Every 3-4 months, I do a comprehensive review of my portfolio, comparing all of my current companies to a set of potential buy candidates.  The buy candidates come from all sorts of sources, and I do my best to forget who gave them to me, so that I can approach them fresh.  Here are the candidates:

ACH ADP AHN AIB AIG AKR AMGN APA ARP ATI BBD BBV BJS BK BLL BMA BMO BP BTU BWA CAH CCK CCRT CENX CHT CMI CNQ CNX CODI COF COG CPA CPL CR CRI CRK CS CTL CVH CVX CW CXW DDS DEI DFS DRC DSX DVN ECA EIX EMC EOG EPD EQ EXP FCX FLR FLS FRX FWLT GFI GLYT GNI GOL GOLD GR GSB GSF HCC HD HDL HGRD HLX HSR IBCP IM IMOS INFY IR IRE ITU IVN JCI JCP JEC JNJ JOYG JRT JWA KBW KEG KFT KMP LM LMT LNT LOW LSI MBT MBWM MDR MEOH MER MI MMC MOS MPG MRO MU MVO NBR NC NCI NEM NOV NTRS OXY PBR PBT PCH PCL PCZ PG PMD PNC POPEZ POT PPC PTI PXP QTM R RAIL RDY REXI RHI RIO RRD RS RTP RWT RYN SAN SBR SDA SE SGR SGY SII SKX STD STT STX STZ SVVS SYNT T TBSI TD TEN TEVA TEX TLM TRS TSO TTM TWIN UBS UFS UG UHT USB USG USTR VCP VIP VIV VSL VZ WDC WFC WHG WLL XTO XTXI

Alphabet soup, I’ll tell ya.  Here’s where we go from here:

• Update my industry models.
• Run a screen off of the results of the industry models to pick up a few more ideas.
• Scrub the quantitative data for errors.
• Run my ranking system.
• Fundamentally analyze the top buy candidates to find a few good buys.
• Look at the bottom of my current companies in the rankings to decide what I sell to fund the buys.

And, if you have a company you’d like to toss into the mix, let me know.  I’ll toss it in.  This process should complete sometime in the week that begins on 21st, because I need to finish up preparations for a speech that I am giving on the 15th.

Many tickers mentioned, but I own none of them.

I am basically at breakeven, and above my tough rebalancing buy in August.   I bought lower as well.  My view is that Deerfield returns to book value ($13) or above, because the market for prime and AAA whole-loan mortgage backed securities is improving.

It would not surprise me to hear that repo margins return to prior levels, which would benefit Deerfield Triarc.  The market for low risk mortgage collateral has returned.

There is disagreement over whether the merger with the asset manager is a good thing or not.  I favor the merger, because I think CDOs have a future.  That said, if it happens or not, I won’t be harmed much.

My view is this: at 73% of book, there is significant value to obtain here.  The company is not going broke.  I will only sell my full stake when the company trades over book.

Full disclosure: long DFR