Portfolio holdings of the major investors I follow (Q1 2013)
Warren Buffet
Investing philosophy
Warren Buffett follows a value investing strategy that is an adaptation of Benjamin Graham's approach. His investment strategy of discipline, patience and value consistently outperforms the market and his moves are followed by thousands of investors worldwide. Buffett seeks to acquire great companies trading at a discount to their intrinsic value, and to hold them for a long time. He will only invest in businesses that he understands, and always insists on a margin of safety. Regarding the types of businesses Berkshire likes to purchase, Buffett stated, "We want businesses to be one (a) that we can understand; (b) with favorable long-term prospects; (c) operated by honest and competent people; and (d) available at a very attractive price."
Portfolio holdings
David Tepper
Investing philosophy
He is a distressed-debt specialist, was once considered to be the hottest investor on wall street.
Portfolio holdings
Bruce Berkowitz
Investing philosophy
Bruce Berkowitz concentrates his investments in a relatively small number of companies. He thinks that the more diversified the portfolio, the more likely the performance will be average. He likes companies with great managers, and deeply undervalued stocks. Benjamin Graham's "The Intelligent Investor" serves as the inspiration for Berkowitz?investment strategy. He focuses investments on companies that have exceptional management, that generate free cash, and that are cheaply priced. Berkowitz will also invest in mediocre companies that are trading at a significant discount to intrinsic value where there exists a catalyst ?an event that makes it likely the gap between market price and intrinsic value will narrow in a reasonable amount of time.
Portfolio holdings
Glenn Greenberg
Investing philosophy
Glenn Greenberg maintains a highly concentrated portfolio that he describes as a "defense against ignorance." He believes that the more companies you own, the less you will know about each, and the less you know about a business, the more likely you are to make mistakes due to fear and greed. He usually owns less than 10 stocks. Greenberg invests in companies with little competition, and places a great deal of emphasis on Return On Invested Capital.
Greenberg was an English major in college and never contemplated going into investing. He ended up going to Columbia business school with no real career objective. He went to work for J.P. Morgan after b-school. A light bulb went off for Greenberg when he was asked to analyze a company that owned land with redwoods growing on it. He made some enquiries and discovered that the land was worth three times the price at which the company was trading. That shaped his thinking because he learned that there are situations out there where you don't need to be a genius to figure them out.
He does feel that there are fewer such opportunities today because schools are turning out large numbers of value investors who are competing against each other.
Greenberg worked for five years at J.P. Morgan but was dissatisfied because he did not think he was being trained to be a good money manager. He left and went to work for a small money management firm where he spent five years doing research. He then started his own firm, ten years after leaving school. He believes he profited from the ten years of experience and cautioned audience members about starting their own firm without adequate preparation.
At the small firm where he worked, he was trained to internalize the numbers of a potential investment so he could really think about the business. His boss, who was the only one who could buy and sell stocks, would bring Greenberg into his office and grill him about a potential investment. Greenberg was expected to know the business and its numbers inside out. He does not believe in using pre-made spreadsheets. The investor has to become intimate with the financials.
He started Chieftain in 1984 with $40 million, which was primarily family money. From the start, he chose to spend as little time on marketing as possible so he could focus on research. He also spent little time talking to clients which he views as non-productive. Those who need of a lot of hand holding are not a good fit for his firm. Since inception, he said he has beaten the market by an average of 8% annually.
He recently started a new firm called Brave Warrior Capital. He said he re-focused on reading the source material himself rather than relying on prepared data. He said that you should not use numbers prepared by others, but rather generate them yourself. This will also teach you what numbers you need to focus on. You need to boil it down to a small set of key drivers, because the performance of each business is typically driven by a set of key variables.
He first wants to know if a prospective investment is a good business, i.e. could it survive a severe downturn. He then looks to see if it is cheap enough. He again stressed how it is critically important to read the 10-Ks. He was using Capital IQ but decided to drop it because he found too many errors. But more importantly by using it, he and his analysts were not becoming personally immersed in the numbers.
David Einhorn
Investing philosophy
Einhorn believes an investment approach emphasizing intrinsic value will achieve consistent absolute investment returns and safeguard capital regardless of market conditions. He is a noted activist investor, taking positions in companies, and then pushing management to implement changes.
Portfolio holdings
Warren Buffet
Investing philosophy
Warren Buffett follows a value investing strategy that is an adaptation of Benjamin Graham's approach. His investment strategy of discipline, patience and value consistently outperforms the market and his moves are followed by thousands of investors worldwide. Buffett seeks to acquire great companies trading at a discount to their intrinsic value, and to hold them for a long time. He will only invest in businesses that he understands, and always insists on a margin of safety. Regarding the types of businesses Berkshire likes to purchase, Buffett stated, "We want businesses to be one (a) that we can understand; (b) with favorable long-term prospects; (c) operated by honest and competent people; and (d) available at a very attractive price."
Portfolio holdings
David Tepper
Investing philosophy
He is a distressed-debt specialist, was once considered to be the hottest investor on wall street.
Bruce Berkowitz
Investing philosophy
Bruce Berkowitz concentrates his investments in a relatively small number of companies. He thinks that the more diversified the portfolio, the more likely the performance will be average. He likes companies with great managers, and deeply undervalued stocks. Benjamin Graham's "The Intelligent Investor" serves as the inspiration for Berkowitz?investment strategy. He focuses investments on companies that have exceptional management, that generate free cash, and that are cheaply priced. Berkowitz will also invest in mediocre companies that are trading at a significant discount to intrinsic value where there exists a catalyst ?an event that makes it likely the gap between market price and intrinsic value will narrow in a reasonable amount of time.
Portfolio holdings
Glenn Greenberg
Investing philosophy
Glenn Greenberg maintains a highly concentrated portfolio that he describes as a "defense against ignorance." He believes that the more companies you own, the less you will know about each, and the less you know about a business, the more likely you are to make mistakes due to fear and greed. He usually owns less than 10 stocks. Greenberg invests in companies with little competition, and places a great deal of emphasis on Return On Invested Capital.
Greenberg was an English major in college and never contemplated going into investing. He ended up going to Columbia business school with no real career objective. He went to work for J.P. Morgan after b-school. A light bulb went off for Greenberg when he was asked to analyze a company that owned land with redwoods growing on it. He made some enquiries and discovered that the land was worth three times the price at which the company was trading. That shaped his thinking because he learned that there are situations out there where you don't need to be a genius to figure them out.
He does feel that there are fewer such opportunities today because schools are turning out large numbers of value investors who are competing against each other.
Greenberg worked for five years at J.P. Morgan but was dissatisfied because he did not think he was being trained to be a good money manager. He left and went to work for a small money management firm where he spent five years doing research. He then started his own firm, ten years after leaving school. He believes he profited from the ten years of experience and cautioned audience members about starting their own firm without adequate preparation.
At the small firm where he worked, he was trained to internalize the numbers of a potential investment so he could really think about the business. His boss, who was the only one who could buy and sell stocks, would bring Greenberg into his office and grill him about a potential investment. Greenberg was expected to know the business and its numbers inside out. He does not believe in using pre-made spreadsheets. The investor has to become intimate with the financials.
He started Chieftain in 1984 with $40 million, which was primarily family money. From the start, he chose to spend as little time on marketing as possible so he could focus on research. He also spent little time talking to clients which he views as non-productive. Those who need of a lot of hand holding are not a good fit for his firm. Since inception, he said he has beaten the market by an average of 8% annually.
He recently started a new firm called Brave Warrior Capital. He said he re-focused on reading the source material himself rather than relying on prepared data. He said that you should not use numbers prepared by others, but rather generate them yourself. This will also teach you what numbers you need to focus on. You need to boil it down to a small set of key drivers, because the performance of each business is typically driven by a set of key variables.
He first wants to know if a prospective investment is a good business, i.e. could it survive a severe downturn. He then looks to see if it is cheap enough. He again stressed how it is critically important to read the 10-Ks. He was using Capital IQ but decided to drop it because he found too many errors. But more importantly by using it, he and his analysts were not becoming personally immersed in the numbers.
Portfolio holdings
David Einhorn
Investing philosophy
Einhorn believes an investment approach emphasizing intrinsic value will achieve consistent absolute investment returns and safeguard capital regardless of market conditions. He is a noted activist investor, taking positions in companies, and then pushing management to implement changes.
Portfolio holdings
