year ago,
according to the S&P/Case-Shiller 10-city home-price index. It was the largest
drop recorded since the index began in 1987. It marked the 10th consecutive
month of price depreciation and 23 months of decelerating returns. "No
matter how you look at these data, it is obvious that the current state of
the single-family housing market remains grim," said Robert J. Shiller,
chief economist at MacroMarkets, in a statement. Case-Shiller's 20-city index
fell 6.1 percent. Shiller noted that 11 of the markets in the 20-city
index posted a record fall."

Buffett wins the Pritzkers' prize
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/dec2007/db20071225_345635.htm
"Marmon has improved its performance in recent years. The holding company,
with more than 125 manufacturing and service businesses, hit a rough patch
at the beginning of the decade as the economy softened. But in 2006, the
company says revenue increased 24%, and now totals about $7 billion, while
operating income surged 73%. (Because Marmon is privately held, it does
not have to provide detailed financial statements to the public.) Marmon is
owned by trusts for the benefit of the Pritzker family, which also
developed the Hyatt Hotel chain. The Buffett deal is expected to close in the
first quarter of 2008. Before the closing, Marmon will make a "substantial
distribution of cash and certain assets to the selling shareholders,"
according to the statement."

The Queen's 2007 Christmas message
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0nmkYGCljE
"The Queen used her 50th televised Christmas message Tuesday to urge people
to spare a thought for the vulnerable and disadvantaged living on the
edge of society."

A Child's Christmas in Wales
http://archive.salon.com/audio/fiction/2000/12/22/dylan_thomas/index
"Hear Dylan Thomas' recollection of the sounds and smells of a long-ago
Christmas in the seaside town of his youth from the Harper Audio release "A
Child's Christmas in Wales.""

A Christmas Carol
http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/d/dickens/charles/d54cc/
"I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an
Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with
each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses
pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it. Their faithful Friend and Servant, C. D."


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)                                   5   5   3   5   5    5
Bank of Montreal (BMO)                          4   5   3   3   5    5
CIBC (CM)                                       5   4   5   3   5    5
National Bank of Canada (NA)                    3   5   4   3   5    5
Royal Bank (RY)                                 4   3   3   2   5    5
Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS)                       4   3   2   2   5    5
BCE (BCE)                                       4   3   3   4   5    5
Telus (T)                                       3   4   3   4   5    5
TransCanada (TRP)                               2   3   2   3   5    5
Toronto Dominion Bank (TD)                      4   4   2   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)                                   5   5   3   5   5   0.5
CIBC (CM)                                       5   4   5   3   5   1.5
Thomson (TOC)                                   5   4   2   3   3   2.5
Teck Cominco Limited (TCK.B)                    5   4   4   5   4   2.5
Bank of Montreal (BMO)                          4   5   3   3   5   2.7
Royal Bank (RY)                                 4   3   3   2   5   3.0
Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS)                       4   3   2   2   5   3.3
National Bank of Canada (NA)                    3   5   4   3   5   3.3
Toronto Dominion Bank (TD)                      4   4   2   3   4   3.7
BCE (BCE)                                       4   3   3   4   5   3.8
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   40.90 117.80
Lundin Mining Corporation (LUN)                 5   5   0   16.93  78.63
Biovail (BVF)                                   5   5   5   19.00  44.40
Magna Cl.A (MG.A)                               4   5   3   99.37  25.07
Thomson (TOC)                                   5   4   3   48.99  22.50
Teck Cominco Limited (TCK.B)                    5   4   4   41.85  16.05
CIBC (CM)                                       5   4   5   78.62  10.47
More Info: http://www.stingyinvestor.com/SI/strategy/graham.shtml 

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

Switch to the HTML version if the tables aren't formatted properly.
http://www.stingyinvestor.com/cgi-bin/email.cgi 


Books for Stingy Investors

What Works On Wall Street
by James O'Shaughnessy

Historical stock data is what O'Shaughnessy's book is all about.
If you want to know how straightforward stock selection
techniques have done, pick up What Works on Wall Street and you'll find
out. O'Shaughnessy's book is a must have reference for any
serious student of the market.
Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0071452257/


Stock Research From Dan Hallett & Associates

The Rothery Report
http://www.rotheryreport.com/ 

The Rothery Report provides research on select deep-value stocks in
North America. Discover overlooked and undervalued stocks in quarterly
investment reports which provide detailed analysis of Canadian and
U.S. stocks.  Weekly email news and additional updates keep
subscribers informed about new opportunities and developments.

Rothery Report Performance (03/31/2001 to 09/30/2007)
  Average Capital Gain    Average Holding Period
          53.4%                   2.5 Years

Learn More
http://www.rotheryreport.com/store/store.shtml

Subscribe Today
http://www.rotheryreport.com/store/order.shtml 



If you'd like to suggest The Stingy News to a friend, please point them to:
http://www.stingyinvestor.com/cgi-bin/email.cgi

Please visit the StingyInvestor website at
http://www.stingyinvestor.com
To (un)subscribe please use our email centre at
http://www.stingyinvestor.com/cgi-bin/email.cgi
Email comments or questions to
info@stingyinvestor.com
Refer to legal & conflict of interest disclaimers at
http://www.stingyinvestor.com/SI/legal.shtml 

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
guaranteed and we assume no liability whatsoever for any material
losses that may occur.  No compensation for suggesting particular
securities or financial advisors is solicited or accepted.  The
information in this newsletter, and in its related website, is not
intended to be, nor does it constitute, financial advice or
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
of Ontario. DH&A, or related-parties may have an interest in the
securities mentioned.