Justice Litle, Taipan Publishing Group

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A) - Justice Litle at Taipan Publishing Group

Given the recent focus on Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett's holding company and investment vehicle, Editor Kent Lucas takes a closer look at what makes it so special. Let me start off by saying this upfront: When it comes to Warren Buffett, I'm biased. As a student and professional investor, I've been schooled in his investment and principles and analytical approach. 

Otter Tail Corporation (OTTR) - Justice Litle at Taipan Publishing Group

No Otter Tail Corp ( OTTR:NASDAQ ) is a US based company that can be thought of as part utility (roughly two thirds of earnings) and part industrial and manufacturing – with exposure to a variety of sectors OTTR is an example of a cheap stock that happens to be in the Safe Haven Investor portfolio It's trading at a discount of 15 times 2010 earnings (compared to 18 times for the market) and is undervalued on price to sales and price to book value metrics – other common methods to value a company 

Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) - Justice Litle at Taipan Publishing Group

– Investopedia The best sound bite you will hear this week comes from Jim Owens, the CEO of Caterpillar ( CAT:NYSE ) Caterpillar, or "Cat" for short, is one of the 30 large cap stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average Cat makes "construction, mining and forestry machinery" – ie bulldozers, diggers, loaders, and other such "heavy equipment" of the type seen on building sites 

General Electric Company (GE) - Justice Litle at Taipan Publishing Group

So far, Mulally has done a good job steering Ford through this deep recession (Hopefully, GM also hires someone who can bring a fresh look and new perspective to an outdated and lethargic corporate culture) Example #3: GE – Known for Producing Outstanding Talent Some companies are known for producing great leaders and managers General Electric's culture, operating approach, and ability to develop outstanding managers are all well documented GE's systems, financial controls and execution are very well respected 

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) - Justice Litle at Taipan Publishing Group

Robert "Bob" Rubin (who at one point ran Goldman Sachs) was a high placed Citigroup mandarin at the time of the $300 billion plus bailout "Turbo Timmy" Geithner served under Bob Rubin in the Clinton White House Then you had an ex Goldman CEO at Treasury prior to Geithneranother major league shill with millions of dollars worth of Wall Street fees in his pocket, Larry Summers, bending Obama's earand, of course, the outsized lobbying and bribing clout the megabanks have held over the Hill for decades 

Citigroup Inc. (C) - Justice Litle at Taipan Publishing Group

Leading the search for President Obama's new economic team was his close friend and Harvard Law classmate Michael Froman, a high ranking executive at CitigroupIncredibly, Froman did not resign from the bank when he went to work for Obama: He remained in the employ of Citigroup for two more months, even as helped appoint the very people who would shape the future of his own firmIs it any wonder, then, that Citigroup received one of the sweetest of sweetheart deals imaginable just a few weeks later – Nov 23, 2008 – in which hundreds of billions were shoveled into a smoking crater with Teflon executives untouched? Is it further any wonder that the Citi giveaways are still taking place – the latest to the tune of a whopping $38 billion? "The Federal Government quietly agreed to forgo billions of dollars in potential tax payments from Citigroup," the Washington Post reported this week, "to wean the company from the massive taxpayer bailout that helped it survive the crisis" 

Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) - Justice Litle at Taipan Publishing Group

Real World Example: Caterpillar So let's look at a real world example, shall we? We all know of Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), the premier global construction and machinery manufacturer. The global downturn crushed economically sensitive heavy industrial companies like Caterpillar (whose earnings actually held up relatively well for being in such a cyclical business). 

Toll Brothers, Inc. (TOL) - Justice Litle at Taipan Publishing Group

Witness the recent surge of one lone builder, Toll Brothers (TOL:NYSE), on news that new orders for its high end luxury homes (think mini , midi and even macro mansions here) surged 42% in the fiscal fourth quarter. Additionally, the flow of canceled contracts and postponed projects has fallen from 30.2% a year ago to a miniscule 6.9% today. But wait, it gets even better. 

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A) - Justice Litle at Taipan Publishing Group

The Oracle of Omaha surprised many of his followers by doing such an expensive deal. On looking behind the scenes, though, the reasoning makes sense.. The recent deal to buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp ( BNI:NYSE ) is the biggest Warren Buffett has ever made. 

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation - Justice Litle at Taipan Publishing Group

Did Buffett overpay for Burlington Northern Santa Fe? The Oracle of Omaha surprised many of his followers by doing such an expensive deal. On looking behind the scenes, though, the reasoning makes sense.. 

Dell Inc. (DELL) - Justice Litle at Taipan Publishing Group

Dell Down On Netbooks Dell ( DELL:NASDAQ ) is having about as much success as anyone out there flogging these things. But at a recent dinner hosted by Silicon Valley's Churchill Club, Michael Dell himself disparaged his own offering: . We see a fair amount of customers not really being that satisfied with the smaller screen and the lower performance, unless it's like a secondary machine or it's a very first machine and the expectations are low.