Stock prices mostly traded lower today. The S&P 500 was down 1.2% and Toronto was down 2.1%.
Valiant Pharmaceuticals (which I last rated Sell at $331) was down 5.4% to $287 in Toronto.
Stocks that rose included Stantec up 1.7%, and Boston Pizza up 1.7%.
I may add to my Boston pizza position tomorrow.
I had an order in to grab 200 more shares of Melcor if it fell to $15.76. It fell 1.8% and my order was filled as the last trade of the day. It trades very thinly and only 971 shares traded hands today. According to Yahoo Finance, the forward P/E for 2016 earnings is 10.4 and the price to book value is 58%. I figure that if I can buy on that basis a conservative company that has been on the stock market since 1968, things are likely to work out well.
I notice that the Bank of America CEO won a vote to allow him to remain chairman. I am fine with that. I own some shares and they had the computer share stock transfer company call me several times looking for my vote. This has happened before with Bank of America. I don’t recall if any other company has ever called me soliciting my vote. This is rare. But it shows that they know how to get the vote out when they need it. I don’t have a problem with them calling me either. As a result of their call I went online and voted in favor of the CEO remaining chairman. Buffett was in favor of it too. Best governance practice might call for separate rolls but I would also say that good governance is not strictly a matter of following trends like that. At the end of the day the most important role that a Board chair has is to work to replace the CEO when needed and that is not even in discussion here. The CEO is running Bank of America. Period. I don’t have a problem with that. Bank of America is on the mend. Why mess with that?