William Smead
Chief Executive Officer
Chief Investment Officer

Dear Clients and Prospective Clients:

The darkest days in World War Two were during the bombing of London. Air raid signals would blare and folks would go underground and wait for the bombing to get over. Since the United States had not yet entered the fight and mainland Europe had been overrun by the Germans, the British were left to stand alone. The relentlessness of the pounding and the loneliness could have broken the spirits of the British. With the strong leadership of Winston Churchill and their own grit and courage, they held on. The Pearl Harbor attack of Dec. 7 of 1941 brought the U.S. into the War and also initiated the process which led to an Allied victory.

For investors in U.S. common stocks, the year 2008 will go down as a year of unrelenting declines. We investors feel bombed out and many of us have sought shelter in Treasury securities, CD’s and money market funds. Today’s early trading fits the pattern we’ve seen all year. Stocks are down across the board without any discrimination between companies or sectors which might fare the best going forward. It is indiscriminate bombing and very disheartening and lonely.

Much like the British did, we must display courage and grit as long-term investors. The deep, long-lasting recession, which the experts have predicted since November of 2007, is trying to convince us to give up hope, just like the prospect of a long war tried to convince the Brits. We have to withstand overnight bombings as Hedge Funds redemptions, Mutual Fund liquidations and Margin calls force across the board selling without regard for future prospects.

In World War Two, the reward for not giving up was the defeat of an evil Dictator and an out of control regime called Nazi Germany. Financial matters are not nearly as important, but from these depressed prices on common stocks, significantly lower commodity prices, low interest rates and high levels of human ingenuity, we at Smead Capital Management believe a great deal of wealth could be created by owning U.S. common stocks over the next five to ten years. We intend to pursue victory with a portfolio that can withstand whatever bombings that remain and can prosper in the good years to follow.

Best Wishes in this Holiday Season,

William Smead

William Smead
Chief Executive Officer
Chief Investment Officer






Dear Clients and Prospective Clients:

Jim Collins is the author of a book that I have mentioned from time to time called “Good to Great”. He has attempted to help us understand the difference between merely good companies and the few great ones which have been demonstrating “greatness” over the years. What these “great” companies do in the most difficult business circumstances could give us some clues on what to do in this current economic and investment environment. The current environment is already establishing itself as the most difficult set of circumstances we have faced since the 1930′s.

To help us understand the approach of “great” companies in difficult circumstances, Collins retells the story of James Stockdale, a POW camp survivor from the Vietnam War. Stockdale withstood the kind of long imprisonment which Senator John McCain withstood and is still fresh in our memories. This survivor explained that it wasn’t the pessimists or the optimists which survived, but rather the realists. Pessimists died early on trying to escape, knowing that they didn’t have it in them to hold on for years. Optimists expected the very best and would say things like, “We will be out of here by Thanksgiving.” Thanksgiving would come and go and the optimist would turn to Easter as the point where it would all be better. Eventually, a number of optimistic deadlines would pass and the optimist would lose hope and turn into a pessimist. The realist said, “I will do whatever it takes to get through this regardless of how long it takes to get through it.” There is an inherent optimism in the position taken by the realist. The grim reality must be balanced against the great blessing for you on the other side of the valley.We are in the midst of a business coma and stock market liquidation that has to do with financial sins committed over the last ten years. It is holding all participants (workers, investors and companies) prisoner regardless of whether or not we or our companies were part of creating the problem. We do not know how long the “business coma” will last, how long stocks will be liquidated to find a bottom and how soon the inevitable rebound will come! However, we must survive.

At Smead Capital Management we have staked the survival of our portfolios on the balance sheet strength of our companies, the necessary nature of their products and the enduring quality and “mind control” of their brands. In other words, we have sought to own the realist companies which can get through this regardless of how long it takes. And we do this to not only survive, but also because the reward on the other side of the valley is huge from a historical point of view. If you made it all the way through the Great Depression to 1937 with your blue chip stocks, you saw a huge rebound in stock prices from the 1932 lows.

What can you do to be a realistic owner and steward of your assets? Make sure you are investing money in the stock market which can stay invested for at least three to five years. Put the money you need in the next two years in a safe financial instrument like a Certificate of Deposit or money-market fund. Reduce portfolio withdrawals until things improve. Where possible, liquidate non-liquid assets like boats, cars and non-income producing real estate or use them as a charitable donations in a substitution for cash outlays. If needed, review your portfolio with us regardless of whether or not we oversee all the assets.

What should we look for to get a sense that this storm is passing? First, look for low enough new home sales figures to put some of the weaker publicly traded homebuilders into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Second, look for Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada unsold home inventories to decline. Thirdly, look for some highly respected, nationally recognized stock portfolio managers to give up or get fired (it happened right before the Tech bubble broke in early 2000). Lastly, look for the interest rate differential to narrow between high-grade corporate bonds and Treasury bonds.

We intend to survive these circumstances with you and are here to serve you in any realistic way we can.

Warmest regards,

William Smead
Chief Executive Officer
Chief Investment Officer

Dear Clients and Prospective Clients:

Stocks

As we saw from June 30th to now in the price of Oil, price is a great regulator of price. Stocks are way down, having dropped the most in October since the crash of 1987. An abundance of selling supply coming from hedge fund liquidations, margin calls, mutual fund redemptions and individual stock owners (reaching their pain threshold) has overwhelmed the few lonely buyers. Most of the selling is being done in panic. The lonely buyers are people like corporate insiders and value-oriented, patient investors like Warren Buffett, John Neff, Marty Whitman and us at Smead Capital Management. Supply is high, demand is nil and prices are low.

Treasury Bonds

Demand is the highest since the 1930′s as investors want U.S. Government assurance of payment of principle and interest. Sellers are lonely and prices are high. Watch out though, because the Federal Reserve and Treasury are looking to massively increase supply as they trade Treasuries at high prices for preferred stock in depressed banks and out-of-favor mortgage loans.

Real Estate

Lonely buyers are coming out of the woodwork at lower prices to snatch up bargains in California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida on short sales and foreclosures in an ocean of supply. This bubble, which broke at the end of 2005, is now being bottomed as the media misses the law of supply and demand. The media rails about huge drops in housing permits, starts and sales. These are a big supply reducer and leaves buyers shopping among the existing supply.

Corporate and Municipal Bonds

Investors are so scared that they don’t trust state and municipalities. Lonely buyers are seeing the biggest spreads to treasury bonds since the 1930′s and supply is contracting fast.

Money markets/Cash/T-bills

These are the world’s most popular investments. There are hardly any lonely sellers and there is currently the world’s biggest army of buyers. Money-market prices are at record highs and interest rates at or near 70-years lows.

Commodities

This asset class was hotter than a pistol from 2003 to four months ago. However, price regulates price and that rule is no exception in the price of oil, grains, basic materials and other commodities. Supply comes out of the woodwork and alternatives become very attractive. I would expect this asset class to be dead money in the “Next Great U.S. Stock Market.”

I remember being a lonely seller of Tech stocks in late 1999 and feeling incredibly foolish as I talked to unhappy clients who were watching their rabid neighbors get wealthy overnight on the latest Initial Public Offering (IPO) of common stock. Supply was exploding and buying was frenzied. We are at the exact opposite today. Sellers are dumping the best companies with the brightest futures and there are virtually no IPO’s. As the “Motels” sang in 1982, “It’s like I told you, only the lonely can play.”

William Smead