thowed

@schin Many thanks for this, very helpful, I will go back to reports & calls to keep working on it. I've been similarly looking at BLDR - a bit of overlap, and another one with stellar 5-year performance but has rushed down since peak at end of Q1. Given how much they've gone up, not really a surprise to see a correction. But unlike much else in the market, the correction has brought them to quite reasonable valuations again. It feels like the market is so simple & binary at the moment, and part of the issue for these sorts of companies is 'interest cuts not happening now' = bad. I don't think this should necessarily be the case if management know what they're doing. Only thing I remember is that last results were quite disappointing, but just need to be happy that that was just one of those occasional blips anybody can have, rather than a frequent occurrence (though I know sometimes these things happen in threes...). There is a 2024 Substack write-up and a VIC 2023 write-up which you've probably seen, but I can dig out links if helpful.

Yes, I am quite fascinated by this. I think @Packer16 is a fan to some degree. Long-term figures are sensational, but has corrected a fair bit in the last few months. There's a tug-of-war in sentiment - some think it's a cracker of a company with a Danaher DBS style of management. But others think they've just been overearning. I haven't chosen my side yet, but did pick up a few shares recently. Any thoughts appreciated.

Top-up nibbling on FFH and TVK. Still wondering if next 2 weeks will see pre-tax-change sell-offs in companies like these which have such good performance.

Yep. I don't understand it especially, but Roche has arguably been pretty cheap for past year, but kept getting cheaper. But possibly finally on turn in last week or so. And pretty tasty dividend in CHF.

Woah - presumably this will affect all those David Webb-style Value situations?

I don't think she's being serious! But I suppose this is the problem with the modern world, as Nigel St Hubbins wisely put it in Spinal Tap, 'There's a fine line between clever and stupid'. It's increasingly hard to tell the difference between people being sarcastic, and the idiots....

I will stand by the old attributed Mark Twain quote on miners. Either Bullion or Royalties, though arguably the two best: FNC & WPM are too big to grow much now, and the rest I struggle with.

Thanks! Good feature.

SHVA

Amazing! Can I ask what the source of the photo is?

Sorry - never pleasant to get messages like this, even when it's from obvious dipsh1ts.

Yep, reminds me of that old Yogi Berra line about in theory and in practice... There are some decent Indian Funds for offshore investors that have outperformed NSE & FIH, and while I am a happy FFH holder, & the airport looks great, I just struggle to see how this will play out. It may do suddenly, but I don't have the same conviction in it as the parent.

Good stuff - totally agree. Technology is a tool, and it feels like increasingly it's being misused.

I don't know much, but think can say with reasonable confidence that technically Chubb is ACE - ACE bought Chubb in 2016, but reasonably adopted the better-known brand name. I have just been starting to look at Arch (following a recent thread here) which on first view looks as good if not better, so it's good to have a vote of confidence for the sector.

BLDR and Nintendo.

Thanks, @gfp. Sorry to ask a stupid question, but I'm confused as to why some of the shares purchases are at a much lower price e.g. 11-19 March. Are they occasionally buying the US$ OTC FRFHF?? These are much lower amounts.

I suspect what Xerxes is suggesting is that in 2024 there is a much broader option of companies (e.g. Tech) compared with mid-1990s. Personally I think there is much to like about Fairfax, but I'm not going to spend more time trying to compare it to 90s Berkshire. Cheers!

Many thanks @longterminvestor, this is really helpful.

Crazy. Well, it's had a good run. As @longlake95 says, I trust in blue-chips like ODFL and TFII over time, and think a continued downturn is an opportunity to keep drip-buying in preparation for next cycle when they come back stronger.

Truck-load arguably canaries in coal mine for recession? People getting out? OR Great companies valued thusly, and valuation just reasonably de-rating a little? n.b. I haven't read the ODFl call yet. Great, well-managed companies - I am attempting to dribble in to ODFL on a day like today.

I beg to differ - I remember you posting about buying BSM and DMLP in 2020, which was pretty great timing. Am very grateful, as it got me looking into them (I timed it less well, but acceptably), and I now have decent DMLP position (I couldn't get as comfortable with BSM management-wise & don't understand gas as well). Sorry to go off-thread.

I'm not a US investor, but I think they stiff you in ADR fees, especially on the dividend (something on it in the Nintendo thread I think). I sold it, and bought back in Yen (easy to do on IBRKR). I know some Macro bros on Twitter are saying Yen about to strengthen, but a) I don't listen to Macro bros, b) I don't know what it would mean anyway, though perhaps makes Margin less attractive, if it happens.

MSCI Seems an overreaction to the results, Fernandez seems decent, & think should do OK long-term (it's a not unknown brand, right?), though not exactly 'cheap'.

If you're not invested, I think they might float around on the internet. reddit has a valueinvesting thing I think that has a good selection of quarterly letters.

Thanks @petec, I am relatively new to Fairfax, and am excited for the future, but agree that it's good to have a balanced view on things (or just that we should always keep trying to 'kill' our favourite investments?). On the other hand, I suppose my other question would be - what does one replace Fairfax with? I struggle to find assets of such quality that are any cheaper? But of course always interested in ideas to look at. A tiny bit of scuttlebutt for Eurobank & Greece: I was talking to some Greeks recently, and things are certainly booming there, and of course they started from a low point in 2011. However the smart view seemed to be that things were already starting to get out of hand, as they do, particularly with the property market, and so while things always last longer than one expects, there is the feeling that at some point things will turn from boom to bust.