On GNW 3Q10 earnings conference call this morning: “Frankly, the only accomplishment that this management team can truly point to is the survival of this company, which I don’t mean to minimize, but otherwise, this management team has overseen a massive destruction of shareholder value. You do a bolt-on acquisition and I will wage a proxy battle immediately to throw you out of here – Steve Eisman, from FrontPoint.” Hilarious! I encourage people to listen to the replay. Eisman was a one-man army today.
That is pretty awesome
Wow… that was sick.
They posted the transcript over on dealbreaker. Pure awesomeness.
I am sure this is the same Steve Eisman from the book The Big Short! This guy is known for having no filter and being blunt. AWESOME!
RoadCat Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I am sure this is the same Steve Eisman from the > book The Big Short! This guy is known for having > no filter and being blunt. AWESOME! Yes he is! He has mellowed down now that he has reached/crossed 50. Am told at his prime he would have outrightly abused the management.
Sweep the Leg Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > They posted the transcript over on dealbreaker. > Pure awesomeness. The call is also on youtube.
He was a legend at Oppenheimer. Apparently, if I remember correctly, his wife has “forced” him to calm down over the last couple of years.
on a similar , though comparatively very muted note, in the CPO call, an analyst asked mgmt what would happen if Corn moved in ways that wasnt against the forward pricing locked in by the Co? the CEO answered something like : we’d be screwed ! not often you get to hear such direct answers !
would you guys want to work for this guy? might not be a great experience…
FrankArabia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > would you guys want to work for this guy? might > not be a great experience… On the contrary, I think it would be an excellent experience…you’d learn a lot, who cares about some emotional bruises. Get more iron in your diet.
brain_wash_your_face Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > FrankArabia Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > would you guys want to work for this guy? might > > not be a great experience… > > On the contrary, I think it would be an excellent > experience…you’d learn a lot, who cares about > some emotional bruises. Get more iron in your > diet. That’s the thing. its a trade off between enjoying a job (and life for that matter) vs. learning something that ultimately makes very little difference to your over all happiness.
FrankArabia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > That’s the thing. its a trade off between enjoying > a job (and life for that matter) vs. learning > something that ultimately makes very little > difference to your over all happiness. TED Talks is offline today, but after 6 PM EST check out Dan Gilbert talking about hapiness and how we perceived hapiness. It might make the decision seem moot. I think if you ended up in a higher level career because of working with Eisman then it may improve your overall stress level as those in positions of power tend to have lower stress. It has to do with being in control. Check out the below link for information on that from Macarthur fellow Robert Sapolsky, very interesting stuff. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/308/5722/648
Anyone familiar with FrontPoint? Our team has been talking to them a little bit and their strategy is insanely interesting.
ASSet_MANagement Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Anyone familiar with FrontPoint? > > Our team has been talking to them a little bit and > their strategy is insanely interesting. Hey AssMan, if possible, can you give us some examples of their strategy? I googled FrontPoint Partners, but didn’t find a lot, except this: http://www.marketfolly.com/2010/05/steve-eisman-frontpoint-partners-ira.html Thanks.
With all due respect, does Eisman really know how to “wage a proxy battle immediately to throw [them] out of [t]here”? It’s not rocket science of course, but it’s not really what he does as far as I know. Don’t remember the details, but my impression from reading The Big Short was more of a right place/right time thing than him having some sort of magic touch (though obviously he’s a smart guy). Especially as an activist investor, which appears to be what he’s acting as re: Genworth. I’d also be curious to hear more about Frontpoint’s strategy. I may well be wrong of course.
It depends on the ownership of the other shares and how easily Eisman can get a chunk of them to participate easily. My completely unfounded bet is that Eisman was speaking for a bunch of other investors with similar feelings who had explicitly discussed what was needed from the CEO on the call. If Eisman knows that 30% of the shares are owned by people who feel just the way he does, the proxy battle would run itself.
so what is their strategy? i thought he shorted stocks he thought sucked? how he kicks the tires i don’t know but i presume it has to do with unsustainable fundamentals like weak assets that eventually have to be written down but have not due to bad managers.