Mediaboss Marketing

One of the things Buffett consistently refers to when evaluating the quality of a business is the amount of cash it produces relative to the amount of cash it needs to maintain the business. Buffett calls this cash flow that is produced "owner earnings", which is basically free cash flow. Buffett defines owner earnings as the cash flow a business produces less the capital expenditures a business has for maintaining the business (he excludes growth capex).

Free cash flow is the easiest way to approximate Buffett's "owner earnings" definition, and in some ways it's more conservative because it typically includes both maintenance and growth capex.

For weeks, I've noticed that Check Point Software (CHKP) has been at the top of the list in Value Line's weekly "Biggest Free Flow Cash Generators" screen. CHKP has generated an astounding 71 times more cash than it has needed to invest back into the business (more than two times the ratio of the next highest stock). That is an incredible cash flow machine.

Check Point is a leading provider of software that protects computer networks from malicious attacks. I haven't done any detailed research on the business itself, and it's not extremely cheap, but from an EV/FCF basis, it looks somewhat attractive, especially given the incredible growth the company has experienced. In the last 10 years, here are the average annual growth rates:

Here are some of the key metrics:

Free Cash Flow

Look at the incredible amount of operating cash flow relative to the capital spending, which of course leads to significant free cash flow. The company is currently priced at around 9 times free cash flow (using EV/FCF), which is excellent in and of itself. But it has grown its free cash flow at an average rate of 16.7% per year over the last 10 years.

This FCF has allowed the company to buy back about 20% of it's shares over the past decade, a trend that will likely continue. The company pays no dividend, but given the extremely high internal returns it generates, that is actually a positive for shareholders. Better to keep the money in the business to continue compounding.

Margins

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Check Point Software (CHKP) is a Free Cash Flow Machine

Twine, easy-to-use free software, brings interactive-fiction game development to the people.

These days, regular folks across the world are using free software to easily create homespun music, Webisodes, and movies, so why not interactive fiction? A little program called Twine (download for Windows or Mac) that brings a DIY ethos to text-based Web games has slowly emerged as a huge player in the indie-game scene. If you're new to Twine, it's freeware that lets users develop their own interactive stories and games. It enables players to determine their own adventures by clicking on hyperlinks scattered throughout the text.

Originally developed by Chris Klimas, Twine has been used by myriad storytellers to great effect. A directory site called TwineHub lets users upload their completed stories and games for the enjoyment of others, and it is packed to the gills with submissions. From the teeming mass of Twine games, I've selected a few of the best or most interesting:

Howling Dogs (by Porpentine)

Opening scene from Howling Dogs

Bklyn Trash King (by Ben Esposito)

Opening scene from Bklyn Trash King

Hypnagogue (by Mitch Alexander)

Opening scene from Hypnagogue

If any of the above stories inspire you to create your own Twine game, then download the freeware and follow these simple directions:

Read the original post:
Choose your Twine adventure

The statement

"The Internal Revenue code has ballooned to a 5,600-page, 4 million-word complicated mess that is seven times as long as the Bible with none of the good news."

Rep. Leonard Lance, R-N.J., in a press release

The ruling

A 2010 report by the Internal Revenue Service's Taxpayer's Advocate Office found that the tax code contained 3.8 million words. That calculation was made by downloading a zip file of the code, unzipping it and running it through Microsoft Word's word-count feature, according to a footnote in the report. A 2012 version of the report puts the number of words in the code at "about 4 million."

We also reached out to CCH, the Riverwoods, Ill., publisher of the two-volume 2013 Winter version of the tax code and was told the best estimate of word length was 4 million.

So Lance's claim about the number of words is generally accurate.

Next, let's look at number of pages. Lance said 5,600, based on the same figure cited by articles in the Washington Post, the Harvard Business Review and other publications, according to Todd Mitchell, Lance's chief of staff.

Mark Luscombe, a principal federal tax analyst for CCH, said the publisher's version of the tax code is 5,036 pages.

"Private publishers do a print version of the Internal Revenue code, but then you're looking at one private publisher's version of the code," he said. "We do it in two volumes and we keep condensing it."

More:
PolitiFact: Yes, tax code is long and complex

Bravo!

"Kudos to Saint Bede for hosting the free Trinity Organ Series of concerts. Listening to the classical works makes for a delightful lunchtime hour. Looking forward to next year's season."

Tongue in cheek

"An enterprising local restaurant has added new menu items in the wake of this week's news from Jamestown. These include: lady fingers, shepherdess pie, colonist casserole, and the popular Jamestown family stew."

Phone scam

"I have received several calls to my cell phone by someone in broken English telling me I will get a $100 voucher to be used at any store of my choosing. The catch is I need to send $3.95 for the shipping cost and place it on my Visa or MasterCard. I told him a voucher could be put in an envelope and should only take one stamp to mail to me. All he wanted was access to my credit card."

Race agenda

"I would give a strong protest about this rainbow run. Apparently the homosexual community formed a run through Town Center in Newport News. They took different-colored flour and threw it around while it was raining."

The event was called Color Me Rad, part of a nationwide race series loosely based on the Hindu Festival of Colors, also known as Holi. Participants wear white clothing, and people stationed along the race route throw colored powder on them as they run by. The local race benefited the Newport News Green Foundation. Another race in the series takes place Sunday in Virginia Beach. Visit http://www.colormerad.com for details.

Signage

See original here:
Virginia Gazette Last Word for May 4: Phone scam; Race agenda; Cox issues

Remember all that buzz about MLS participating in the South American Copa Libertadores tournament last week? Not happening.

The chatter, which originated with an article from Brazilian outlet Lance, was shot down from every direction by Friday.

First, there were the comments by MLS Commissioner Don Garber at a press conference held in Columbus, where he said: "There's always this buzz about Copa Lib every now and again as if we're engaged in conversations with Conmebol about it, and we're not at all.We've got to get more engaged with getting better in our regional tournament."

Then came the kibosh from South American headquarters at CONMEBOL, where they denied there were any talks as claimed by Lance.

"There is no possibility that MLS teams participate in CONMEBOL tournaments," CONMEBOL spokesperson Nestor Bentez told FutbolMLS.com. "Not even a Panamerican Cup. That's the reality today although I don't know about the future."

Sources close to CONCACAF also confirmed to FutbolMLS.com that there have been no discussions with CONMEBOL about MLS teams in Copa Libertadores.

The last time an MLS team participated in an official CONMEBOL tournament was in 2007 when D.C. United were involved in the Copa Sudamericana and suffered elimination at the hands of Mexican side Chivas Guadalajara.

The rest is here:
MLS in Copa Libertadores? CONMEBOL chimes in with the official word