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

To: Paul Senior who wrote (5552)	12/24/1998 2:57:00 PM
From: Andrew	Respond to of 78745

CRG/RDGE is as much an asset play now as it was since 1st posting and there are tax loss pieces of these securities available for another week or so. Trading near cash/share gets you theaters and NOL for almost nothing. Difference now is that they are much closer to becoming growth play (hence my post to you about value moving to growth). In our earlier discussions (yr ago??). Company was primarily cash, no debt, huge NOL and theater franchise in puerto rico and angelika film center in NYC. Since then they have deployed half the cash (still have over $65 million at 9/30/98) to build more theaters in PR, begin 2nd theater franchise in Australia and now with the recently announced City Cinemas acquisition in NYC build 3rd franchise of over 20 screens in manhattan. As a result, this coming year should be the first one in maybe over 10-15 years that Reading (old Reading Railroad) will have operating earnings from a business rather than a huge cash hoard. City Cinemas deal puts them over 100 screens in total with another 50 opening in australia this year and almost 30 more in PR and various US sites this year. Another chunk of screens open in 2000 as well. Like the retail store model, theater cash flow has recently grown to match the upfront infrastructure costs to support much larger chain. Incremental theater profit now will drop to the bottom line. Once the cash is used up there should be plenty of cash flow to moderatley lever and build big chain or alternatively upon right price sell PR or manhattan franchises. CRG is holding company whose majority investors are James Cotter and the Forman family (pacific theaters). CRG owns controlling interest in Reading Entertainment (O-RDGE) the operating company where the cash, theaters and huge NOL exist. Once the NOL is used up at RDGE with Theater profits CRG/RDGE will undoubtedly merge. Owning CRG is same as owning RDGE, its a matter of relative pricing and ratios. I like to be where mgmts money is so my biggest interest is in Craig Corp in its preference common stock (CRG pr). It is economically equivalent to CRG but for some time it was at at discount to CRG and RDGE so I accumulated more of it than the other two securities.

To: Paul Senior who wrote (5552)	12/24/1998 10:15:00 PM
From: Wright Sullivan	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 78745

To All on Christmas Eve- This thread is a fine place, rather unique for the web. I would like to wish all of you a very merry Christmas and best wishes for the new year. Thanks to all for the many thought provoking discussions this past year. They have been very helpful to me in refining my own thinking. For what it's worth, I still like and hold a lot of Conso International Co. (CNSO), even though it has gone nowhere. CNSO makes tassels, decorative trim for furniture, and sewing patterns (all very boring). They had a rough year from mid-97 thru mid-98, but no losses and the past two quarters have shown significant improvement. CNSO's price bounces around between $5.50 and $6.25, with $5.25 being the year's low point. CNSO earns somewhere around $0.90. I expect CNSO to rebound in the next couple quarters, and will reduce my holdings if it goes above $10. I know this is a dull value stock, but I think that's what this thread is all about. Shane: I added today to DSTM, which is one which might interest you. Datastream Systems is the market leader of CMMS (computerized maintenance management software). At around 9, DSTM is at it's low for the year, while the prospects for DSTM's continued growth appear intact. Take a quick glance, and I'll post more if it is of interest. This may appeal to you with your interest in ERP software. (Note: While DSTM is cheap on a relative basis, it is not a dirt cheap value stock). With the kids heading for bed on Christmas Eve, it's time for that special annual event known around here as "Some Assembly Required". Happy and safe holidays to one and all. Warm regards, Wright Sullivan

To: Paul Senior who wrote (5552)	1/5/1999 12:48:00 PM
From: Andrew	Respond to of 78745

Lawndale increases its 13-D position in Craig Corp. In a filing with the SEC today, Lawndale Capital Mgmt amended its Craig Corp (N-CRG) 13-D filing boosting Lawndale's ownership in Craig Corp Class A Common Preference Shares (N-CRG.pr) to over 7.5%. Craig Corp., is a Los Angeles, CA-based holding company that owns a substantial majority interest in Reading Entertainment (O-RDGE), a company with rapidly growing movie theater exhibition operations in Puerto Rico, New York City, Australia and New Zealand. As stated in item 4: currently trading below book value