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| DON'T BUY | 22.360 | David Baskin | No one really knows what assets this company owns and what liabilities it really has. You are best to keep away. | 2011-12-19 | |
| SPECULATIVE BUY | 57.530 | Jim Huang | A lot of people thought it would go to zero. AIG had some really solid assets. It is still a long way back to what it used to be. They are making a lot of progress. This is for very high-risk clients only. | 2010-12-30 | |
| DON'T BUY | 36.240 | Gordon Reid | Far too speculative. | 2010-03-10 | |
| DON'T BUY | 24.400 | Charles Lannon | Is a speculation. There are so many moving parts and so little transparency. Is not a foundation to build a next egg on. | 2010-01-26 | |
| SELL | 28.400 | John Zechner | Can't see a real recovery coming in this one. Still need to raise more capital as well as paying back the money loaned to them by the government. There will be more dilution. A lot of internal problems. | 2009-11-30 | |
| DON'T BUY | 36.750 | Gordon Reid | Trying to pull itself out of the ashes. There are a lot better places to go. Strictly a gamble. | 2009-11-11 | |
| DON'T BUY | 34.010 | David Baskin | On government life support and nobody knows what the stock is worth. Doesn't expect anyone will know for at least 5 years. Immensely complicated situation. Pure speculation. | 2009-10-27 | |
| SELL | 36.250 | Ross Healy | One of the US companies that has been most savaged by all of the funny financial instruments. Because of this they have been selling off bits and pieces and the probability of ever getting back up to $54 is practically nil. | 2009-10-26 | |
| DON'T BUY | 44.110 | Charles Lannon | This is not investing, it is speculating. US government owns over 3/4 of the shares outstanding. Management team that is left is just going through the motions of selling off whatever business units they can. | 2009-09-30 | |
| Comment | 46.710 | David Baskin | Doesn't think anybody has any idea of what is going on in this company. A completely black box as far as investments go. A speculation, not an investment. | 2009-09-23 | |
| Comment | 39.430 | Stan Wong | Trading at 7X forward earnings, which is very cheap. Ranking not badly in terms of his outlook. Handily beat the Street on Aug 7. Might be a name to consider. Prefers Goldman Sachs (GS-N) or J.P. Morgan (JPM-N). | 2009-09-17 | |
| DON'T BUY | 37.550 | Norman Levine | Very impressed with their new CEO. As an investment, you don't know yet what is really in this company. More of a gamble than an investment. | 2009-09-11 | |
| DON'T BUY | 35.850 | John Zechner | Some dilution. Not going out of business, but it’s a mystery investment. Risky bet. Income statement is still veiled. | 2009-09-08 | |
| DON'T BUY | 40.050 | Andrew Guy, CFA | Very speculative. Have a huge insurance company that needs to break itself up. Has only kept going because of lifelines from the US government. The government has the right to convert its holdings into shares, which could reduce individual shareholders holdings. | 2009-09-04 | |
| DON'T BUY | 45.330 | David Baskin | Jury is really out on this one. Very messy company. The government has put in a lot of money to it and this has to be repaid. Too many moving parts to be analyzed. | 2009-08-31 | |
| DON'T BUY | 33.850 | Norman Levine | (Market Call Minute.) You might as well put your money into a casino. | 2009-08-24 | |
| SELL | 13.750 | Gavin Graham | This company is never coming back. If you own, consider tax loss selling. | 2009-07-07 | |
| DON'T BUY | 18.250 | Paul Harris, CFA | You are really banking on them selling off their assets and making something out of that. So many difficult issues such as how much they owe the government, etc. | 2009-07-02 | |
| DON'T BUY | 1.840 | Norman Levine | This is strictly a gamble. | 2009-05-06 | |
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| DON'T BUY | 1.460 | Alan Kral , CFA, CIC | On it’s way to a liquidation and without any care to the shareholders. | 2009-04-21 | |
| DON'T BUY | 0.950 | Norman Levine | (Market Call Minute.) Could conceivably be zero for shareholders. | 2009-03-30 | |
| DON'T BUY | 1.020 | Richard Croft | Thinks this one is 80% owned by the US government right now. Have a long road before they turn it around. A better way to play financials would be through the ProShare Ultra Financial E.T.F. (UYG-N), which will give you a basket of banks. | 2009-03-27 | |
| DON'T BUY | 1.620 | Ken McCord | Short? Too many things are unknown right now. Pure speculation. Consider Manu Life (MFC-T) or Hartford Financial (HIG-N) instead. | 2009-03-19 | |
| DON'T BUY | 0.830 | John Zechner | (Market Call Minute.) They're going to be dilutive. Why bother. | 2009-03-16 | |
| DON'T BUY | 1.030 | Andrew Guy, CFA | Difficult one. US government has provided a lot of money to it. Any benefits they get from selling off bits and pieces of the business will likely go back to the government. Also think they will lose some of the best parts of the business. | 2009-02-04 | |
| DON'T BUY | 2.410 | Kevin O'Leary | Doesn't know when we will get recovery and at what level insurance vs. banking is going to recover. Prefers Manulife (MFC-T) although it is not immune to problems. | 2008-11-04 | |
| DON'T BUY | 2.310 | Duncan Stewart | This is a broken company even after they sell some assets. There will be a lot of land mines as they go through the workout process. A day trader’s stock. | 2008-10-20 | |
| SPECULATIVE BUY | 2.800 | Norman Levine | Was the world’s largest and best run and now it is literally the same as going to Vegas. It may turn out to be a fabulous investment, or nothing. | 2008-10-14 | |
| VAGUE | 3.190 | Hap (Robert) Sneddon FCSI | No point in selling it today. Doesn’t think upside is large. You might see $5 if you are a buyer. They have the investigation. It’s probably a place for aggressive money. | 2008-10-08 | |
| DON'T BUY | 3.510 | Don Reed | Trading below book value but there are a lot more cheap things to buy. Prefers Canadian Banks. | 2008-10-07 | |
| DON'T BUY | 3.310 | Norman Levine | Nobody knows what is in this company so it is impossible to put a proper value on the stock. Government bought 79%. Total gamble. | 2008-09-24 | |
| DON'T BUY | 17.550 | Brian Acker, CA | Supposed to come out with a plan on September 25 on how they are going to fix things. Doesn't know if they will make it to September 25. This was the largest insurance company in the world and they got involved with the credit default swap market, writing contracts as if it were free money. $38.22 is his model price. | 2008-09-11 | |
| BUY | 17.500 | Pat Naccarato | Does not believe this company will falter. In need of capital and expect they will have to continue to raise more capital in the next quarter. Insurance operations are still rock solid and they are making $4 a share from this. | 2008-09-10 | |
| PARTIAL BUY | 17.500 | Gordon Reid | Company deals their default rate will be much less than what they are being forced to write off on a mark to market process. Would buy at this price, but it could go lower so limit what you buy. | 2008-09-10 | |
| BUY | 18.370 | Alan Kral , CFA, CIC | Besides insurance they are very aggressive in derivative type securities. Almost all financial companies in that business had been struck. AIG has the added problem of a reputational risk. Although the insurance book of business is very good they are going to have to weather the next few months. Could see a nice bounce in the near future. | 2008-09-09 | |
| Comment | 33.680 | Alan Kral , CFA, CIC | Their problem is very much like General Electric’s (GE-N). There’s a question if management can survive. If they can, the stock should do OK. | 2008-06-12 | |
| Comment | 35.870 | David Garrity | The news that came out on their raising capital is quite compelling as to how attractive investors have found this company. Still have derivative exposures. Looking at where they are geographically in very significant growth markets such as China, he might start looking at this. | 2008-06-02 | |
| DON'T BUY | 39.160 | David Baskin | Not sure the worst is over yet. It's an ongoing problem, not a single event. Too many unknowns. | 2008-05-13 | |
| TOP PICK | 47.300 | Pat Naccarato | Global multi-line insurance business, property/casualty and life. AA balance sheet, so it gives you some protection. Have been caught up in the mortgage backed security business but stopped buying these in 2005 because they foresaw the risks. Currently trading at a 50% discount to what it is worth. | 2008-04-07 | |
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| TOP PICK | 58.210 | Gordon Reid | 5-year growth targets are 10% to 12% on the earnings side. Doesn't have a lot of exposure to the financial problems. Trades at 8.5X earnings. Extremely cheap historically. Cheap because it's a financial and all financials are going out with the bathwater. | 2007-12-12 | |
| DON'T BUY | 71.380 | Brian Acker, CA | -7% differential. Huge financial company, is not mispriced. | 2007-06-07 | |
| TOP PICK | 66.850 | Jonathen Wellum, B. Comm, B. Sc | Has come down to 11-13 X earnings. One of the best insurance franchises in the world. Diversified with about 35-40% in the far east and 55% in the US. Not expensive. | 2006-10-10 | |
| DON'T BUY | 69.040 | James Cole, BA, CFA | Had some accounting problems last year and the stock took a drop but has now recovered. Can find better value in other insurance companies. | 2006-01-17 | |
| TOP PICK | 55.710 | Rob Callander | Had picked before Spitzer had accused them of fraud. The world's largest cap insurance company. There will be some fines, but they have the werewithall. The stock will be hit, but will recover to above its current price. | 2005-05-26 | |
| BUY | 53.270 | David Baskin | Had the corporate governance act swung at them and the stock price took a beating. Very well financed and very profitable. Was probably oversold. Worth a good solid look. | 2005-05-10 | |
| WAIT | 54.580 | Jim O'Shaughnessy | A complicated story. Have been a lot of allegations. Cheap, but wait for the catalyst that tells you that the bad news is gone. Either a total shareholder yield which is in the upper 25 of all the names you look at or price appreciation, i.e. investors reinvesting again. | 2005-05-09 | |
| TOP PICK | 61.800 | Lou Holland | One of the areas in the financial services area that has pricing power. Will do better in a rising inflation. | 2004-11-19 | |
| BUY | 59.680 | James Cole, BA, CFA | May have been oversold. Good opportunity to pick up a good company at a low valuation. | 2004-10-18 | |
| WAIT | 66.480 | Brad Willock | Asia will be their future growth. A class operation. Not sure that this is the right time to get into insurance. | 2004-08-13 | |
| BUY | 68.220 | Chris Lowe, BA, MBA | A premium business so it warrants its premium valuation. Triple A rated. Well regarded in China. | 2004-08-06 | |
| TOP PICK | 74.160 | Lou Holland | A double-digit grower. Have been increasing fees dramatically and they are not taking high risk claims. | 2004-06-04 | |
| TOP PICK | 70.930 | Gene Henssler | 2004-05-14 | ||
| BUY | 69.320 | David Baskin | Not a bad play. Underlying business is so complex that it's difficult to assess fair market value. Well-managed. | 2004-03-24 | |
| BUY | 71.610 | Cristopher Davis | An indirect way of investing in China. Founded in Shanghai and has 30,000 insurance agents in China. | 2004-03-12 | |
| DON'T BUY | 56.720 | Ross Healy | Fair market value is poor compared to the current price. Major technical resistance is at | 2003-04-28 | |
| TOP PICK | 61.810 | Jonathen Wellum, B. Comm, B. Sc | If you can get it below $60, it is a good value. | 2003-01-10 | |
| BUY | 69.710 | Michelle Calpin | Good long term. Well established. | 2002-04-22 | |
| WEAK BUY | 73.730 | Ian Nakamoto | Good company. | 2002-02-27 | |
| DON'T BUY | 69.730 | Brad Willock | Has been volatile. Complicated balance sheet. Good long term, but not cheap. | 2002-02-22 | |
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| TOP PICK | 71.040 | Neil Murdock | Extremely strong management. Good acquisitions. Excellent price. | 2002-02-21 | |
| BUY | 81.440 | Neil Murdock | Its a leader in different sectors. Strong management. A long term hold. | 2001-10-30 | |
| BUY | 77.080 | Jeff Morrison | Disciplined management. A defensive play. | 2001-04-10 | |
| BUY | 82.050 | Jonathen Wellum, B. Comm, B. Sc | At a good entry point. Very strong global financial services company. (Far east also) | 2001-02-22 | |
| BUY on WEAKNESS | 88.438 | Noah Blackstein, B.A., CFA | Expensive. A good long term buy and hold | 2001-01-08 |