Hear perspectives on some of the most timely issues facing the industry from our leading global investment managers.
Two up-and-coming investment stars talk about their unusual routes to money management. Bridgeway Funds founder John Montgomery explains his quant approach and unusual corporate culture and value investor Whitney Tilson of the Tilson Funds discusses following Warren Buffett's style.
Whitney Tilson's latest article on FT's Inside Curve column.
- To say that in the current environment shares of companies in the financial sector are “oversold” or “already discounting a recession” or “poised to fall much further” is a simplistic view that doesn’t reflect the diversity of businesses, companies and risks present among financial firms.
- In times of uncertainty, the less discriminating the market is of such differences, the more opportunity for smart investors to take advantage.
- “I’m not Warren Buffett and neither are you,” Lisa Rapuanosaid. “You have to think for yourself, be original, use your particular talents and learn.”
Christopher Browne traces his investing approach directly back to Warren Buffett's guru, Ben Graham. Guess what? It still works.
...Graham's buy-cheap discipline kept value funds, including Tweedy Browne's, out of tech stocks during the dotcom bubble; and while value funds have lagged lately, they still have the best five-year return of the major investing styles.
In a recent chat with managing editor Eric Schurenberg, Browne explained why.
Two unconventional thinkers help us to become better investors. Consuelo Mack talks to Nassim Taleb, author of the bestseller, The Black Swan, a must-read among Wall Streeters; and Jason Zweig, author of Your Money and Your Brain about the new field of neuroeconomics.
I consolidate some valuable links about the 3rd Annual New York Value Investing Congress on November 28 & 29, 2007.
The Weitz Funds Conference Call Transcript - November 14, 2007.
This is Wally. I'm here with Brad Hinton and Tom Carney, and we welcome you to the call. I hear there are 48 people at this point. It's been a while since we did one of these calls. I think we felt like we got to the point where we didn't have much to say a year or two ago and now there does seem to be more to talk about and we invited questions. We got quite a few and the three of us will spend, we haven't timed this, but maybe 15 minutes or so talking about the things that seem to be of most interest. Strangely enough there is one stock that seemed to dominate the questions and most of them were politely worded.
At any rate, we're going to start right in with Countrywide Financial (CFC). I wrote some about it in the third quarter letter to shareholders. Things change daily in the mortgage world these days though, so here is a summary of where we are and how we got where we are and what we plan to do going forward.
Eddie Lampert's Letter to Sears Associates :
November 30, 2007
To our Associates:
Yesterday, Sears Holdings announced our results for the third quarter of 2007. While we were not pleased with these results, much of the commentary in the media and on Wall Street following the results ignores the strength of our company and the progress that we have made. In fact, over the past several years, we are one of the few retail companies that have actually reduced our overall debt levels, while at the same time investing over $1 billion on capital expenditures, making investments in inventory for our customers, contributing significantly to our pension plans for our past and future retirees and repurchasing over $3 billion of our shares.
Warren Buffett Going Global Series - video clips & transcripts :
Justin Fuller of Morningstar met with the CIO of the Matrix Advisors Value Fund, David Katz, to discuss some of his stock picks, spin-offs, thesis on the nation's three large money center banks, and one large-cap name etc.
Video Links :
On November 15 in Manhattan, the editor of Grant's spoke before the Center for Jewish History on the topic, "My Hero, Benjamin Grossbaum." Following is the edited text of his remarks.
It is a pleasure to be here this evening. I am under strict instructions from the rector of Grace Church, Brooklyn, not to let down the Episcopal side. Uphold the highest standards of the Episcopalian intellectual tradition, he told me. What that tradition might be, he couldn't say, and neither can I. But I'll do my level best.
My subject is Benjamin Graham: his life, his investment philosophy, his writings and his Jewishness. About his love life, I will say little, as my time this evening is limited—just three hours, I believe. Some years ago, Fortune Magazine, in a squib it published on the occasion of Graham's induction into the U.S. Business Hall of Fame, said that the thrice-married father of value investing "leaped from blonde to blonde like an Alpine goat springing from peak to peak."
I am a frankly worshipful admirer of Graham's. I love him for his heart as much as for his head. Between 1929 and 1932, his investment partnership lost 70% of its value. Not until 1936 did it recoup all it relinquished since the Crash. Yet Graham persevered and, along with his partner, Jerry Newman, went on to achieve a brilliant long-term investment record—not excluding those three disastrous years. We have all heard the platitude, "The first rule of investing is not to lose money and the second rule is not to forget the first." Very helpful. Well, Graham shows that a debilitating loss is no reason to give up. . . . Never quit.
The odds of beating the S&P 500 Index for 15 years running has been pegged 2.3 million to one. Bill Miller is the one.
NEVER, EVER TELL BILL MILLER HE'S a legend of Wall Street. He doesn't want to hear the word, think about it, or talk about it. "I am well aware, having been in the business a long time, that those sorts of labels can change very rapidly-from 'legend' to 'has-been,'" he says.
