Stock Value Finder

To any shareholders of Bowl America (AMEX: BWL.A) who were wondering why two dividends were paid out on January 22nd I found the answer in the latest 8-k filed.  The ‘extra’ dividend was a 50th anniversary present to the owners of the company.  I previously wrote about Bowl America and the strong dividend policy.

This is a welcome surprise, and one more sign the Bowl America management is shareholder focused.  Stated in the 8-k  the Board of Directors also increased the quarterly dividend from $.14/share to $.15/share to keep up with inflation.  At the $.60 dividend rate and the current trading price the yield is 3.87%, which is higher than ING Direct after the rate cut.

I have pasted the release below:

Memo from Leslie H. Goldberg, President, dated January 22, 2008,
 mailed to security holders of record January 10, 2008.

January 22, 2008

Dear Fellow Owners:

The enclosed third quarter dividend is being paid earlier than usual this year.
Today is the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Shirley Tenpin Bowl - Bowl
America's first center.  We have, therefore, included a $.10 extra dividend as
sort of a birthday present from us (it really is our money) to us.

Of equal importance, we have increased our regular quarterly dividend to $.15
per share.  If business conditions warrant, this increase will make this year
our 37th consecutive year of increased per share dividends.  Our corporate
objective remains to provide dividends that keep pace with inflation.

We are subject to the same pressures as every retail company.  We are hopeful
that the techniques we have learned in prior cutbacks in consumer discretionary
spending will enable us to continue to deal with the problems that we see today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHIRLEY!

I felt I needed to write a post detailing a clearer focus for this blog, and to announce that I have a real domain name stockvaluefinder.com !

In my initial post I had said I would discuss investing, business intelligence, and personal items. After the success of my posts on Discover Card and Morgan Stanley I’ve decided to focus this blog on investment research. I plan on focusing on specific stocks which I believe have the potential to be a great investment, or at times could stand as a warning sign for investors.

I would describe my style as a value investor. At times searching for illiquid stocks that are selling for less than current net asset value. And at other times combining a bit of Phil Fisher’s approaches with a value tilt, meaning looking for solid companies with plently of growth prospects that are currently undervalued by the market.

As always please leave suggestions if you have any, you can email me at the email address associated with this site, or leave me a comment.

A weblog..what is it, what does it mean, what does it mean for me?

A blog is the concept that anyone can publish their thoughts on the internet for the world to see. Blogs can be extremely personal, comedic, or overtly general. Blogs can range from an extension of their writer, to a medium to communicate news or breaking information.

As I reflect on all of these ideas of a blog I consider what does this blog mean for me. I would like to use this surface as a way to communicate on items that interest me, specifically finance, investing, and business intelligence (BI). With that in mind I present below goals for this blog.

-Posts detailing case studies of how to apply BI to specific business situations.
-Posts detailing securities that I am currently researching.
-Book reviews which I feel are relevant to the readers
-Other random musings on my career, and personal experiences (I will do my best to keep this to a minimum.)