Whitney Tilson on Value Investing
Whitney Tilson discusses what it means to be a Value Investor:
"I have encountered thousands of value investors over the years and am constantly struck by their differences - and their similarities. Allow me to explain. Some value investors invest primarily in small-cap stocks while others stick to large-caps; some invest mostly overseas while others stick to U.S. markets; some run concentrated portfolios, while others are more diversified; some are activists while others never are; some invest only on the long side, others are long-short, and some only short stocks. But while styles may vary, the fundamental characteristics that unite value investors are many."
What are the fundamental characteristics that unite value investors? According to Tilson:
-We tend to buy what is out of favour rather than what is popular.
-We focus on intrinsic company value and buy only when we are convinced we have a substantial margin of safety, rather than trying to guess where the herd will go next.
-We understand and profit from reversion to the mean rather than projecting the immediate past indefinitely into the future.
-We understand beating the market requires a portfolio that looks different from the market and we recognise that truly great investment ideas are rare. Thus, we invest heavily in our handful of best ideas and don't hide behind the "safety" of closet indexing.
-We are focused on avoiding permanent losses and on absolute returns, rather than outperforming a benchmark.
-We typically invest with a multi-year time horizon rather than focusing on the month or quarter ahead.
-We pride ourselves on in-depth and proprietary analysis in search of what Michael Steinhardt calls "variant perceptions", rather than acting on tips or relying on Wall Street analysts.
-We spend much of our time reading - business publications, annual reports, and so on - rather than watching the ticker or the television.
-We focus on analysing and understanding micro factors, such as a company's margins and future growth prospects, and not trying to predict the direction of interest rates, oil prices, the overall economy, and so forth.
-We cast a wide net, seeking mispriced securities across industries and types and sizes of companies rather than accepting artificial limitations on market capitalisation or other criteria.
-We make our own decisions and are willing to be held accountable for them and do not just seek safety in whatever everyone else is buying or decision making-by-committee.
-We admit our mistakes and seek to learn from them.
In the rest of the column, Tilson goes on to argue that Berkshire Hathaway is a strong value stock, estimating its value at $125,000 per A share (or $4,167 per B share) versus current quotes of 91,750 for the A shares, and 3,056 for the B shares. In other words, Berkshire is about a third under valued.
As to Tilson's rules -- I would argue that many of these are applicable to other investing disciplines beyond value investing also. Long term time horizons, variant perspectives, avoiding crowds, being patient and disciplined, having a well rounded understanding of business and economics -- how can anyone argue against these approaches?
Most are not easy; As Tilson points out, "if it were easy, everyone would be doing it - which would make investing a lot less interesting and profitable."
Good stuf Whitney. Thanks!
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Source:
Celebrate value investing . . . with a good investment
By Whitney Tilson
Financial Times, May 4, 2006
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/8328f1d8-db86-11da-98a8-0000779e2340.html
Sunday, June 04, 2006 | 08:30 AM | Permalink
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Jim Cramer’s approach is to buy great companies when they are on sale, in staged increments. He buys stocks when they are out of favor with Wall Street and sells when they become loved by Wall Street. Does that make him a contrarian or a value investor (at times)? (I DO NOT WATCH HIS TV SHOW)
Posted by: Larry Nusbaum, Scottsdale | Jun 4, 2006 9:08:07 AM
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