Leucadia National In The Shadows Of Berkshire?

 Leucadia National Corp.(LUK) is a publicly traded diversified holding company with investments ranging from telecoms, medical products, real estate, auto finance, investment banking, timber,mining, plastics, gaming entertainment, energy and  even a couple of wineries. Their current track record goes back almost 30 years with their roots being traced back even farther to the mid 1800's. Leucadia which is run by the duo Ian Cumming and Joseph Steinberg does not come up  in the media as much  as  the well known Berkshire Hathaway(BRKA)(BRKB) run by Warren Buffett. However, over the last 30 years these value players have quietly compounded an impressive track record which ranks highly amongst any peer group. Many of their investments are private companies in which they own a significant stake or the whole company. They currently hold positions in 8 publicly traded companies with the largest being the Jefferies Group(JEF).

Currently LUK  trades at $19.50 per share with a book value of $25.00 per share. Their debt/equity ratio is .38, with revenues slightly over 1 billion. Management currently owns 23% of the shares outstanding while large institutions such as, Fairholme(FAIRX), Morgan Stanley(MS) and others own 66%. At the end of September their net worth or stock holders equity came to $5.7 billion dollars. According to their last annual report they had an opportunity to make a large investment in a real estate, farming and ranching business in Argentina which they will give further details at the end of 2008.

Below is Leucadia National's Track Record For The Last 30 Years:

       Book Value    Equity

        Per Share

                                                                     

1978 ($0.04) (a) ($7,657) (a)
1979 0.11  22,945  
1980 0.12  24,917 
1981 0.14  23,997 
1982 0.36  61,178  
1983 0.43 73,498  
1984 0.74  126,097 
1985 0.83  151,033 
1986 1.27  214,587  
1987 1.12  180,408 
1988 1.28  206,912 
1989 1.64  257,735 
1990 1.97  268,567 
1991 2.65 365,495 
1992 3.69  618,161 
1993 5.43  907,856
1994 5.24  881,815 
1995 6.16  1,111,491 
1996 6.17  1,118,107 
1997 9.73  1,863,531 
1998 9.97  1,853,159 
1999 6.59(b) 1,121,988(b) 
2000 7.26 1,204,241 
2001 7.21 1,195,453 
2002 8.58  1,534,525 
2003 10.05  2,134,161 
2004 10.50  2,258,653 
2005 16.95  3,661,914(c)
2006 18.00  3,893,275 
2007 25.03  5,570,492(d)

                         21.7%  compound return on equity

(a) A negative number cannot be compounded; therefore, we have used 1979.

(b) Reflects a reduction resulting from dividend payments in 1999 totaling $811.9 million or $4.53 per share.

(c) Reflects the recognition of $1,135.1 million of the deferred tax asset or $5.26 per share.

(d) Reflects the recognition of $542.7 million of the deferred tax asset or $2.44 per share.

(Dollars in thousands, except per share amounts)

* All information is believed to be reliable but as usual you need to do further research