thowed

TMO. I know it's not cheap, but I think it's overearning, and the post-Covid hangover is overdone.

Amen, Sanjeev! I may be a bit biased as an England supporter. But yes, can't deny that phenomenal Sam Kerr goal.

Lots of nonsense here - for starters the float is tiny as almost all the shares are owned by 'Vietnam's richest man' who has a big Vietnam-listed conglomerate. Finance people I know in Vietnam aren't massive fans of the other businesses. But a great headline for the Summer Silly Season

Fascinating, thanks!

I'm attaching a letter from a Fund House I greatly respect - I got it from their website, but sadly they don't post them any more - I'd love to know their current thoughts. Anyway, this was what finally put me off Europe (as someone who lives in it, or perhaps not since 2016!). Of course there are some exceptions like LVMH, ASML etc. though at a price. 2019 Q3 Ownership Letter.pdf

I struggled with management (as a Brigham holder) & the raise is questionable? I continue to prefer DMLP or BSM (the time to add to TPL seems to have passed). But I get it's down today.

V interesting, UK. I think it's true that many of us (myself included) try to be too clever, to our detriment. If you are concerned about the market, often the easiest thing is to just increase your cash weighting (esp. if IB are paying you decent interest). It's so easy to get Puts etc. wrong, so just KISS. (of course, I can't help myself and have a few protective Puts at the moment...).

Yes, many thanks. I knew a little bit about Fairfax before, but it has been this Board, and especially your posts that have been the foundation for my understanding of the company that has led to my investments. Also thanks to Sanjeev. And we shouldn't forget Prem and the Fairfax team, too! Cheers!

Nice one. S&P 600 is an underrated index - I've never understood why the Russell 2000 is so much better known - by my understanding the 600 has stricter criteria on profitability. Incidentally one of the best US small-cap fund houses I know moved into large-caps in about 2010, and is just moving back more into small & mid-caps on valuation grounds.

@thepupil Personally, while I think US index investing makes total sense for large-caps (how many funds beat them?), I think EM indices are pretty rubbish & there are some decent active managers to choose from. Separately I also think that over 10 years, Vietnam should be one of the best-performing EMs (well, technically Frontier, but it's all marketing...). Europe... I thought this was the way back in 2010, 'because the US market is expensive', so I'm a bit scarred there. But undeniably some great companies on much lower ratings than their US equivalent (there's been some good material from Lindsell Train in their UK strategy on this e.g. Experian vs. Equifax).

Absolutely, but how long did the Nifty Fifty work for? You can still overpay for great companies. But timing, I have no idea.

General thing would be chasing 'styles' after they've gone up that I don't have an edge. Most recently would be Energy last year - the big moves were made by the time I was ready, & I started buying amidst the frenzy. I did manage to figure out over time which of the Oil Royalty cos I liked/didn't like for the long-term. This also applies to Fertilizer, which was going to be such a big thing! Overall it wasn't too bad, but I should have gone in smaller while I was figuring out which stocks worked best. I didn't buy BABA, but I did go into an China Growth fund with dazzling performance near the top. Hopefully as time goes by, one learns different sectors, so you're ready to pounce when they go down. But it is still psychologically tempting to buy into something that is 'doing well'.

Shanghai Airport was viewed favourably by some quality Asia funds I follow (& I believe Charlie Munger was also a fan). I've seen Beijing pop up too. Vietnam has some airport stocks, though arguably the most interesting are the ones doing freight, or duty free.

How I feel. Don't have loads of cash, as most stuff I own seems OK, but I'm not a Bond expert so this cash interest is better than I can find elsewhere.

Thanks for this - really interesting & useful stuff to think about, and completely confirms my experience when I've tried to be smart going OTM & getting caught out. Looks like nice timing on yours.

If you don't mind me asking, why IWM? My guess would be either: a) It's got more low quality companies in it (never understand why S&P600 isn't standard for small-cap). b) Too many hype stocks on other indices that could go up for longer than is rational. c) you think domestic might struggle more than international. Whatever reason, seems entirely reasonable after the first half. Cheers. Incidentally, I'm amused, despite myself, at the troll on the other thread. Though this reflects the novelty of it, due to the overall high quality of people on this board. If it was another forum/twitter etc., half of the people would probably be like that.....

Just to say I'm enjoying this Gregmal/Changegonnacome exchange - I can't say which of you is right, but I know that good stuff comes from a healthy & respectful exchange of different views.

I have been doing Twitter for a bit, and have to stop, because it is so full of idiots. Of course some honourable exceptions like Pupil, BG2008, Bill Wabuffo etc. Particularly excruciating is the 'Macro Trader gang' who have become mini-personalities, and a load of yes-people following their every word. The self-satisfaction is extraordinary. I have found some good stuff on small cos - it's great to expand the field beyond here on e.g. small Oil Royalty cos etc. But like all social media you end up spending too much time on it, being wound up by the idiots, but unable to stop seeing more.

Thanks, Viking, very interesting. Quite extraordinary the changing fortunes of Greece and e.g. the UK since 2011. In particular when one remembers that Greece has had an extreme Far-Left prime minister in the meantime. Perhaps that was necessary to shock people into voting for somebody fairly Centrist and sensible (which I think many other countries could benefit from doing...) though of course it could have had the opposite outcome, which doesn't bear thinking about. Anyway, it was impossible to predict, but a reminder that buying things very cheap when everyone is panicking can work nicely!

@Viking Have you considered Prairie Sky? An HK darling. Doubled their divi this year & still relatively low pay-out so could increase further. Management seem decent (esp. with comparative low bar for Oil Royalty cos......). Not ostensibly cheap, though if oil went up, this might matter less. Of the Oil Royalty cos, personally I like DMLP best in the US (quality management), though for us non-US people, the tax can be a pain, though at double digit yield, it can potentially still work. Thanks for all the FFH stuff, been a huge help in the research.

It depends on your time horizon. If you bought the Nifty Fifty near the top, sure you'd outperform the index over 50 years, but what if you needed to release some cash to buy a house after 10 years? I don't think it would be so pretty. I am all for long-term compounders, but I also think one has to distinguish between theory & reality. Most of us don't live long enough to have the luxury for something to recover from an overvaluation over 20+ years (& there's a whole separate discussion about what human would have the patience to leave it either & believe it would recover).

Did you get inspiration from Chris Mayer - I think it's one of his serial acquirers. It's on my list to look at at some point.

I think where the activism is succeeding is generally where the activists respect the Japanese culture and engage constructively & respectfully. Ideally buy some of the company, turn up to meetings, speak Japanese (or bring a Japanese speaker) and show interest. Then you can suggest changes. And if that doesn't work, then you can get a bit tougher. Anyway, there has certainly been more success recently. Separately, there do seem to be a load of super-cheap, decent quality cos in the Micro, Deep Value space, though no guarantee that they'll re-rate.

Nice on $FRPH. Did I miss anything? Couldn't understand what happened today. I suppose the illiquidity means it doesn't take much.

Thanks! I much prefer a transcript but can't always find them. I still always find him interesting for inspiration - he's rare in having the humility to acknowledge that he doesn't know the answer, but provides interesting ideas to consider.