| DON'T BUY | 259.750 | Veronika Hirsch | (Market Call Minute.) Because it's in the financial sector this is in one of her favourite stocks. | 2008-07-17 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 254.000 | Colin Stewart | (A Top Pick Feb 27/08. Down 18.6%. BNN misquoted as a 10 %gain.) High quality property/casualty insurance company. Trading below BV per share. | 2008-06-25 | |
| HOLD | 274.440 | Bruce Campbell | (Market Call Minute.) Has been short the market so has done better than them all. If you are positive on the economy going forward, it would be a Hold. | 2008-05-26 | |
| Comment | 283.580 | David Burrows | Haven’t looked at this for the last month or so but up to that point they had a fairly significant bet against financials by shorting a very large number of financial services companies. This is a way to participate in shorting financials. | 2008-05-06 | |
| VAGUE | 286.520 | Ross Healey | Trading around its fair market value. The stock is getting fairly rich. Indifferent to it. | 2008-03-26 | |
| BUY | 270.670 | Gavin Graham | (Market Call Minute.) Will continue to make lots of money. | 2008-03-06 | |
| BUY | 283.410 | David Burrows | Have done a great job in rebuilding their balance sheet. Made a wonderful trade and made a very good investment going against a lot of these mortgage products. The bet paid off. | 2008-03-03 | |
| TOP PICK | 303.300 | Colin Stewart | Very high quality insurance company. Has been under pressure because of some of the acquisitions but has performed very well over the last year. Strong investment team. Just reported and had grown their BV per share by 48% year-over-year. Buy for the long-term. | 2008-02-27 | |
| BUY | 287.990 | Michael Sprung | BV is around $190 and yet this is a company that is capable over a cycle, of generating a 19% return. Made a lot of money on puts last year, which shored up their balance sheet. In the long run, this has got to be more than just an investment company, but an insurance company as well. Taking steps to work out their US insurance problems. Sound management. Reasonable Buy for a long-term investor. | 2008-01-08 | |
| TOP PICK | 257.000 | Derek Webb, CFA | Best way to play meltdown in credit derivatives. Earnings are going up. | 2007-09-19 | |
| TOP PICK | 213.020 | Derek Webb, CFA | Probably the best public instrument to play the widening of bond spreads. They believed spreads were way too narrow for a lot of the corporate debt issues and they would widen massively. They were correct. Earnings are good and it is cheap. | 2007-08-28 | |
| DON'T BUY | 229.250 | Brian Acker, CA | His model price is $216.20, a negative 6% differential. If the past is any indication, it will probably go to about $176 and try to form a bottom. | 2007-05-24 | |
| WATCH | 276.000 | Ron Meisels | Had a negative pattern for quite awhile and the moving average was going down. Recently, the price managed to get above the 200-day moving average and it had a big rise. Now the stock is too far above the moving average, so it wouldn't be a surprise if the stock had a correction. | 2007-03-21 | |
| Comment | 256.000 | Michael Sprung | Good management, but at the current price, would be tempted to take some profit. Has sold his positions. Not sure that things are going well in Northbridge which is a fair chunk of their assets. | 2007-03-16 | |
| DON'T BUY | 241.950 | David Baskin | He finds it very difficult to analyze the financial statements. If he doesn't understand it, he doesn't buy it. | 2007-03-14 | |
| DON'T BUY | 194.190 | Bruce Campbell | A tough one to call. Had some recent accounting problems and losses on some claims. Always had trouble with disclosure, but better than they used to be. | 2006-11-15 | |
| DON'T BUY | 152.000 | Jonathen Wellum, B. Comm, B. Sc | Sold all of his holdings because of the complexity of the business. Seemed to have a continual string of bad news on acquisitions. There is now a litigation issue before the US courts. | 2006-10-10 | |
| SELL | 116.560 | David Driscoll | Having to deal with a lot of reinsurance problems. Valuation is up in the air because nobody can put a finger on it because their earnings are very opaque. Many of their claims are outstripping their premiums. | 2006-08-17 | |
| WEAK BUY | 121.090 | Michael Sprung | Launching a suit against hedge funds that are shorting the stock and driving the price down as well as putting out a lot of negative news. A well-run company with honest management. Could buy with a long-term view. | 2006-07-28 | |
| DON'T BUY | 104.150 | John Zechner | The property/specialty insurance market is very cyclical in nature. It has had a decent cyclical run in the past few years, upwards but pricing is now starting to soften up a little. | 2006-06-27 | |
| DON'T BUY | 103.310 | Jonathen Wellum, B. Comm, B. Sc | He prefers to go for the leaders in the insurance business. Those with strong balance sheets and not overly levered. Made a lot of acquisitions and they got hit with a number of catastrophic events and some regulatory issues. | 2006-06-23 | |
| DON'T BUY | 125.160 | Jean-Francois Tardif | Not a fan of this company. Insurance is a very tough business to analyse. | 2006-06-05 | |
| DON'T BUY | 126.730 | David Baskin | Their problem is that their reinsurance business is opaque, i.e., it is impossible to know what is going on there. Would prefer Kingsway Financial (KFS-T). | 2006-05-25 | |
| DON'T BUY | 152.710 | Paul Harris, CFA | They bought a lot of assets at book value, but the assets are long term liabilities, so in his view, they didn't pay book value, but paid higher then book value. As this is an insurance company (and the type of insurance) they've had hurricanes etc that have hurt them. | 2006-03-18 | |
| HOLD | 175.500 | Laura Wallace | Likes the property/casualty sector, but prefers the much larger company Allstate (ALL-N). This company has problems with suppoennas floating around which reflects some of the activities with other companies that have taken place. Difficult to evaluate if they are a serious threat. | 2005-10-19 | |
| DON'T BUY | 201.000 | David Driscoll | Basically what they are taking in in premiums is going right out the door. | 2005-06-28 | |
| WEAK BUY | 174.360 | Bruce Campbell | Has traded down with the other insurers in the last little while. Doesn't find it that attractive. A good defensive holding. | 2005-05-16 | |
| DON'T BUY | 172.660 | Matt Baillie | Property and casualty market on the commercial side has probably peaked out. Has sold off parts of its jewels Odyssey Re Holdings (ORH-N) and Northbridge (NB-T). That's always a negative when a company has to sell off its best assets. | 2005-04-08 | |
| DON'T BUY | 212.530 | Ross Healey | Prem Watsa remains a very clever and capable money manager. The stock is priced to assume that he's going to do a good job. Can't see very much upside. | 2005-02-04 | |
| HOLD | 203.590 | Bill MacLachlan | Feels it has been climbing so dramatically because of the valuations of the investments it holds. A tremendously volatile stock. Relatively illiquid. | 2004-12-17 | |
| DON'T BUY | 190.000 | Ron Meisels | Had a wonderful run because it was over sold in the early part of 2003. Fell below the 200 day moving average. Recent moves have been without momentum. | 2004-11-16 | |
| VAGUE | 150.900 | Brian Acker, CA | Hates this company and doesn't touch it. Model price is a little bit higher than the current price. | 2004-10-26 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 159.020 | Michael Sprung | (A Top Pick Aug 17/04. Down 14%.) Still likes. Hurricanes had a huge impact. Hoping management will be able to get return on equity back up to around 10%. Good price now. | 2004-10-21 | |
| DON'T BUY | 164.000 | James Cole, BA, CFA | Significantly overpriced. If looking at it, look at it on a basis of "earnings excluding investment gains and pre-tax". On a book value basis strip out deferred tax assets and good will. | 2004-10-18 | |
| VAGUE | 161.750 | Jonathen Wellum, B. Comm, B. Sc | Going to buy this stock, of your a deep value investor. Great investment team. | 2004-09-21 | |
| DON'T BUY | 156.570 | Laura Wallace | Unlikely to split. Has been a poor performer in the last while because of concerns of liquidity. Not great disclosure. | 2004-09-20 | |
| WAIT | 158.550 | Ross Healey | Fair market value is about $210/220. Stock has already discounted any good news and has now settled back from a fully valued situation. Let it find lower levels. | 2004-09-17 | |
| BUY | 169.190 | Blair Wilson | Last third quarter, there have been sell-off. Comfortable with balance sheet. Target of 270 dollars CAN. | 2004-08-31 | |
| TOP PICK | 185.930 | Michael Sprung | The stock price is well below book value. Property and casualty business is starting to look a little better. | 2004-08-17 | |
| VAGUE | 189.500 | Laura Wallace | Feels that management is very credible. Company is subject to what is happening in the US in insurance rates and its investment portfolio. Earnings were disappointing. | 2004-08-09 | |
| DON'T BUY | 200.700 | Matt Baillie | A very complex company. Has some issues in the US. You don't want to be in the stock when the Property/Casualty business is so high. | 2004-07-30 | |
| DON'T BUY | 207.080 | Gavin Graham | Runs some nice businesses, but has no idea what's in there or where the earnings are coming from. Prefers relatively straightforward stories. | 2004-07-29 | |
| TOP PICK | 204.610 | Michael Sprung | A little more discipline is coming into pricing in the property/casualty business. Getting the balance sheet cleaned up. Selling at a good discount to book value. | 2004-07-26 | |
| BUY | 221.000 | Blair Wilson | The insurance companies to date have been one of the best performing financial subsectors so valuation becomes a concern. Relatively cheap compared to its peers. | 2004-07-22 | |
| DON'T BUY | 220.100 | Michael Smedley | Doesn't really understand this company. Would prefer smaller associate or subsiduary. | 2004-07-14 | |
| DON'T BUY | 199.530 | Ross Healey | Fair market value is about $240 so, it's difficult to say that there is anything much here for an investor. | 2004-05-20 | |
| TOP PICK | 210.370 | Michael Sprung | Likes what's happening in the property/casualty market right now. Selling at a significant discount to book value right now. Profitability is likely to go up. | 2004-05-05 | |
| DON'T BUY | 201.000 | Ron Meisels | Had a big decline and got to the point where it became major oversold which then gave a knee-jerk reaction. Hardly any base on the stock so it's hard to build on this. It will have to drop back to finish its base building. | 2004-03-17 | |
| WATCH | 244.400 | Ron Meisels | A break out above $250 would be very positive. Price is too high | 2004-02-02 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 239.300 | Andrew McCreath | (A top pick Oct 20/03. Up 238.35/203.02 %.) Will probably end up with a $260 book value. Still likes. | 2004-01-26 | |
| BUY | 218.400 | Larry Berman CFA, CMT, CTA | Thinks it can break through the technical barrier of $240. | 2003-12-15 | |
| SELL | 221.850 | David Driscoll | Sold out because there are more risks than rewards. Pretty fully valued. The up side might be 10%, but the down side could be 70%. | 2003-12-11 | |
| DON'T BUY | 198.000 | David Baskin | They have always had a lack of transparency. Somewhat inherent in the business. Have to understand before you buy. | 2003-11-26 | |
| TOP PICK | 203.020 | Andrew McCreath | Trading below book value. Believes it is turning around its problem businesses in the US. Conservatively managed. No longer have a liquidity problem. | 2003-10-20 | |
| DON'T BUY | 212.080 | Laura Wallace | Still has some accounting controversy surrounding it. Prefers others. | 2003-10-15 | |
| DON'T BUY | 213.110 | Ross Healey | At full fair market value. Good company. | 2003-10-09 | |
| WEAK BUY | 213.730 | Jonathen Wellum, B. Comm, B. Sc | Good management. Pulled it through some rough times. Look for good organic growth. Sees better opportunities with others that have a better track record. | 2003-09-26 | |
| SELL | 237.600 | Ross Healey | Over priced now. Had a good run. | 2003-09-04 | |
| DON'T BUY | 216.750 | Laura Wallace | On a roller coaster ride.It might be time to take a pause.The casualty insurance cycle should start to do better as the economy recovers.Higher interest rates would also be positive. | 2003-08-18 | |
| DON'T BUY | 216.750 | Bruce Campbell | Has had a nice recovery from its bottom.Not a favorite.Its cheap compared to the book value.The history has been that they make money on the bond portfolio.Not confident of the bond market. | 2003-08-18 | |
| DON'T BUY | 213.500 | Gavin Graham | Insurance companies are a large black box, and you don't know whats going on inside.Too difficult to analyze.Would prefer a life insurance Company. | 2003-08-06 | |
| DON'T BUY | 236.000 | Brian Acker, CA | Not a fan of these types of insurance like Kingsway and Fairfax. | 2003-07-14 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 208.000 | Bill Shaw | Was a top pick on Feb 21. Sold. Not sure of future earnings. | 2003-07-09 | |
| DON'T BUY | 203.000 | David Baskin | Hard to evaluate their balance sheet. Very complicated. | 2003-07-08 | |
| WEAK BUY | 205.000 | Jonathen Wellum, B. Comm, B. Sc | Their problems with consolidation of insurance seems to be behind them now. Have been prudent with their investments. Caution. | 2003-06-24 | |
| DON'T BUY | 198.500 | Bruce Campbell | Had a nice run. Consists of 95% fixed income/5% stocks. Fully valued. | 2003-06-18 | |
| DON'T BUY | 192.420 | David Baskin | Can't understand their balance sheet. | 2003-06-16 | |
| HOLD | 185.150 | Michael Sprung | Has been very volatile. Have just raised some capital. Expect that rating agencies will start to upgrade them. Giving better disclosure now. Speculative. | 2003-06-12 | |
| BUY | 183.500 | John Zechner | Has made a number of improvements. Not too expensive. Still has some upside. Keep for a long hold. | 2003-06-11 | |
| WEAK BUY | 181.000 | Mark Jackson, CFA | Very volatile lately. Restructuring the company. Some opportunity. Some upside. | 2003-06-10 | |
| BUY | 195.000 | Brendan Caldwell | A good way to play the stock market. Volatile. | 2003-06-09 | |
| BUY | 205.000 | Rob Callander | Management is taking a more pro-active approach in communicating the value of their company to investors. | 2003-06-05 | |
| BUY on WEAKNESS | 121.600 | Larry Berman CFA, CMT, CTA | Looks overbought. If it drops to $90/95 area, it could be a good buying opportunity. | 2003-05-26 | |
| BUY on WEAKNESS | 126.000 | Mark Jackson, CFA | Trades at a significant value to its book value. Not sure what the book value is really worth. Wait for a pull back. | 2003-05-07 | |
| HOLD | 121.590 | Michael Smedley | A difficult stock to understand (evaluate?). On an upswing. Could go higher. | 2003-05-02 | |
| DON'T BUY | 113.510 | David Baskin | Doesn't understand this company. There is a lack of information. | 2003-04-22 | |
| DON'T BUY | 105.480 | Richard Stone | Their new IPO looks like a desperate move. Not a big fan of management and the lack of information available. | 2003-04-21 | |
| DON'T BUY | 81.600 | Brian Acker, CA | Not a fan of this company or its management. | 2003-04-07 | |
| DON'T BUY | 82.300 | David Baskin | A difficult company to analyze. | 2003-04-04 | |
| DON'T BUY | 81.430 | Bruce Campbell | Not a fan. Investment portfolio is heavily weighted in bonds. | 2003-04-02 | |
| DON'T BUY | 84.000 | Laura Wallace | Difficult to understand because of the limited disclosure they have. | 2003-03-26 | |
| BUY | 81.250 | Ross Healey | Quite cheap. Selling at one third of its book value. You may have to be patient. | 2003-03-19 | |
| DON'T BUY | 77.800 | David Burrows | Has been dropping because of concerns on reserves and debt. | 2003-03-17 | |
| DON'T BUY | 80.900 | David Baskin | A lot of liabilities and difficult to analyze. | 2003-03-04 | |
| DON'T BUY | 79.000 | Gordon Higgins, CA, MBA, CFA | Concerned on the rumors re earnings. | 2003-03-03 | |
| DON'T BUY | 79.000 | Robert Floyd | Management has not been entirely open. | 2003-03-03 | |
| TOP PICK | 95.000 | Gavin Graham | Not enough information from management. | 2003-02-10 | |
| DON'T BUY | 96.260 | Jim Doak | Not a fan of management. | 2003-02-05 | |
| WEAK BUY | 103.970 | Michael Smedley | The book value is higher than the current market.Poor communications with investors. Talented management. | 2003-02-03 | |
| TOP PICK | 97.680 | Bill Shaw | Assets are worth more than the stock price. | 2003-01-30 | |
| DON'T BUY | 92.990 | Laura Wallace | Difficult to analyse this company. | 2003-01-22 | |
| DON'T BUY | 92.990 | Mark Jackson, CFA | Difficult to analyze. Management is too close with their numbers. | 2003-01-22 | |
| DON'T BUY | 99.850 | Bruce Campbell | Not a big fan, but insurance side is improving. Prefers others. | 2003-01-17 | |
| STRONG BUY | 99.850 | Ray Steele | Oversold. | 2003-01-17 | |
| DON'T BUY | 117.500 | David Baskin | Unable to analyze this company so avoiding it. | 2003-01-14 | |
| DON'T BUY | 115.550 | Gordon Higgins, CA, MBA, CFA | Has operational problems. Cyclical. | 2003-01-10 | |
| DON'T BUY | 115.550 | Jonathen Wellum, B. Comm, B. Sc | Speculative. In a tough industry. | 2003-01-10 | |
| DON'T BUY | 116.360 | Brian Acker, CA | Cheap, but afraid of the balance sheet. | 2003-01-09 | |
| DON'T BUY | 118.910 | Bruce Campbell | Too much fixed income in their holdings. | 2003-01-06 | |
| STRONG BUY | 118.910 | Michael Sprung | An outstanding buy at this price. | 2003-01-06 | |
Experts that have talked about Fairfax Financial
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