Replies to post #137 on Global Value Investing

[rjeezy007]

These companies are extremely cheap but opening an account seems like a pain in the butt. I was looking at accord capital which allows online trading and it seems like you have to go and drop off the application and then make the initial deposit at their bank and after this you can start trading. This would be difficult for someone like me way over here in Canada. Have you looked into opening an account in the Philippines by way of an easier process?

[rjeezy007]

ANS

This one is definitely interesting. Their balance sheet looks very strong in 2010 as compared to 2009. It appears that they derive most of their revenue from Cirrus which is their US medical/staffing business. I guess their whole initiative is to go after the aging American population (baby boomers). However, their service revenue has declined a large amount over the past few years. I'm wondering if this trend will continue or not. Their service revenue makes up the majority of their revenue. But based on the fact that the American population will continue to age, we could see the services revenue increase in the future but this isn't certain of course.

They also have some land in PPE. They seem to just acquire empty land plots as noted in the latest annual report. They could possibly benefit here from price appreciation.

As you noted another positive is the value that the company is added for shareholders in buying back shares aggressively and paying out dividends consistently. (yielding 3.5%).

It's weird how it's trading at such a discount to book value. Even if we go back to 2006, the book value has been above $4.00.