Top Takes From RealMoney

The RealMoney contributors are in the business of trading and investing all day on the basis of ongoing news flow. Below, we offer the top five ideas that RealMoney contributors posted today and how they played those ideas.

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1. Kahn Brothers

By Tim Melvin
2:17 p.m. EDT

Old-line value manager Kahn Brothers released its quarterly holdings earlier today. The company was not very active in the quarter. Since it is focused on book value, the relative inactivity does not surprise me, because the market was rising rapidly most of the period.

Khan Brothers added to some of its cheap stocks, including two stocks that are on my list: Audiovox(VOXX Quote) and Syms(SYMS Quote). The company likes the banks a lot more than I do, adding to positions in Citigroup(C Quote), Landmark Bancorp(LARK Quote) (a micro-cap), Key Corp.(KEY Quote) and New York Community Bancorp(NYB Quote).

Khan Brothers added to medical imaging company Hologic(HOLX Quote) and electronics manufacturer Nam Tai Electronics(NTE Quote). A quick check of the numbers shows Nam Tai to be a net-cash stock with cash equal to market cap. The firm sharply reduced stakes in Comcast(CMCSA Quote) and USEC(USU Quote) in the quarter.

There were no new positions added to the portfolio during the quarter.

No positions.

2. A Good Time for Banks to Raise Cash

By Geoff Johnson
12:46 p.m. EDT

At the time of its second-quarter earnings release, East West Bancorp(EWBC Quote), a bank I bought recently, got very aggressive in terms of writing down loans and then raising capital to replenish the balance sheet. The result was a much higher stock price -- this from a bank at ground zero for all that was bad about housing and banking. I noted back then that other banks should do the same. Now is a great time to get hopping.