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Anyone Else Know Sean Riskowitz? Amazing Returns Wanted Colleagues To Invest


indythinker85

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The Fund’s 63.2% gross return to Limited Partners was achieved despite a 23.5% depreciation in the value of the South African rand against the U.S. dollar. On a constant currency basis, the gross return would have been 101%. The three-year net return (in dollars) is 239.5%, or 50.3% annualized. http://www.valuewalk.com/2014/02/riskowitz-value-letter-2013/

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Guest wellmont

look at the chart. his fund doubled in the space of a few of months after starting the fund. dig deeper and one of his stocks went up 4.5x last year. takeaways. smart guy. started his fund at good time. seemed to "know something" when he started his fund. concentrates fund in single geography he knows well. small asset size. concentrated positions. I think it's very strategic when he started his fund. outsized early performance attracts assets and scale right away. I would not invest without a much longer paper trail. think about this. what are the upsides and downsides of "taking a flyer" when your fund is tiny?

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look at the chart. his fund doubled in the space of a few of months after starting the fund. dig deeper and one of his stocks went up 4.5x last year. takeaways. smart guy. started his fund at good time. seemed to "know something" when he started his fund. concentrates fund in single geography he knows well. small asset size. concentrated positions. I think it's very strategic when he started his fund. outsized early performance attracts assets and scale right away. I would not invest without a much longer paper trail. think about this. what are the upsides and downsides of "taking a flyer" when your fund is tiny?

 

I agree.  There was some discussion on here of another manager with stellar returns, where one investment had created a disproportionate return over the years when annualized.  But if you look at the returns now, they are in line or below the S&P500.  You need to see a significant number of swings before you can come to any conclusion about batting averages. 

 

That's the one thing I'm proud of so far.  Because of our cash holdings over the years, you don't see the high batting average of our picks that have worked out...year in, year out.  Not any given year, not any given pick.  That's what you want to see over time...that the average is high on the analysis and the swings.  Cheers!

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I haven't met Sean.  We are on each others distribution list.  As for length of track record, the letter notes the performance of his South African only vehicle in rand since 2007. 

 

I also don't know the size of the fund, but we seem to view things similarly - concentrated value approach in an inefficient market.  He focuses on South Africa.  While I focus primarily on US micro caps.  Concentrated funds are going to have one or two winners generate a significant amount of the gains.  That is the design.  More concentration in your best idea. 

 

I don't think I would call building a large position in a single idea "taking a flyer."  To me it is the most logical way to approach investing.         

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His portfolio includes Capitec who, along with African Bank, have been the most aggressive unsecured (ie. sub-prime) lender involved in South Africa's sizeable credit boom over the past few years.

 

I think Nedbank, Standard, First National or ABSA are understandable South African financials to bet on at the right price.

Capitec and African Bank, though? Not for my money.

 

For what it's worth... BidVest, Brait, Sabvest and Massmart are some of the JSE-listed stocks that look quite interesting as far as management, business quality and long-term potential go.

If emerging markets do end up getting slaughtered, there are probably worse places an investor could start looking.

 

 

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Amazing returns. His top performer FinBond was discussed in this thread.

 

http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/general-discussion/khrom-capital-mystery-lender-a/

 

Btw anyone read any Khrom Capital letters lately? I really like his letters.

 

Yeah Eric is nice guy it seems he doesnt post ideas as much lately in his letters http://www.valuewalk.com/2013/11/khrom-capital/

 

Thanks for the comments on Riskowitz, I dont know SA equities well (and he seems to). I was going to recommend a few small hedge funds for a colleague of mine to invest in (have been trying to convince them to lock up money in good value fund instead of usual risky investments, Khrom was on the list, as well). Will look more at the performance but I think even if concentrated really stands out for 3 years. Berkowitz is concentrated and not all those years were great (of course managing a few million vs billions is very different, but I digress).

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