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Strategies & Market Trends : Value Investing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: doug5y who wrote (12437)	5/7/2001 10:05:22 AM
From: Bob Rudd	Respond to of 79131

Doug: Thanks for the link to the Whitman inteview; it has some good insights related to recent current asset discussions on this thread. I had inferred that Marty bailed on USG stock from several of his comments, but the interview shows him to be a reluctant owner: <<Still, you bought the stock and then changed your mind. Why? When I bought the stock it was just a flawed analysis. I figured after all these years people probably have their hands around asbestos liability. But I don’t think now that anybody can get their hands around what ultimate asbestos liability will be. USG is an extremely strong company. The asbestos taint is against only one subsidiary, US Gypsum, and there are two other subsidiaries that have substantial earnings. The stock is a big bargain. But once we can’t know the liabilities, my feeling is it isn't safe. If I have no conception of what the liabilities might be, how can I call the stock safe? We still own a million and a half shares, though.>>His comments imply that only one division is subject to the asbestos exposure, but I've read nothing to indicate there's an inpenetrable corporate shield preventing that divisions problems from taking the whole thing into BK. On the date of the interview, USG was at 19.05, so it's now a 'bigger bargain' but I would still consider the debt a better bet...and Marty's fund a much better bet. You can read Marty's shareholder letters and also his answers to questions on his website. mjwhitman.com mjwhitman.com