In 2005, Seth Klarman of Baupost Capital warned a group of Wharton business school students that a new class of “value pretenders” had emerged. Klarman, whose fund has earned more than 20% annual returns on more than $5 billion in holdings, provided the following description: “These investors apply a dip strategy.

More bad news for WAMU. SEC is investigating the possible use of inflated appraisals.

“If they are in the strike zone at all, the business ‘pitches’ we now see are just catching the lower outside corner. If we swing, we will be locked into low returns. But if we let all of today’s balls go by, there can be no assurance that the next ones we see will be more to our liking. Perhaps the attractive pries of the past were the aberrations, not the full pries of today.

VALUEPLAYS NOTE: Read a similar post from February at ValuePlays

Rockefeller and Buffett parallel

Diversity Breakdowns and Invisible Vulnerability. For he who is acquainted with the paths of nature, will more readily observe her deviations; and, vice versa, he who has learned her deviations will be able more …

DVW is currently trading at a 14% discount from its acquisition price. This provides a relativley risk free 14% return in just a few months.

Insight on why he is investing in Asia, with Marty Whitman, Third Avenue Management and CNBC’s Erin Burnett