Start the week off right with these top stories at Value Investing News:

1. Military Spending Out Of A Recession
2. Refining Risk Measurement Of Dividend Stocks
3. When to sell my dividend stocks?
4. Double-Digit Dividend Securities In the News
5. Alpine Total Dynamic Dividend Fund (AOD) Update
6. Book Review: The Art of Short Selling
7. Goodfellow Or Greatfellow?
8. Dominion Resoures and Realty Income Increasing their payouts
9. Presidents and the Market
10. Taxation of Master Limited Partnerships

This morning the latest Festival of Stocks was also published at Stock Pursuit and it is chock full of stock related blog posts. You might have also missed the previous week’s edition of the Festival of Stocks at the Intelligent Speculator due to the holidays. Finally, I also recommend you check out this creative edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance at Clever Dude.

Now this is the perfect post for Friday afternoon when no one is looking. It kind of reminds me of the late Friday SEC filings that companies like to post when they have bad news to report. The Fat Pitch Financials Port numbers were simply ugly for 2008.

In 2008, the Fat Pitch Financials Port lost -38.33%. This is not the type of performance I expected, but the S&P 500 also returned -37.00% according to the statistics provided by Marketocracy. Thankfully, the last month has been much better. The Fat Pitch Financials Portfolio gained 8.87% in December, but the S&P 500 returned 10.97% over the same period. As you can see in the chart below, the Fat Pitch Financials Portfolio has been following the major indexes closely.

The one positive thing to report is that over the last quarter the portfolio returned +8.87% versus +10.97% for the S&P 500. I’m hoping this is a sign that I’ll break free of the S&P 500 and start on a positive trend. I still have a 15% cash position to put to work and help this portfolio climb out of the hole its in.

Below is a list of the portfolio’s current positions and their ugly return numbers:

Finally, I should report the performance numbers since inception. The Fat Pitch Financials Port has returned -13.76% so far versus -12.91% for the S&P 500 over the same time period. This comes out to a negative 3.4% annualized return. Not the type of investment returns a value investor hopes for, but I also have to remind myself that this portfolio is only four years old. Several professional value investors have also struggled over these past few years. I’m going to be working real hard in 2009 to boost the five year performance numbers for the Fat Pitch Financials Portfolio. Return here next year to see if I’m able to turn this portfolio around.

Disclosure: I own shares in all the companies mentioned in this post.

The Special Situations Real Money Portfolio made an amazing year end rally. I’m proud to report that my portfolio closed 2008 out with a 16.34% return for the year. I’m popping the champange corks here at Fat Pitch Financials headquarters.

The year end rally was primarily due to news that Puget Sound Energy’s (PSD) sale to a group of investors from Canada and Australia was approved by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission. The buyout, lead by Macquarie Infrastructure Partners, is for $30.00 per share in cash. Given the regulatory approval, the deal should close very soon. The market bid shares of PSD up to $28 on Wednesday, but the stock sold off to $26 by mid-afternoon on December 31st. I picked up some additional shares of PSD in a few other accounts outside of the Special Situations Real Money Portfolio, and I’m hoping members of Fat Pitch Financials Contributor’s Corner were also able to take advantage of the situation after I gave them and my Twitter followers a heads up on the opportunity.

The Special Situations Real Money Portfolio also held shares of Rohm & Haas Co. (ROH), Meadow Valley Corp. (MVCO), and Western Sizzlin (WEST), all of which rallied this past week. At one point I wasn’t sure the Special Situations Real Money Port was going to be able to end in positive territory because of the bad news regarding Dow Chemical’s (DOW) $17.4 billion Kuwaiti deal being called off and its potential impact on Dow’s acquisition of Rohm & Haas. When shares of Rohn & Haas dropped to around 50 this past Monday, I was really disappointed that this hit was going to sink the performance of the Special Situations Port for the year.

Thankfully, the rally on the last day of the year sent the Special Situations Real Money Portfolio total balance up to $18,556.80. The total return for the portfolio since inception on October 19, 2004 is now 85.57%. This bring the IRR since inception up to 23.54%. I hope to provide some more year end details regarding the Special Situations Real Money Portfolio shortly. If you want to review all the trades of this portfolio and my special situations research, subscribe to Fat Pitch Financials Contributor’s Corner.

It is always interesting to look back at the previous year to see how it has shaped us. Value investors should also have their own retrospective.

The top stories of the year at Value Investing News is a great starting place for this. Members of Value Investing News rated thousands of financial articles up or down throughout the year. The results of all these votes were tallied up today to determine the top value investing stories of 2008. Here are the top ten:

1. Notes from Buffett Meeting 2/15/2008 via undergroundvalue.blogspot.com (+18)
   Students from Emory’s Goizueta Business School and McCombs School of Business at UT Austin were invited to come visit Mr. Buffett for a Q&A session.
   Submitted by vertek on Sat, 2008-02-23 15:46.
2. Great Businesses According to Buffett via www.fatpitchfinancials.com (+16)
   The most interesting part of this year’s Berkshire Hathaway letter to shareholders was Warren Buffett’s discussion of what kinds of businesses turn him on. This article takes a closer look at the elements that make a great business according to Buffett.
   Submitted by George on Thu, 2008-03-06 09:03.
3. On Ben Graham and Bank Stocks via www.gannononinvesting.com (+12)
   Geoff Gannon writes a post on Ben Graham and Bank Stocks in response to Jason Zweig’s most recent column: “Jason Zweig writes the Intelligent Investor column for The Wall Street Journal. I’m sorry to say this week’s column is especially unintelligent.”
   Submitted by Geoff on Sun, 2008-07-27 12:52.
4. Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter 2007 (Direct PDF link) via www.gannononinvesting.com (+12)
   Geoff Gannon writes a post on Ben Graham and Bank Stocks in response to Jason Zweig’s most recent column: “Jason Zweig writes the Intelligent Investor column for The Wall Street Journal. I’m sorry to say this week’s column is especially unintelligent.”
   Submitted by kenkid on Fri, 2008-02-29 23:02.
5. Nine Notable Dividend Increases via www.dividendgrowthinvestor.com (+11)
   Several large companies announced dividend increases over the past week. One of the most notable bullish calls came from the telecom sectors as AT&T (T) showed confidence in its business model by increasing its dividend payment to shareholders for the twenty fifth consecutive years. Despite the tough macroeconomic conditions AT&T (T) is still committed to raising its quarterly dividend.
   Submitted by Dividend Growth Investor on Mon, 2008-12-15 10:13.
6. The Ultimate Value Trap via nurseb911.blogspot.com (+11)
   Analysis of why GM should be avoided by value investors due to competitive disadvantages
   Submitted by nurseb911 on Sat, 2008-07-12 21:06.
7. Bruce Berkowitz on Sears Holdings (Video) via www.bloomberg.com (+11)
   Submitted by TS on Fri, 2008-03-14 15:16.
8. Berkowitz Sees Volatility As An Opportunity via money.cnn.com (+11)
   “Volatility equates to opportunity and not risk,” said Bruce Berkowitz, one of the fund’s FAIRX three managers. “Risk is the chance for a permanent loss. This is the kind of environment that Warren Buffett has been patiently awaiting for many years.”
   Submitted by SilverSlime on Thu, 2008-03-13 02:37.
9. Buffett Sees No Credit Crunch, Forecasts Lower Dollar via www.bloomberg.com (+11)
   This article discusses several comments by Warren Buffett today from Toronto on the credit crunch, the U.S. dollar, inflation, and the bond insurance business.
   Submitted by George on Thu, 2008-02-07 00:52.
10. USG Stock Report via collegeanalysts.com (+11)
    This is a stock report (13 pages, PDF format) I recently wrote on USG.
    Submitted by JellyRollCapital on Mon, 2008-01-07 15:42.

I hope you caught these articles when they first came out. If you didn’t, now is the perfect time to catch up on these high quality value investing stories. The complete list of top value investing stories of the year is available if you wish to dig a bit deeper through the past highlights. You might even want to compare them to the top stories of 2007.

Dang Le wins the title of best value investing article and link submission for 2008 with Notes from Buffett Meeting 2/15/2008. As the author of 2008’s best value investing article of the year, Dang will receive a trophy badge he can proudly display on his site, Underground Value. His account of a Q&A session by Warren Buffett with students on February 15, 2008 was truly a unique and valuable news item only made possible by the advent of blogging.

2008 was a challenging year for all investors, but I believe it will set us up for great opportunities in 2009. I look forward to the year ahead. Happy New Year!

Last week I received the following letter from Sellers Capital LLC via my broker regarding Premier Exhibitions (PRXI):

Given the reports that Mark Sellers was winding down his hedge funds, I didn’t expect him to see him take on any new shareholder activist roles. However, Sellers still holds 16.3% of Premier Exhibitions’ shares, so it looks like he decided to hold onto his position in this company and extract some value from this beaten down stock. I don’t blame him for holding tough on Premier given the potential value in this company.

Thankfully, Sellers Capital LLC is coming to the defense of Premier Exhibitions’ shareholders. Mark Sellers is hoping to replace four members of the Board of Directors to unlock some value from the great assets held by Premier Exhibitions and maybe salvage the operating portion of the company. Unsurprisingly, the special committee of ”independent directors” opposes Sellers actions. Sellers responded this past Monday with a press release calling “for the committee to disclose all of its conclusions and all of the matters and allegations involving Mr. Geller that the committee reviewed and considered.”

I’ll be following these developments closely and I’ll keep you posted when I hear anything new about Premier Exhibitions.

Disclosure: I own shares of Premier Exhibitions.

Here are the top stories this week at Value Investing News:

1. Nine Notable Dividend Increases
2. Stock Analysis: Associated Banc-Corp (ASBC)
3. Discounted Cash Flow & Stock Valuation
4. Puget Energy Merger Delayed
5. Mellanox Technologies
6. Conference Call Etiquette
7. Gildan’s Tax Avoidance
8. ValueVision Inc (VVTV) Q3 Updated Valuation
9. Magic Formula Stock Review: Manpower (MAN)
10. Analysts Continue To Bewilder
11. American Safari: Stalking Three Great Dividend Stocks
12. Best Dividends Stocks for the Long Run
13. Is Now The Time to Consider Long-term Bonds?
14. Can the free market create an identical bubble from one that just burst?
15. Stock Analysis: Clorox Co. (CLX)

Have a great weekend!

Welcome to the December 15, 2008 edition of Festival of Stocks. The Festival of Stocks is a blog carnival dedicated to highlighting bloggers best posts on stock market related topics. Fat Pitch Financials is the actual birth place of this online weekly event, so it is always a special occassion when I get the chance to host this roving event.

If you aren’t already familiar with my blog, Fat Pitch Financials, it is a value investing blog with a focus on wide moat companies selling at substantial discounts and Graham style workouts. I encourage you to subscribe for free to my blog feed to keep up with my latest postings.

You should also check my Fat Pitch Financials Contributor’s Corner while you are here. It is my premium members only community dedicated to unique arbitrage and special situation opportunities.

Now that you are familiar with Fat Pitch Financials, let’s take a look at this week’s Festival of Stock participants. Here are this week’s entries: Read the rest of this entry »

 Here are the top stories this week at Value Investing News:

1. 118th Festival of Stocks
2. Dividends Keep Getting Raised despite bleak economic picture
3. Dividend Cuts could be spreading to commodities companies
4. Stock Update: ONEOK (OKE)
5. Buffett on “Cigar-Butt” Investing
6. Dividend Investing vs. S&P Index Fund
7. Forbes Best Small Companies Project: Part 3
8. Ben Graham Nuggets Part 2
9. Dividend Investor Interview II
10. Preferred Shares Get Theirs
11. Airline Passengers Hold Steady
12. Magic Formula Stock Review: Nucor (NUE)
13. Five Stocks For Any Economic Situation
14. Free Benjamin Graham e-Book
15. Buffett Writes Put Options on Burlington Northern Sante Fe

If you enjoy reviewing the top stories of the week at Value Investing News, consider subscribing to the Value Investing News popular story links this week feed using your RSS reader.

Are you looking for the perfect gift for a value investor? The new Sixth Edition of Security Analysis comes in a limited leatherbound edition. This massive beautifully bound classic Benjamin Graham and David Dodd text would be treasured by any value investor. If you are still looking for a holiday gift for a close associate or maybe for a son or daughter starting their investment career, this looks like the perfect gift that would last a lifetime.

This sixth edition of Security Analysis features a preface written by Warren Buffett. In it, he reveals that he has read the 1940 masterwork at least four times. This sixth edition is based on the 1940 edition. In addition to the preface by Mr. Buffett, the sixth edition also features an additional 200 pages of commentary from some of today’s leading value investors. The contributor list includes:

• Seth A. Klarman, president of The Baupost Group, L.L.C. and author of Margin of Safety.
• James Grant, founder of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, general partner of Nippon Partners.
• Jeffrey M. Laderman, twenty-five year veteran of BusinessWeek.
• Roger Lowenstein, author of Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist and When America Aged and Outside Director, Sequoia Fund.
• Howard S. Marks, CFA, Chairman and Co-Founder, Oaktree Capital Management L.P..
• J. Ezra Merkin, Managing Partner, Gabriel Capital Group ..
• Bruce Berkowitz, Founder, Fairholme Capital Management..
• Glenn H. Greenberg, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Chieftain Capital Management.
• Bruce Greenwald, Robert Heilbrunn Professor of Finance and Asset Management, Columbia Business School.
• David Abrams, Managing Member, Abrams Capital

I wouldn’t be surprised if this limited edition version of Security Analysis becomes a collector’s item in the future. This would be especially true if you could one or more of the commentators to sign your copy. If this ultimate gift does not quite work for you, consider my previous value investor gift ideas.

This week’s Festival of Stocks is hosted by Old School Value. Old School Value was recently redesigned and I must say that I am impressed with the new professional looking magazine style of the new design. Jae Jun does an amazing job of finding great graphics to illustrate his value investing articles. It must take a lot of work to pull it all together.

This Festival of Stocks is no exception. Well chosen graphics compliment this week’s articles under the topics of stock analysis, investing, market related, trading, and others. Jae was kind enough to list my article on Constellation Energy Group (CEG) first. Other stocks covered include: CanRoys, Dollar Tree, Realty Income Corp (O), and GameStop (GME).

If you enjoyed this Festival of Stocks, help support this roving weekly feature by submitting your favorite stock related blog post of the week. I also encourage you to also consider hosting an upcoming edition of the Festival of Stocks on your blog. Contact me if you are interested.