Value stocks have been faring quite well recently. But in his “Intelligent Investor” column for The Wall Street Journal, Jason Zweig says that the key to value investing is how you respond when times get tough. Zweig talks with value investing legend Jean-Marie Eveillard, who says that “most people aren’t cut out for value investing because human nature shrinks from pain.” And there’s plenty of pain in value investing — even for the greats. Zweig… Read More
Hedge fund guru Seth Klarman rarely talks with the media, but he recently gave an in-depth interview to Charlie Rose through the group Facing History and Ourselves. And Business Insider has provided a nice summary of the legendary value investor’s wisdom. Much of his advice focuses on the psychology of value investing. “Investing is the intersection of economics and psychology,” Klarman says. “The economics, the valuation of the business, is not hard. The psychology —… Read More
Michael van Biema, whose value-focused firm’s funds garnered several InvestHedge awards in 2010, says the Asian markets are offering particularly good opportunities for value investors. “They’re getting really, really cheap again, which of course, we like,” van Biema tells Forbes.com in reference to Asian stocks. “And you get a huge tail wind of growth. The best environment for a value investor is a place where companies get highly mispriced, so that you can buy firms… Read More
Top fund manager David Winters says it’s a “great time to be a value investor”. Winters tells Bloomberg that “I think there’s a lot to do today because people are so negative. It’s a great time to be a value investor.” One area where he’s finding a lot of value: Switzerland. Winters also talks about his broader investment philosophy, which involves looking for businesses that have improving economics, a cheap share price, and management working for… Read More
Warren Buffett has said that investing is simple, but it’s not easy, and in their latest Kiplinger’s column, value investors Whitney Tilson and John Heins explore that subject. “In The Little Book That Beats the Market, published in 2005, star money manager Joel Greenblatt describes a ‘magic formula’ for success that ranks stocks based on only two factors: share price relative to a firm’s earnings and return on capital,” Tilson and Heins write. “After reading… Read More
Many investors run from a stock when it makes short-term negative headlines. But in this recent interview with Bloomberg about News Corp., one of his biggest holdings, top fund manager Donald Yacktman offers an interesting take on how a value investor like himself deals with short-term bad news. In the case of News Corp., for example, Yacktman says recent events have generated bad publicity, but haven’t had that big of an impact on the firm’s… Read More
Top value manager David Winters says he sees a bright future for the world, and sees “lots of undervalued securities” right now. He also says a key, overlooked economic indicator — rail car loadings — is giving bullish signals, and discusses some stocks he’s keen on. [youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArzkVb-Iivk]
This interesting Wall Street Journal article points out that value stocks, or value investing strategies, have been some of the hardest hit during this bear market and often times underperform during recessions. According to the author, “since the market peak in October 2007, an iShares exchange-traded fund designed to mimic value stocks in the S&P 500 is down some 56%, compared with 53% for the S&P 500 itself. The iShares ETF that mimics “growth” stocks… Read More
Showing the contrarian bent that made him one of the most successful investors of all time, David Dreman says it’s time for investors to jump into banking stocks. “They will come back at some point. It’s essential to the economy,” Dreman tells Q1 Publishing. “We need a banking system we’re confident in. We can’t work without a banking system. We can patch it up for a while and the government will probably take some stake… Read More
In a piece written for Forbes.com’s “Gurus’ Guide to 2009“, John Heins and Whitney Tilson do a great job in examining just what makes an investor a value investor. While value investors come in all shapes and sizes — large-cap, small-cap, activist, non-activist, U.S.-focused, foreign-focused — Heins and Tilson list 12 similarities they share. A sampling: They focus on intrinsic company value and buy only when there is a substantial margin of safety, rather than… Read More