How to profit from hidden assets

Article Excerpt

It’s understandable, but investors generally overlook hidden assets. In fact, those assets may not even appear on a company’s balance sheet. The classic hidden asset is real estate that has gained value since the company first bought it, but on current financial statements, it’s still valued at that original purchase price. If a stock with hidden assets gets cheap enough, it may attract value-oriented investors. The low share price may also trigger a takeover bid that otherwise might never have been offered. If hidden assets work out well, they can be extraordinarily profitable. On the other hand, if they work out poorly, you really won’t lose that much. That gives you what we’d call the best of all possible investment worlds: a situation where heads you win, tails you break even. even…