Walker's Manual of Unlisted Stocks - Harry Eisenberg

[oddballstocks]

Walker's Manual

Anyone familiar with this book?  I have the 2002-2003 edition on order but I was hoping to find the 2006 edition somewhere.  From what I've heard the 2006 copy was never published but a stop gap paperback was sent out to people who had pre-ordered.

Can anyone vouch for the usefulness of this book? 

[oddballstocks]

I hate replying to myself but...

I have the 02-03 book, and it's incredible.  There's a page per company lots of interesting data.  I know the biggest rub is that the data is out of date usually the financials are from 98-02.  I'm not finding that's an issue at all, with most of these companies that were very over capitalized in 2002 they are still over capitalized.  Other companies that grew their earnings in the 01-02 have grown their earnings through the 08-09 as well.

I've been finding probably 1/3 of the companies in the book no longer exist, they've gone private (fully) or they've been merged or acquired or gone belly up.  To me this is a bit of an endgame for an unlisted stock investor, some sort of liquidity event.

Still interested in the 06/07 edition if anyone has anything.  I'd also be interested in knowing what Harry Eisenberg is up to these days. 

[Ballinvarosig Investors]

PM HarryLong, he mentioned it before to me and may know where you can get a copy.

[Tim Eriksen]

I have the 1996, 2000 and 2002-03 editions. 

I worked for Walker's Manual in 2004 and 2005.  A few years prior Harry Eisenberg had sold it to Andrew Berger, who is based in New Jersey.  What I was told is Harry Eisenberg had a staff of six people doing research and the sales could not support it so he sold.  Last I heard he still lived in the Bay Area.  Andrew occasionally hired people on a contract basis to help on the book and projects.  I helped input and edit the September 2004 edition which came out in paperback in mid to late 2005.  He told me at the time that it was being sent to people who had pre-ordered and I assume pre-paid.  I have never seen the paperback for sale anywhere.  I have given away my extras.  I do not think the 2006 edition was ever printed.  If it had, I am sure Andrew would have tried to get me to buy one.  Your best shot is to contact Walker's Manual directly regarding the paperback version. 

They still have a web site. 

I would be more than happy to interact with you, or anyone else,  in terms of finding out more information on any of the unlisted stocks in the book.  There are some real gems.


       

[twacowfca]

Walker's Manual

Anyone familiar with this book?  I have the 2002-2003 edition on order but I was hoping to find the 2006 edition somewhere.  From what I've heard the 2006 copy was never published but a stop gap paperback was sent out to people who had pre-ordered.

Can anyone vouch for the usefulness of this book?

I had one of the last editions that I think was published.  I read all the entries and then tracked the most interesting ones.  They seemed to lag the market as it rebounded, probably because they didn't have analyst coverage, and they were in "boring" industries.  The only ones that seemed to have good returns were the few that got taken out in M&A.  These were a very small percentage of the whole group that was generally composed of stable businesses that had been around for the better part of a century.  The trading volume for these companies was very low, sometimes zero.       

[stahleyp]

Have you guys visited the site?


It looks like an image of a site. :/

http://www.walkersmanual.com/

[calonego]

I've been bugging Andrew about publishing it again for years... to no avail. 
He's either started, or in the process of starting a fund.

[Tim Eriksen]

I've been bugging Andrew about publishing it again for years... to no avail. 
He's either started, or in the process of starting a fund.

If you search for AB Value Partners you can see that he started a fund and has tried to do mini tenders for a few unlisted stocks.  Interesting approach.

From my last conversation he told me he sells the data to a few institutions instead of publishing it for retail.  I've considered trying to create an online version myself but you have to have a lot of contacts who will supply annual reports since it takes time and money to buy shares in 500 companies. 

[oddballstocks]

Tim,

I've considered the same thing as you, build out a database of unlisted stocks and put it online.  When I think about this it isn't as easy as just updating the Walkers.  I've been going through it and probably 40% or more of the companies in the 03 edition aren't traded anymore.  So some newer unlisted companies would need to be found to fill these spots.  The second issue is as you mention there would be a substantial upfront cost to buying all of those shares.

I've run across a few stocks that are technically traded but shares haven't had a trade since 2009 or early 2010.

I wonder how much actual paying interest exists for a thing like this.  As I've been going through the Walkers Manual I've been trying to blog about these companies.  In a few cases I've mentioned that I have financials for unlisted companies and I'd give them out to anyone who emails me, to date I've had one request.  I think this is a niche market within value investing.

I've also considered putting together a few reports for minimal costs on some of these companies, but I keep running into the same issue as above, lack of demand.

[Tim Eriksen]

Tim,

I've considered the same thing as you, build out a database of unlisted stocks and put it online.  When I think about this it isn't as easy as just updating the Walkers.  I've been going through it and probably 40% or more of the companies in the 03 edition aren't traded anymore.  So some newer unlisted companies would need to be found to fill these spots.  The second issue is as you mention there would be a substantial upfront cost to buying all of those shares.

I've run across a few stocks that are technically traded but shares haven't had a trade since 2009 or early 2010.

I wonder how much actual paying interest exists for a thing like this.  As I've been going through the Walkers Manual I've been trying to blog about these companies.  In a few cases I've mentioned that I have financials for unlisted companies and I'd give them out to anyone who emails me, to date I've had one request.  I think this is a niche market within value investing.

I've also considered putting together a few reports for minimal costs on some of these companies, but I keep running into the same issue as above, lack of demand.

Shoot me a private email.  I have some ideas to solve the problems you mentioned.

Tim