Financial Log Book - Interim Report on Investments - April 4, 2014

Some very satisfying gains have been made since the beginning of the year. Most of the gains have been contributed by the "magic 20 percent".  Two investment themes are largely responsible:  rail safety and resource scarcity - a west coast quarry with marine access.

Comments on the various holdings can be found in earlier postings on this blog.

In light of rather frothy valuations in the market, I think that a correction may depress most holdings in the event that it does take place ... as it inevitably will. I am planning to take some profits and keep the money in cash or place in companies with the following attributes:

• businesses with a wide moat and income streams which will not implode in falling economic conditions e.g. North West Company
• companies which are well managed and positioned to profit from well-established long-term trends e.g. Deere, and some of the energy enterprises 
• companies with a demonstrated resilience during hard economic times e.g. Fairfax Financial Holdings.  Check out the company web site to learn more about Prem Watsa's strategies. 

Entity	Initial Price/ Purchase Date	Price 2014-04-03	Gain/Loss since Jan 1/14 %	Gain/Loss Since Purchase %
Central Fund of Canada (CEF.A)	9.77 2007-09-04	15.17	8.1	55.3
Silver Wheaton (SLW)	12.37 2007-09-04	25.25	17.7	104.2
Polaris Minerals (PLS)**	10.70 2007-06-01	3.08	71.1	-71.2
Cenovus (CVE)	32.39 2010-07-27	31.76	5.3	-2
Canadian National Railway (CN) *	48.88 2009-04-14	61.98	2.8	156.9
North West Company (NWF)	16.23 2009-05-07	24.39	-4.2	50.3
Waterfurnace Renewable Energy (WFI)	28.62 2010-04-12	20.61	-13	-28
ABB (ABB-N)	20.18 2012-12-13	SOLD 03/12 25.35
Oceaneering International (OII-N)	52.95 2012-12-13	73.47	-6.6	38.8
Deere & Company (DE)	88.07 2013-01-03	92.06	1.4	4.5
Rocky Mountain Dealerships (RME)	11.89 2013-01-03	11.35	-10.5	-4.6
HollyFrontier (HFC)	47.95 2013-01-28	48.44	-0.9	1
Titan Logix (TLA)	1.25 2013-09-11	1.42	11.8	13.6
Kelso Technologies Inc. (KLS)	2.20 2013-09-11	5.41	72.4	145.9
U.S. Silica Holdings (SLCA)	25.15 2013-09-11	39.27	15.9	56.1
Oak Tree Capital Group (OAK)	56.45 2013-10-28	57.7	-0.2	2.2
High North Resources (HN)	0.62 2014-03-06	0.54	-12.9	-12.9
Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH)	477.98 2014-3-25	480	0.4	0.4

*CN split 2 for 1 on 2013.12.02

** does not reflect impact of follow-on investment @ $.67 per share