One of our favorite Mohnish Pabrai articles is one he wrote called – Astronomers, Astronauts and Styles of Investing. It provides some great insights into why it’s so difficult for analysts and investment managers to calculate the future earnings of a company and make their forecasts. Here’s an excerpt from … Read More
Acquirer’s Multiple Stocks Appearing in Klarman, Simons, Griffin Portfolios
One of the new weekly additions here at The Acquirer’s Multiple features some of the top picks from our Stock Screeners and some top investors who are holding these same picks in their portfolios. Investors such as Joel Greenblatt, Carl Icahn, Jim Simons, Prem Watsa, Jeremy Grantham, and Howard Marks. The top … Read More
Bill Ackman: How To Identify Great Businesses For Investment
Here’s a great interview by Advisor Perspectives with Bill Ackman. During the interview Ackman discusses his investment strategy, how to define a great business, how to construct a portfolio, the importance of an active approach to investing, and why maintaining a high public profile is important in the execution of … Read More
Seth Klarman: What Is An Appropriate Margin of Safety Before Making An Investment
Margin of Safety, by Seth Klarman is one of the best books ever written on investing and a must read for all investors. One of the most important investing concepts discussed in the book is the ‘margin of safety’, popularized by Ben Graham. Seth Klarman describes the ‘margin of safety’ … Read More
Carl Icahn: The Genesis Of The Great Corporate Activist
One of the best books written about Carl Icahn is King Icahn: Biography of a Renegade Capitalist, by Mark Stevens. The book is the story of a man who rose from humble beginnings to emerge as one of the the most powerful activists in corporate America. Two passages in particular encapsulate … Read More
Mohnish Pabrai: How To Calculate DCF Simply And Compare Prospective Investments
One of the best books written on investing is The Dhando Investor, by Mohnish Pabrai. There’s one passage in the book in which Pabrai demonstrates how to calculate intrinsic value simply, and how you can use the calculation to compare prospective investments. Here’s an excerpt from the book: The advantages … Read More
Walter Schloss: What Kind Of Stocks Do We Look At For Investment
In 1993 Walter Schloss gave a great presentation called – Upper Level Seminar In Value Investing, at the Columbia Business School. Schloss’ notes for the presentation included a number of timeless investing lessons including the kinds of stocks he looks at for investment, how to scale into an investment, and … Read More
Jesse Livermore: 10 Investing Lessons From Reminiscences Of A Stock Operator
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, by Edwin Lefevre, is a classic investing book that focuses on the character Larry Livingston. Which is really a depiction of Jesse Livermore, one of the most highly regarded traders of all time. The book provides a number of classic investing lessons to help investors deal with … Read More
Ray Dalio: To Be Successful In The Markets You Have To Be An Independent Thinker
Here’s a great interview with Ray Dalio at Bloomberg in which he discusses China, Europe, US Inflation, and his investment strategy. Near the end of the interview (12:48) Dalio says, “In order to be successful in the markets you have to be an independent thinker”. Here’s an excerpt from the interview: … Read More
Philip Fisher: How To Avoid One Of The Biggest Mistakes Made By Investors
One of the best books ever written on investing is Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, by Philip Fisher. The book is a must read for all investors. There is one passage in the book in which Fisher discusses one of the biggest mistakes made by investors due to their ego, … Read More
Charles Munger – Sometimes We Sell Stocks Because We Feel Like It!
We’ve just been watching Tom Russo’s recent talk to the folks at Google. Just at the end of his presentation (52:39) Russo recalls a great story about Charles Munger getting a bit peeved when he was questioned by a member of the audience at a Wesco annual meeting about why … Read More
How To Apply Walter Schloss’ Successful ‘Approach’ To Investing In 2018
I know what you’re thinking. How could Walter Schloss possibly be successful in 2018 when his investment career was built on finding net-net stocks? While I agree that net-nets have all but disappeared if we substitute his net-net ‘metric’ for our own 2018 ‘metric’ there’s a lot more to Schloss’ … Read More
Outperformance Means Living Through Periods of Underperformance
In Berkshire Hathaway’s latest annual shareholder letter Warren Buffett provides a great illustration of how price randomness in the short term can obscure longterm growth in value. His following real-life example demonstrates that in order to achieve longterm outperformance investors must suffer through periods of significant underperformance. Here’s an excerpt … Read More
Charlie Munger: The Importance of Planck Knowledge or Knowledgeable Investing
Warren Buffett has often been quoted on the importance of knowledgeable investing and equally important – knowing what you don’t know. Two of his most famous quotes on the subject are: “What counts for most people in investing is not how much they know, but rather how realistically they define … Read More
Warren Buffett: Investing Lessons Learnt From ‘That’ Bet
In 2007 Warren Buffett entered into a 10 year bet with Protégé Partners that the S&P 500 would outperform a selection of hedge funds over the following ten years. Last year he won that bet which resulted in the Girls Inc. of Omaha receiving $2,222,279 from his initial outlay of $318,250. In … Read More
Charlie Munger: “Why Were Warren Buffett And His Creation, Berkshire Hathaway, So Unusually Successful?”
Last week the Daily Journal held its 2018 General Meeting chaired by Charles Munger. One of the key takeaways for us as small investors was when Munger said: “I do think that a very smart man who’s patient and aggressive in combination, is willing to work hard, to root around … Read More
Seth Klarman: “A Margin Of Safety Is Necessary As Investors Are Human And Do Make Mistakes”
Seth Klarman wrote an investing classic called – Margin of Safety: Risk-Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor. There’s one passage in particular in which Klarman encapsulates his entire value investing strategy saying, “A margin of safety is necessary because valuation is an imprecise art, the future is unpredictable, … Read More
Charles Munger: How Do You Learn To Be A Great Investor
One of our favorite investing books here at The Acquirer’s Multiple is – Damn Right: Behind the Scenes with Berkshire Hathaway Billionaire Charlie Munger. One of the best passages in the book covers Charlie Munger’s response to, “How Do You Learn To Be A Great Investor?”. Here’s an excerpt from the … Read More
Forbes: Market Shift Coming – Value Stocks Overtake Growth In 2018
Here’s a great article at Forbes that discusses the possibility of value investing overtaking growth in 2018. Here’s an excerpt from that article: Since March 2009, growth and value stocks have pushed the U.S. stock market forward, with the two categories swapping leadership along the way. Until 2017, that is, … Read More
Rich Pzena: How To Be A Successful Value Investor In Disruptive Times
In his latest shareholder letter, Rich Pzena at Pzena Asset Management provides some great advice for investors who are finding it difficult to invest in disruptive times saying: “We are handling the current wave of disruptions the way we always have: by conducting intensive research to find skewed risk / … Read More