Category Archives: nsec

Insurance Watch List: March 27, 2013

The following is one of our personal favorite watch lists. We started tracking the insurance industry in January 2011 and we’re very impressed with the results so far.

Anyone who wishes to be successful in insurance stocks should read the book The Davis Dynasty by John Rothchild. The book starts with Shelby Collum Davis investing approximately $50,000 to $100,000 that ultimately grew to $900 million after 47 years. The strategies employed by Davis seem highly accessible to average investors.

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Insurance Watch List: December 7, 2012

The following is one of our personal favorite watch lists. We started tracking the insurance industry in January 2011 and we’re very impressed with the results so far.

Anyone who wishes to be successful in insurance stocks should read the book The Davis Dynasty by John Rothchild. The book starts with Shelby Collum Davis investing approximately $50,000 to $100,000 that ultimately grew to $900 million after 47 years. The strategies employed by Davis seem more accessible to average investors as opposed to Warren Buffett’s leveraged strategies and education from Benjamin Graham.

Symbol Name Price P/E EPS Yield P/B payout ratio % from low
NSEC National Security Group Inc. 7.6 - -3.14 1.3 0.63 -3.18% 0.00%
MIG Meadowbrook Insurance Group 5.44 - -0.33 1.5 0.49 -24.24% 2.64%
GLRE Greenlight Capital Re, Ltd. 23.01 6.06 3.8 - 0.96 0.00% 3.46%
RLI RLI Corp. 64.23 12.35 5.2 2 1.52 24.62% 3.83%
PKIN Pekin Life Insurance Company 10.75 59.39 0.18 1.1 1.56 66.67% 4.37%
FRFHF Fairfax Financial Holdings 352.5 - -34.42 - 0.98 0.00% 4.71%
TWGP Tower Group Inc. 17.54 12.73 1.38 4.3 0.63 54.35% 6.30%
ANAT American National Insurance Co. 68.05 9.98 6.82 4.5 0.47 45.16% 6.86%
AIZ Assurant Inc. 34.81 4.93 7.06 2.4 0.53 11.90% 7.41%
CRVL CorVel Corporation 42.4 20.53 2.06 - 3.97 0.00% 7.45%
RGA Reinsurance Group of America 51.99 6.4 8.12 1.8 0.57 11.82% 7.51%
WSH Willis Group Holdings Plc 34.52 15.92 2.17 3.1 2.27 49.77% 7.94%
TDHOY T&D Holdings, Inc. 5.29 15.11 0.35 - 0.42 0.00% 8.18%
ASI American Safety Insurance Hlds 17.21 33.03 0.52 - 0.48 0.00% 9.27%
  • Avoid insurance stocks with payout ratios that are in the negative or exceeding 100%
  • Insurance stocks with low average trading volume have low liquidity and are considered higher risk

Watch List Summary

Since the publication of our watch list dated November 6, 2012, we have acquired two insurance stocks, American National Insurance (ANAT) on December 3, 2012 and Reinsurance Group of America (RGA) on December 6, 2012.  Combined, the stocks comprise 26% of our partnership portfolio.

Of interest to us on the current watch list is Greenlight Capital Re (GLRE).  The company has been publicly traded since 2007.  Although relatively new, we believe that with GLRE being in the reinsurance sector it is the most lucrative opportunity for insurance investing at the current time.

According to Dow Theory, Greenlight Capital Re has the following downside targets:

  • $22.93
  • $19.49
  • $16.07
  • $9.20

The short-term upside target is $26.35. 

Our interest in Greenlight Capital Re is not based on David Einhorn’s involvement with the company.  In fact, we believe that Einhorn’s notoriety and ever changing investment stance is a possible liability. Careful consideration of company fundamentals is required for anyone interested in this stock.

2008 Transaction Overview

Below are all of my closed transactions for 2008 with the percentage realized gain or loss along with the percentage of the portfolio of each position. Closed positions are those that were done after the purchase of the stock took place. Therefore, purchases that took place in 2007 may have been close in 2008 while purchases in late 2008 may not have reflected a gain or loss until 2009. As an example, FDO was purchased in late December 2007 and sold late January 2008.
After transaction costs, the total return in the portfolio for 2008 was 14.35%. The dividend yield received on the account was 2.53%, with the dividend accounting for 17.62% of the total change in the account value. I am open to questions about the rational for selecting a particular stock at a given time during 2008. One thing that will be noticed about the differences between 2008 and 2009 is that 2009 has far fewer transactions.
Because this portfolio actually made money when the major indices lost close to 40% in 2008, I'm hoping to replicated this approach (mainly to avoid losing money in a market downturn.) I would appreciate any constructive insights or thoughts by you the reader. I'm hoping this will be an instructive moment for everyone involved. If you don't wish to post in the comment section then send me an email.I will be posting my transaction history for 2009 here shortly.

-Touc
Symbol
Close date
Total % Gain % of Portfolio
(FDO)
 
1/31/2008
 
10.65%
 
96.67%
(WSC)
 
2/11/2008
 
-3.93%
 
94.28%
(AIG)
 
2/28/2008
 
12.52%
 
82.65%
(CTAS)
 
3/13/2008
 
-3.81%
 
29.43%
(CDE)
 
3/13/2008
 
-12.42%
 
1.91%
(BSC)
 
3/14/2008
 
7.33%
 
26.10%
(HTX)
 
3/24/2008
 
1.73%
 
29.52%
(KGC)
 
3/24/2008
 
-16.73%
 
38.15%
(CTAS)
 
4/16/2008
 
-4.34%
 
31.11%
(GSS)
 
4/16/2008
 
-13.21%
 
1.77%
(NC)
 
7/23/2008
 
27.30%
 
32.11%
(MSA)
 
8/11/2008
 
19.02%
 
36.71%
(WIN)
 
8/14/2008
 
5.55%
 
27.27%
(BGG)
 
8/27/2008
 
1.27%
 
31.38%
(ANAT)
 
9/9/2008
 
-11.64%
 
28.26%
(EXPD)
 
9/9/2008
 
-5.51%
 
33.01%
(HPQ)
 
9/9/2008
 
115.03%
 
0.07%
(NSEC)
 
9/9/2008
 
-17.36%
 
3.08%
(TDS)
 
9/9/2008
 
-3.97%
 
38.10%
(NEM)
 
9/17/2008
 
3.27%
 
32.03%
(HL)
 
9/18/2008
 
5.70%
 
39.06%
(AIG)
 
9/23/2008
 
33.94%
 
38.27%
(ANAT)
 
9/29/2008
 
2.80%
 
29.25%
(ADM)
 
9/30/2008
 
-8.43%
 
20.77%
(WAG)
 
9/30/2008
 
-1.75%
 
44.09%
(TMR)
 
10/7/2008
 
-14.66%
 
11.36%
(NXG)
 
10/7/2008
 
-12.72%
 
11.40%
(AEM)
 
10/10/2008
 
-3.03%
 
15.58%
(FNM)
 
10/10/2008
 
-46.25%
 
7.14%
(GSS)
 
10/10/2008
 
-8.66%
 
12.11%
(JOF)
 
10/14/2008
 
2.34%
 
22.18%
(DOG)
 
10/15/2008
 
1.14%
 
43.23%
(AIG)
 
10/20/2008
 
-2.55%
 
66.35%
(BMI)
 
10/22/2008
 
-5.40%
 
35.38%
(EUM)
 
10/27/2008
 
5.26%
 
46.63%
(AEM)
 
10/28/2008
 
-4.08%
 
25.83%
(ABX)
 
10/28/2008
 
-2.92%
 
24.26%
(CTL)
 
10/31/2008
 
-9.93%
 
34.18%
(NC)
 
10/31/2008
 
-0.14%
 
43.42%
(NC)
 
11/7/2008
 
-12.16%
 
49.47%