Never counted - until today!
With a little help from UCLA Professor Lynn M. LoPucki's list of 886 on his website, I can actually provide a list of firms that filed for bankruptcy.
Acceptance Insurance Companies [P]
Beker Industries Corp [D]
Best Products Co [S]
Braniff International Corp (1982) [S]
Charter Co [P]
Coleco Industries Inc [D]
Dana Corp [S]
Delphi Corp [S]
First City Bancorporation of Texas Inc [S]
Fremont General Corp [S,P,D]
General Motors Corp [D]*1
Guaranty Financial Group Inc [S]
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc [CT,D]
LTV Corp (1986) [D]
McLean Industries Inc [D]
Meruelo Maddux Properties Inc [S]
New Valley Corp [P]
Northwestern Corp [P]
Pacific Gas & Electric [P]
Public Service Co of New Hampshire [D]
Southeast Banking Corp [S]
Southmark Corp [D]
Sun-Times Media Group Inc [S]
Thornburg Mortgage Inc [S,P,D]
Tower Automotive Inc [S]
Worldcom Inc [D]
S = Stock
P = Preferred or equivilent (CT, TOPrS, etc)
D = Debt
1 CCYPQ
All represent actual Q investments. I have reviewed many times more.
I focus on three areas: (1) Relatively unpopular large companies (2) Bargain issues; and (3) Workouts
Unpopular large companies can lead to spinoffs/liquidations (Ralston Purina and Temple-Inland). The last 18 months to two years have provided numerous opportunities in distressed financials and real estate - GMAC, Ford Motor Credit, Forest City Enterprises, etc.
Finally, I have never calculated rates of return. However, I do know my portfolio is up 400 percent in the last 18 months or so. Something that hopefully I will not be able to replicate. The world would have to be really screwed up again. I lost 60 percent just prior to the large run up like many others.
If you aren't an Enterprising Investor, become one—you'll love making money like Benjamin Graham.
