The Talbots, Inc

I initiated a position in The Talbots, Inc. (Ticker: TLB) today. This is a specialty women’s retailer, which has agreed to be taken private by Sycamore for $2.75 in cash. Sycamore originally offered $3.05, which was rejected by Talbots. Sycamore walked away causing the stock to drop to $1.30 and change from $2.50. Today, Talbots announced a definitive merger agreement with Sycamore for $2.75. I picked up some shares today with an average cost of $2.54, which will generate a net return of 8.26% or (~30% annualized return assuming a closing by August 31).

RailAmerica, Inc

I initiated a position in RailAmerica, Inc. (Ticker: RA) today at $24.08. This short line rail company has recently initiated a review of strategic alternatives (basically putting itself up for sale). First round bids are reportedly due tomorrow (May 30^th). This company has pretty decent fundamentals and should demand a decent premium. As I say, we’ll see…

Motorola Mobility = Done Deal

Well, Google (Ticker: GOOG) finally received approval for the purchase of Motorola Mobility (Ticker: MMI) from China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). I initiated a position in Motorola Mobility in March and added to the position throughout April. This is looking to close in the next few days. Time to start searching for some new special situations / arb plays…

Edit:

I finally got to calculating my annualized return assuming a May 22nd close (based on the 8K filing stating that the companies plan to close the deal within 2 business days). My net return will be 2.38% with an annualized return of 28.02%.

Facebook, Inc IPO

I received a small allocation in the Facebook, Inc. (Ticker: FB) IPO and flipped it at $40.00 generating a gain of ~ 5%. I was expecting a larger pop, but it’s hard with such a large float. In any case, this stock is currently too expensive compared to other great tech companies such as Apple (Ticker: AAPL) and Google (Ticker: GOOG). It’s not easy, but you just have to sell the hype. In the end it's all about making money...

Taking Losses

A lesson learned… Back in March I sold my position in Jaguar Mining, Inc. (Ticker: JAG) at $4.95 generating a net loss of 18.55%. I just happened to take a peek at the price today and it’s down to $1.50 as the company has ended its strategic review without a deal. Cutting losses is one of the hardest skills to master in investing. You need to be able to cut your losses and move on in order to be a successful investor. It doesn’t feel good, but at least you're still in the game…

Tilly's IPO

Thank You and move on… I was allocated a few shares in the Tilly’s (Ticker: TLYS) IPO, which was priced last night at $15.50 per share. I sold the shares this morning at $18.90 for a quick 21.9% gain. It’s a teen retailer with a focus towards the skate boarding crowd. The IPO game is really a hit or miss. I was expecting the Zynga (Ticker: ZNGA) IPO to be hot, but it opened flat and subsequently fell. The most successful IPO that I’ve been involved in is VISA (Ticker: V) and I’ve been adding to it on occasional dips throughout the years. VISA is a long term growth story where as Tilly’s is a short term niche play. The next hot IPO is obviously Facebook and I’ll probably try my luck on that one, but I doubt I’ll be allocated any shares.