Mohnish Pabrai conference call

[Guest JoelS]

Hi all,

 

I am very fortunate to be on the conference call that Mohnish Pabrai auctioned off on ebay. I am posting to ask for good questions - there is a lot of brain power here and it would be a great oversight if I didn't.

 

The call is only 30 minutes and there are others on the call, so I won't have time to ask too many, but hopefully with the help of board members i'll be able to fire a few good ones at him!

 

The call will be written up by another listening in and when finished and checked, I will provide a link. I won't provide any private information that Mohnish doesn't want passed on to a wider audience. I may also bump this thread closer to the time.

 

Any questions are much appreciated! Thank you!

 

best,

 

Joel

[investor-man]

Very cool! Here's a question: I know he doesn't talk about his current holdings and I know he's bullish on India. Are there any companies he looked at in India that he thought were a good buy, but passed on for some reason, like because the liquidity was too low given his capital base.

 

Can't wait to see the details!

[CanadianMunger]

What's Mohnish's position on moustache sizing?  When does he decide to "trim"?

 

Did Mohnish influence Buffett on trading the P&G position for fear of reduced shaving demand among value investors as they try to shamelessly clone Mohnish?

 

-CM

[Grenville]

What's Mohnish's position on moustache sizing?  When does he decide to "trim"?

 

Did Mohnish influence Buffett on trading the P&G position for fear of reduced shaving demand among value investors as they try to shamelessly clone Mohnish?

 

-CM

 

+1 +1

[ni-co]

I'd ask him why he gave up on the Kelly criterion as a rough guideline for position sizing. He once answered that he takes not enough bets to apply Kelly, but I think this doesn't make sense.

 

I'm also interested in his reasoning behind the switch in philosophy from being 100% invested to having a huge cash pile like e.g. Seth Klarman does. I don't think Buffett would side with him in this regard (considering Pabrai's AUM).

 

Lastly, I'd ask him why he invests into TARP warrants but not into LEAPS (as far as I know but I don't track him that closely).

[DollarKing]

Congratulations on being on this call Joel. I'm looking forward to reading the call write up.

 

I'd ask him this; though I wouldn't really be expecting a straight answer; though you just never ever know, and he may even give some clues instead.

 

'Mohnish, at the moment, which publicly traded stock do you think trades at the biggest discount to it's intrinsic value?'

 

Worth a shot.

 

Gareth

 

[Yours Truly]

Can you ask him about how he sizes his bets? He was a big advocate of heavy concentration in a 10x10 configuration using the Kelly Formula but after 08/09, he was looking more towards smaller positions/diversification.  He seems to have gone back to his original sizing and maybe moreso concentrated now.

[ATLValue]

I would be interested to hear if he plans on changing his investment strategy now that he has a permanent capital base with the insurance business

[investor-man]

Can you ask him about how he sizes his bets? He was a big advocate of heavy concentration in a 10x10 configuration using the Kelly Formula but after 08/09, he was looking more towards smaller positions/diversification.  He seems to have gone back to his original sizing and maybe moreso concentrated now.

 

He discussed this in the last video he did for the BC Business School. Not saying don't ask, but just giving you a heads up if you're interested.

[100 Shares]

1) There are the interesting dynamics when taking an initial position. There is the balance of how much to put in initially vs. how much to leave on the table so that further increases can occur. Some of his purchases have occurred over many quarters. Some during declining prices and some during rising prices of those stocks. How does he think through this when making deciding to invest in a stock?

 

2) If the trading volume of a stock is enough to build a position in 1 day, do you prefer to buy all at once at a known price or dollar cost average over a month (or any other time period)?

[dolce far niente]

This is non-investment related.

 

He mentioned that he would teach any of his employee, who is thinking of striking out,  how to start and run a business. Even if the employee is competing against him in the future

Not a single one of them clone his method.

 

Can share his methodology and advice for business owner?

I found no mention of this anywhere.

 

TIA and really grateful for opening this up.

[AzCactus]

I would ask for the three biggest qualities that have led to personal and investing success.

 

 

[ATLValue]

I wanted to follow up on this thread to see if there was any update on the call.

 

Thanks!

[Guest JoelS]

ATLValue - hasn't happened yet but less than a month away now. Thanks for all the good questions so far! I'll be sure to ask him his approach to trimming his positions/moustache :)

 

Any further questions are much appreciated!

[innerscorecard]

I would ask why he says he doesn't want to talk about his holdings and then has a "stock tip" to "make his neighbors rich" as his license plate.

[indirect]

there is a difference between giving a tip and talking about your position. As soon as you start talking about it, confirmation bias kicks in.

[innerscorecard]

So it's obviously ok to tell others to buy a stock for no reason at all, but it's not okay to talk about why.

[Guest notorious546]

looking forward to notes!

[compounding]

So it's obviously ok to tell others to buy a stock for no reason at all, but it's not okay to talk about why.

 

He has talked quite a bit about why he bought GM. Furthermore, why would it not be ok?

[ATLValue]

ATLValue - hasn't happened yet but less than a month away now. Thanks for all the good questions so far! I'll be sure to ask him his approach to trimming his positions/moustache :)

 

Any further questions are much appreciated!

 

Thanks, looking forward to hearing about it!

[Guest notorious546]

who are small cap managers that he admires? this could be added to a list of managers to follow for a cloning strategy.

[learner]

Very similar to the above question - Mohnish Pabrai had mentioned that Buffett is a great banking analyst but a not-so-great retail analyst; he goes on to mention that Buffett has a 100% success with investing in bank stocks.  Who does he think are best fund managers by sector (telecom, energy, etc.)?

 

[Guest notorious546]

^ i like the above question.

 

Another question i would have is what would he be investing in if he had smaller amounts of capital to invest and what about his approach would change if he had smaller amounts of capital? looks like he's at ~850 million in aum based on various articles i've read lately.

[dabuff]

It would be great to hear about his productivity tricks (in a LifeHacker sort of way) - what does his typical schedule look like - aside from the mid-afternoon nap?

 

How fast does he read? Does he have any tips on reading quicker? I've heard him say he reads about 100 pages/day.

 

And what advice would he have someone who would like to break into the management industry from another profession?

[Guest JoelS]

Hi all, last chance for questions! Come on.. Hit me with them! I will do my best to get the most thoughtful questions to Mohnish. Cheers and thank you!

 

Joel