Virgin Blue Holdings (VBA)

VBA caught my eye because I think it is selling at a discount mainly because Toll holdings got rid of it and suddenly the market is flooded with VBA shares that nobody wants.

It has 2 Billion dollars worth in tangible assets (planes, machinery, equipment etc.), but only a market capitalization of 300 million. Their earnings last year was more than 100million, making their P/E ratio about 2.5-3.

From a solely value prespective, I think they are incredible. However, airlines in general is an industry that I definitely want to avoid because of every rising cost of fuel, unionized workers, price based competition etc. that makes it an incredibly hostile envioronment to operate in. Under initial investigations, it seems unlikely that it follow Ansett (another Oz airlines early this decade that went bust) to bankruptcy, however, that goes against Charlie Munger's advice of buying a business that you would want to keep forever and ever.

I've bought tiny bits (less than 1k) worth of their shares, which is a little speculative.

VBA is something I am keen to explore a little more, but for the rest of the year, I'm going to be completely broke and will have 0 dollars to spend buying more shares. When I do get $$$, VBA is something I'd want to take a closer look into for sure!