Here's the Wall Street Journal's latest handling of the debate between Bruce Berkowitz and David Einhorn over the value of St. Joe, a Florida real estate company:
AIG represents the latest in a series of recent stumbles for Mr. Berkowitz...Mr. Berkwowitz's massive investment in St. Joe Co. landed him in a high-profile back-and-forth with hedge fund manager David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital, who was shorting the stock. Mr. Berkowitz has since taken over as chairman of St. Joe after ousting the company's chief executive. Fund documents show the fund's average cost of JOE at about $26 per share. The stock currently is around $25.
If a stock bought at $26 and now trading at $25 is a "stumble" for Mr. Berkowitz, what is it for Mr. Einhorn or for the Wall Street Journal? On October 13 Mr. Einhorn had announced the stock was worth $7 a share, and the Journal gave his claim a lot of coverage, going so far as to announce, in a follow-up story in January, "St. Joe: Short Sellers Win Round One as SEC Noses Around." Who has been more right about the stock, Mr. Einhorn and the Journal or Mr. Berkowitz?