Thursday, September 19, 2013

Stock | Bad advice from a big market watcher

In a new post today, MarketWatch writer Jeff Reeves lists Gannett among three stocks worth watching for a dividend increase. But his rationale couldn't be any more wrong. He writes:

"Warren Buffett fans know that GCI has been on the rise as a share of the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio. The investment company’s filing with securities regulators at the end of June showed a $89 billion stake in the media giant and USA Today publisher. As a journalist, I admittedly may be overly optimistic about the news biz, but I think Buffett’s head is in the right place -- if for nothing other than the income."

Somehow, Reeves missed two key points:
  • In fact, Buffett dumped all his GCI stock at the end of June, MarketWatch itself reported in August
  • Gannett's total market capitalization is just $5.9 billion, so there's no way Buffett could have ever owned $89 billion worth

2 comments:

  1. Maybe he wrote that 10 years ago . . .

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jeff is, by trade, a writer, not a stock picker. It's pretty amazing that people like him are given a platform to recommend stocks. I guess the constant churn of content is more important than its validity or worthiness.

    ReplyDelete

Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."

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