As you may have seen, I wrote up an article at the end of last year on FBR Group, a small cap financial stock that had fallen very hard in the past few years as it got involved in the subprime and structured finance mess.   My main thesis was that the stock was mispriced, extremely cheap, and available at a substantial margin of safety.  As they reported their 4th quarter results today, my belief in a margin of safety came to fruition as the write downs were aplenty, and total asset value has changed, but the company is doing fine.

"I know that for myself it makes no difference whether I do or forbear those actions which are reckoned excellent. I cannot consent to pay for a privilege where I have intrinsic right. Few and mean as my gifts may be, I actually am, and do not need for my own assurance or the assurance of my fellows any secondary testimony." 

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

    
    Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group (NYSE: FBR) is a Virginia based financial services company structured as a REIT; part investment bank, part asset manager, part principal trader, and part mortgage banker.  They've fallen prey to the credit market upheaval. Sound familiar?