Old School Value Nugget Fest (May 23rd Edition)

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Table of Contents show

Patsy in the Game (Fundoo Professor)
“When we choose to ignore overwhelming evidence showing that we were wrong but continue to stay invested in situations which just don’t make sense anymore, how different are we from that naïve school kid who continued to believe that the coin was fair even after it had landed heads 99 times in a row?”
The advantages individual investors have over institutions (Humble Dollar)
“What kinds of stocks should you be looking for? The beauty of being an individual investor is that there are no rules. It depends on your interests and areas of expertise.”

Charlie Munger explains the best career strategy ‘for the great mass of humanity’ (Yahoo Finance)
“I think the right strategy for the great mass of humanity is to specialize,” Munger said. “Nobody wants to go to a doctor that’s half proctologist and half dentist, you know? So, the ordinary way to succeed is to narrowly specialize.”
“Warren and I didn’t really do that,” he continued. “We prefer the other type of activity. But I don’t think we can recommend it to other people.”

22 Lessons From Jeff Bezos’ Annual Letters To Shareholders (CB Insights)
The main takeaways from all his letters, not just the most recent. A great compilation.
Tracking Seth Klarman’s Baupost Group Holdings – Q1 2019 Update (Seeking Alpha)

The Empty Promise of Data Moats (Andreessen Horowitz)
“Data is fundamental to many software companies’ product strategies, and there are ways it can contribute to defensibility — but don’t rely on it as a magic wand. Most of the narrative around data network effects is really around data scale effects, and as we’ve outlined in this post, those sometimes have the opposite effect if not planned correctly.”

China, Leverage, and Values (Stratechery)
It’s worth thinking about the China trade war, why it matters, who has leverage, how long it’ll last, and how it may play out for countries and companies alike.
“The other big question is if the Trump administration will levy tariffs on iPhones for U.S. consumers: to date Apple has been largely spared, but the U.S. is running out of goods to slap tariffs on.”

Quote of the Week

Bloomberg interview with Kyle Bas s (Hayman Capital Management founder and CIO) [9 minutes]
More of an exploration of each country’s interests and leverage, with some investment implications.