What I Have Been Doing Lately – The Aleph Blog

Helping Institutions and Ordinary People Invest Better by Focusing on Risk Control

Posted on 4 April 20074 April 2007 by David Merkel

Recently I have had rebalancing trades, selling a little Dorel Indsutries and Sappi. Also, I swapped Sonic Automotive for Group 1 Automotive early on Tuesday. I was able to enjoy two unexpected sell-side upgrades. It’s not supposed to work this well, but it is nice when it does.

On another note, from a piece by Lloyd Byrne of Morgan Stanley, in 2006 only 73% of oil production was replaced by new reserves for companies that they follow. This is just another reason why I am overweight energy. The replacement ratio has fallen for the last four years.

Finally, if you subscribe to RealMoney, be sure to read Jim Griffin’s post, Fed-Watchers Have Blinders On. I have been contending that the housing lending crisis is serious but will not derail the economy on is own. With the decline in the dollar, it is no surprise that our exporters are seeing some growth. Funny that few notice that. I guess we are used to being importers only….

Full disclosure: long GPI DIIB SPP

David Merkel is an investment professional, and like every investment professional, he makes mistakes. David encourages you to do your own independent "due diligence" on any idea that he talks about, because he could be wrong. Nothing written here, at RealMoney, Wall Street All-Stars, or anywhere else David may write is an invitation to buy or sell any particular security; at most, David is handing out educated guesses as to what the markets may do. David is fond of saying, "The markets always find a new way to make a fool out of you," and so he encourages caution in investing. Risk control wins the game in the long run, not bold moves. Even the best strategies of the past fail, sometimes spectacularly, when you least expect it. David is not immune to that, so please understand that any past success of his will be probably be followed by failures. Also, though David runs Aleph Investments, LLC, this blog is not a part of that business. This blog exists to educate investors, and give something back. It is not intended as advertisement for Aleph Investments; David is not soliciting business through it. When David, or a client of David's has an interest in a security mentioned, full disclosure will be given, as has been past practice for all that David does on the web. Disclosure is the breakfast of champions. Additionally, David may occasionally write about accounting, actuarial, insurance, and tax topics, but nothing written here, at RealMoney, or anywhere else is meant to be formal "advice" in those areas. Consult a reputable professional in those areas to get personal, tailored advice that meets the specialized needs that David can have no knowledge of.