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

To: Paul Senior who wrote (57903)	8/30/2016 6:34:47 PM
From: Graham Osborn	Respond to of 78958

Looking at the operating metrics CBI looks cheap, but they've been destroying shareholder value for years. A 15-year plot of revenue, tangible book, and LT debt will show this. Tangible book has its hazards but it at least establishes an upper bound/ starting point for what the company might be liquidated for. As Spekulatius noted, a company may well have goodwill & intangibles saleable above the tangible book figure. The problem is that the resale value is compressible (like the intangible value of TRUMP's name) and tends to be unrealizable at the worst possible times, which one could argue was the reason Graham became relevant in the first place. CBI's tangible book value is around -2B, and the stock performance seems to be reflecting that. However, Howard Marks had a point that one should be slow to attributed price action to one's fallible convictions - after all a stock can only go up or down ;)

To: Paul Senior who wrote (57903)	8/30/2016 7:35:57 PM
From: Spekulatius	Respond to of 78958

Re CBI - CEO Ashermann has been in a seling frenzy: sec.gov I think his 401k holdings are in a "blind" trust. I expect to see selling in that one as well. It feels like Ashermann is on his way out. If so, wait for 6 month until the next CEO has looked through the books and found the inevitable skeletons in the basement ( based on CBI's recent track record, my bet is that he/she will find some), then buy the stock if you like what you see and valuation is OK. I am not that much in technicals, but a stock breaking new lows in an otherwise strong market, with the CEO selling out like there is no tomorrow, does not seem like a winning recipe to me. But maybe it's all baked in the stock already, I don't know.

To: Paul Senior who wrote (57903)	8/31/2016 4:56:19 PM
From: Ditchdigger	Respond to of 78958

Looked at CBI and Flour awhile ago, decided to pass. GVA and EME look more interesting to me. I have a stink bid in for GVA as a domestic transportation infrastructure candidate. Their last conference call was interesting and highlighted how long it can take "shovel ready" contracts to actually be let.

To: Paul Senior who wrote (57903)	5/9/2017 10:30:59 AM
From: Paul Senior	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 78958

CBI Q report out, and as usual, CBI disappoints. Perhaps to be expected: persistent insider sales have continued since they were noted here last year. I've held my few tracking shares, will add a few more on today's drop. This company seems to be a large-cap value trap. Management incompetence possibly a decisive factor: They have overpaid for a big acquisition (discussed here previously), and their bidding process for jobs is inadequate (they can't seem to make profits on a significant number of jobs). Management says they have $19B in backlog, and expect to earn $3.50- $4/sh this year. (Can management be trusted to deliver? Do they even believe it themselves? One has to wonder.) With the stock down in the $25 area this morning, perhaps at this level we might see an activist investor come in.