Archive for January, 2013

36South: Profiting from the Tails

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January 30, 2013

Many have read about Cornwall Capital (I wrote about them awhile back), a firm that successfully profited from shorting subprime CDS. Those who enjoyed the Cornwall Capital piece are in for a treat. Below are highlights extracted from an Eurekahedge interview with Richard Hollington of 36South, a hedge fund that also specializes in profiting from volatility […]

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Buffett Partnership Letters: 1966 Part 2

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January 29, 2013

Continuation of our series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters, please see our previous articles for more details. Duration “An even more dramatic example of the conflict between short term performance and the maximization of long term results occurred in 1966. Another party, previously completely unknown to me, issued a tender offer which foreclosed opportunities […]

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An Interview with Bruce Berkowitz – Part 2

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January 26, 2013

Part 2 of portfolio management highlights extracted from an August 2010 WealthTrack interview with Consuelo Mack (in my opinion, WealthTrack really is an underrated treasure trove of investment wisdom). Be sure to check out Part 1. AUM, Compounding, Subscription, Redemptions “MACK: There’s a saying on Wall Street…that size is the enemy of performance… BERKOWITZ: …we think about […]

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Buffett Partnership Letters: 1966 Part 1

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January 24, 2013

Continuation of our series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters, please see our previous articles for more details. Conservatism, Volatility “Proponents of institutional investing frequently cite its conservative nature. If ‘conservatism’ is interpreted to mean ‘productive of results varying only slightly from average experience,’ I believe the characterization is proper…However, I believe that conservatism is […]

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Howard Marks’ Book: Chapter 8

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January 22, 2013

Continuation of portfolio management highlights from Howard Marks’ book, The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor, Chapter 8 “The Most Important Thing Is…Being Attentive to Cycles”   When To Buy, When To Sell “Rule number one: most things will prove to be cyclical. Rule number two: some of the greatest opportunities for gain and […]

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An Interview with Bruce Berkowitz – Part 1

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January 20, 2013

Bruce Berkowitz of Fairholme Funds manages $7Bn+ of assets (this figure is based on fund prospectus disclosures, may not be inclusive of separately managed accounts) and was once named Morningstar’s Manager of the Decade. As you are probably aware, since 2010, it’s been a trying couple of years for Berkowitz. His fund was down 32% […]

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Buffett Partnership Letters: 1965 Part 4

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January 19, 2013

Continuation of our series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters, please see our previous articles for more details. AUM, Trackrecord, Sizing “…I believe that we have done somewhat better during the past few years with the capital we have had in the Partnership than we would have done if we had been working with a […]

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The Math of Compounding

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January 16, 2013

Here is an interesting piece from Ted Lucas of Lattice Strategies (2010 Q4 The Oracle of…Risk Management) on the complementary relationship between compounding and capital preservation, plus a few other insightful topics of discussion. Compounding, Capital Preservation “Losses are linear, but the appreciation required to recover from losses scales exponentially as they deepen. Thought experiment: Imagine a […]

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Buffett Partnership Letters: 1965 Part 3

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January 14, 2013

Continuation of our series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters, please see our previous articles for more details. Control, Volatility “When such a controlling interest is acquired, the assets and earnings power of the business become the immediate predominant factors in value. When a small minority interest in a company is held, earning power and […]

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Howard Marks’ Book: Chapter 7

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January 11, 2013

Continuation of portfolio management highlights from Howard Marks’ book, The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor, Chapter 7 “The Most Important Thing Is…Recognizing Risk” Risk, Capital Preservation, Compounding “…Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, Bill Miller and Julian Robertson. In general their records are remarkable because of their decades of consistency and absence of disasters, […]

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Buffett Partnership Letters: 1965 Part 2

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January 10, 2013

Continuation of our series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters, please see our previous articles for more details. Trackrecord, Compounding, Duration, Special Situations, Time Management “A disadvantage of this business is that it does not possess momentum to any significant degree. If General Motors accounts for 54% of domestic new car registrations in 1965, it […]

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Should I Sell This Thing?

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January 8, 2013

Investors often obsess over the correct moments to purchase securities/assets, but discuss less frequently the circumstances and nuances of selling. A friend sent me this Wall Street Transcript interview with Christopher Mittleman awhile back. In the interview, Mittleman provides some very thoughtful insights, especially when to sell securities. A quick and worthwhile read. When To […]

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Buffett Partnership Letters: 1965 Part 1

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January 5, 2013

Continuation of our series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters, please see our previous articles for more details. The 1965 letter is a treasure trove of insightful portfolio management commentary from Warren Buffett. This is the Buffett for purists – the bright, candid young investor, encountering intellectual dilemmas, thinking aloud about creative solutions, and putting […]

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Baupost Letters: 1996

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January 2, 2013

Continuation in our series on portfolio management and Seth Klarman, with ideas extracted from old Baupost Group letters. Our Readers know that we generally provide excerpts along with commentary for each topic. However, at the request of Baupost, we will not be providing any excerpts, only our interpretive summaries, for this series. Risk, Sizing, Diversification, […]

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