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I am a moron.  I put all of my money into ARO stock at about $21; am down about 40%… very poor performance… and I’m embarrassed.

But that isn’t what worries me most… because in this game, being down comes with the territory.

After repeated calls to upper management to discuss the possibility of initiating a dividend ,  I have yet to receive a call back.

I specifically called:  Tom Johnson, Michael Cunningham, and Marc Miller, 3 of ARO’s top level executives; and left voice mails to each, detailing  that I had most of my assets in their stock.  That was several months ago.

I have also left repeated messages, and several e-mails, for their investor relations director, Ken Ohashi.  I have yet to hear back from him.

Today I called two of ARO’s top level design executives to discuss the ARO logo and design prospects: Todd Blumenthal and and Beverly House.  We will see if I hear back form either.  I am very doubtful.

In the past, I have a had large stock positions in Coach, Inc.  Large being relative… cause I’m small potatoes.

Even so, the Coach management got right back to me… whenever I called.  They were very friendly and obviously care about their shareholders.

The Aeropostale management seems to be the opposite.  Very opaque… almost as if hey are hiding something.

This makes me very uncomfortable.  After all, most of my money is in their stock.  And if they are hiding something big, I am in a bad way.

I have a real problem here because I want to hold my position, but management is making it hard.  Simply by being non transparent.

I realize that I’m not Carl Icahn.  Even so, I feel that management has a responsibility to be receptive to shareholder  queries.  We are, after all, paying these people huge money.

A large part of my problem is of my own doing… for not being diversified.

Even so, I am not happy with their management team… it’s my bed, and I’ll have to sleep in it.

Trustworthy, transparent management teams carry an intrinsic value that is very hard to calculate.

But in my world, trust is everything.

Yes, GS, is a storied franchise.  But it is NOT a great company by any means.

4% avg. ROIC for the last 5 years????

Common now.  I can do better in my sleep.

Just because everybody likes a name doesn’t make it right.

Peace.  JB

Marriot Hotels is just not a very good company folks.

The avg. ROIC in MAR is 9%.  There is no way that 9% makes it worth my while and risk to own such average merchandise.

Plus, at 40x earnings, it is prohibitively expensive.

Hotels are average to poor businesses; and abuse their capital supply.

Marriott is no exception.

Sell.

Dear readers:

In the technology world, Intel is a popular name.  But, just because it’s the dominate name in processing does not mean the stock is a buy.

Let’s take a look at the critical average ROIC number.  What we find is that INTL averages 14% ROIC.  That is not bad, but I can do much better on my capital.  RIMM, for instance, offers about 30% ROIC.  In other words, it is literally twice as good a company.

In IBM, I get 24% ROIC… again a much better company than Intel.  MSFT has averaged a whopping 39% ROIC for 5 years running.  MSFT is a name I happen to like a lot, actually.

Playing the tech names is hard enough. I need the absolute best quality … else I have little chance of maximizing my profits over time.

Isn’t that the goal after all??

Peace.  JB

Dear readers:

If you open the newspapers lately, you will inevitably find stories about the perils of offshore drilling.  No doubt, these stories formulate most investors views on the validity of drilling investments.  That’s because most people are sheep.  BAHHH.

Rather than look at the news, I want to know the facts.  Is RIG a great business?  Is it worth of my investment dollars… long term?

ROIC tells me everything I need to know.

Let’s take a look at the ROIC numbers for RIG:

Over the last 5 years, RIG has averaged just 12% ROIC.  That is not good enough people.  I need at least 20% ROIC, if not more.

In a world littered with poor and average companies, like RIG, I need to find better companies.  ” Seek excellent companies”, as Buffett says.

RIG just doesn’t qualify.

Peace.  JB