Graham And Doddsville

Remodeling in Progress

webmaster — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 04:56:14 +0000

Please excuse the current remodeling in progress. I hope to have the site back and better than ever by the end of Labor Day.

I must also apologize to many who have written me and not received a reply. I am working on that as well. If you did write and do not received a response by Labor Day (September 6, 2010), I strongly encourage you to follow-up.

I hope everyone is having a great end to their summer!

-GnDsville

Morningstar Interviews Professor Bruce Greenwald

webmaster — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 21:12:41 +0000

Morningstar recently posted a four-part interview with Bruce Greenwald, Columbia Business School Professor and Director of Research at First Eagle.

Investors are again being offered an extraordinary opportunity to put capital to work in high-quality companies at a good price, says Columbia professor Bruce Greenwald.

Click below to view the videos:

Part 1 – Greenwald: Why First Eagle Favors Amex Over Citi

Part 2 – Greenwald: The Most Extraordinary Thing About This Market

Part 3 – Greenwald: Opportunity Even When the Market’s Not Cheap

Part 4 – Greenwald: Wouldn’t Bite on Apple

(source: Morningstar.com)

Dropbox: A Request

webmaster — Sun, 23 May 2010 21:55:38 +0000

I have never really made any requests on this site but I am going to make a brief exception. For those of you who have never tried Dropbox, I highly recommend that you try it out. It is the best way I have found to sync files between multiple computers. I will paste the short details below, but you can go to Dropbox.com to learn more. Anyone who signs up can get 2GB of storage for free. However, for each referral you make, you can earn an addition 250mb of free storage. If you are interested in the program, I ask that you sign up by clicking this link: https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTExOTY4NTk . Once I reach 8GB I will take this post down. Thanks for your help and I hope you enjoy Dropbox as much as I do.

From the Dropbox website:

Dropbox allows you to sync your files online and across your computers automatically.

2GB of online storage for free, with up to 100GB available to paying customers.
Sync files of any size or type.
Sync Windows, Mac and Linux computers.
Automatically syncs when new files or changes are detected.
Work on files in your Dropbox even if you’re offline. Your changes sync once your computer has an Internet connection again.
Dropbox transfers will correctly resume where they left off if the connection drops.
Efficient sync – only the pieces of a file that changed (not the whole file) are synced. This saves you time.
Doesn’t hog your Internet connection. You can manually set bandwidth limits.

(Please remember to actually install Dropbox, or I don’t get credit for the referral. I think you will find the program incredibly useful and thanks for your help.)

2010 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting Notes

webmaster — Tue, 04 May 2010 12:54:18 +0000

Every year value investors are inundated with notes from the annual “Woodstock for Capitalists.” I have read many blog posts, notes, and accounts of the weekend. My friend Ben at The Inoculated Investor has posted what I believe to be the best/most complete notes I have seen this year.

Click here to see Ben’s notes on the 2010 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting.

Thanks, Ben!

Bloomberg Special on the Future of Value Investing from Columbia Business School

webmaster — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:35:56 +0000

(Update)

On April 23, 2010 Bloomberg TV convened a panel of top value investors at Columbia Business School to discuss the future of value investing. Members of the panel, led by Bloomberg anchor Betty Liu, included Professor Bruce Greenwald (Columbia Business School Professor and Director of Research at First Eagle Funds), Robert Olstein (Chairman of Olstein Capital Management LP), Thomas Russo, (Partner at Gardner Russo & Gardner), and David Winters (CEO of Wintergreen Advisers LLC).

The 21 minute program is a must watch and is filled with gems of value investing wisdom. You can watch the entire program here.

Columbia Business School’s blog post on the panel can be viewed here.

Bloomberg TV Special on The Future of Value Investing

webmaster — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 19:13:23 +0000

Columbia Business School Professor Bruce Greenwald will be featured in a Bloomberg TV special “Buffett and Beyond: The Future of Value Investing” on Friday, April 23rd at 7 pm EST.

Link to Bloomberg TV

Lunch With Warren Buffett

webmaster — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 04:42:39 +0000

I am extraordinarily fortunate to be able to count Guy Spier of Aquamarine Fund as one of my personal mentors. In 2006 Guy, along with Mohnish Pabrai of Pabrai Funds, won the annual charitable auction for lunch with Warren Buffett. This year’s lunch took place yesterday in Manhattan.

Obviously one can learn much by studying Guy as an investor. One can learn even more by observing how Guy absorbs various mental models and incorporates them into not only his investment style, but also into every aspect of his being. I believe that Guy exemplifies the term intellectual curiosity. In a recent interview with Betty Liu of Bloomberg, Guy discusses some of the lessons he took away from his lunch with Warren Buffett. Click here for the interview.

Warren Buffett also mentioned Guy and Mohnish in his interview with Betty Liu. Click here for the interview.

Click here to read an article Guy penned for Time Magazine after his lunch with Mr. Buffett.

Your Mind and Your Money

webmaster — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 04:02:20 +0000

I recently discovered a great PBS Site for an NBR series called “Your Mind and Your Money.” I highly recommend taking some time to read and watch the interviews they have posted. One interview in particular features Columbia Business School Professor and Legg Mason Chief Strategist Michael Mauboussin.

(You can view the transcript here.)

While it has been a while since I have posted a new entry, I continue to add interesting articles, websites, blogs, and other useful resources.

Julian Robertson – Father of the Cubs

webmaster — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 05:31:32 +0000

Each year, approximately 20 Columbia MBA students are accepted into a semester long seminar called: Advanced Investment Research – The Analyst’s Edge. The Class was developed and is taught by John Griffin and David Greenspan (MBA ’00) of Blue Ridge Capital. I can honestly say that spending a semester in this class, which was visited by David Einhorn, Bill Ackman, and Ian McKinnon, among others, created an experience that would be quite difficult to match.

Our final stock pitch was delivered in the boardroom of Tiger Management to legendary hedge fund manager, Julian Robertson. This was just another of the many once-in-a-lifetime experiences provided by Columbia Business School and The Heilbrunn Center for Graham and Dodd Investing.

Below is a 1998 interview of Julian Robertson by Charlie Rose:

(Hat Tip to MarketFolly.com)

Paul Sonkin on Finding Micro-Cap Value

webmaster — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:24:54 +0000

Columbia Business School Alumnus and Applied Value Investing Professor Paul Sonkin, who runs Hummingbird Value Fund, is a well-known micro-cap investor. He is not only a co-author (with Bruce Greenwald) of Value Investing: From Graham to Buffett and Beyond, but is also featured on pp. 276 – 291. Thanks to GuruFocus.com, I just came across an interview of Professor Sonkin with Robert Lenzer of Forbes.com from August 2009.