Your largest equity buy in the last three months is...(long term buys mostly)

[Spekulatius]

PLX and EDEN. I regard both at one position. It’s one of the best business models I have seen and it’s cheap if they do what I think they can do. They both have not worked out yet.

[formthirteen]

MSCI

[Head of Roller coasters]

Largest add-ons so far have been Sandvik (SAND.ST), Sampo (SAMPO.HE) and Nokian Renkaat (TYRES.HE) or Nokian Tyres if you like.

Edited August 24 by Head of Roller coasters

[SharperDingaan]

Our big summer transaction was a BTC swing trade around the halving, and a gradual 50% repurchase around the 58K mark; gains poured into GXE.TO which has remained flat-lined, but pays a 9% monthly cash dividend. Very old fashioned .... until that one day ....  when we'll suddenly look like a hero

 

SD 

 

Edited August 24 by SharperDingaan

[John Hjorth]

3 minutes ago, Head of Roller coasters said:

Largest add-ons so far have been Sandvik (SAND.ST)

 

I have now owned Sandvik indirectly for about a decade via positions in Industrivärden AB and L.E. Lundbergföretagen AB, but never done any real work on Sandvik as such, other than just with satisfaction to recoginize by market values, that Sandvik has been a very successful investment for both, in a material way contributing to creation of value.

 

What did - in short - make you buy it?

[Saluki]

I bought MSCI on the dip, and KRKNF which worked out well, but not looking to add at these prices. Added OXY in the past few days. 

[treasurehunt]

My biggest buy in the last three months is PROSY (2% of portfolio). Second biggest is HQI (1% of portfolio).

[Junior R]

5 hours ago, dealraker said:

Castanza, deceased parents thus inherited Berk in my teens.  Dad's broker had several in my dad's family in the stock and basically all his clients had Berk by the late 1970's.  First 17 yrs. or so for me in a trust fund, it began as a low 4 digit figure that at the time I figured if I could sell it would buy me a Jeep CJ5 which I greatly desired.

 

39% in Berk, almost 42% AJG.  Several 1.5 to 2%: same ole boring story - Erie, Lowe's, Norfolk, Fairfax, Coke, Pepsi, Mondelez, Brown and Brown, Markel.  Mondelez comes from Cadbury buy in 2000 and Erie shortly thereafter, the newest two.  Brown 1994, Fairfax began mid 1990's, Markel 1987 or 88...can't remember.

 

1% position would be very large for me to buy.  But these buys are important, they are meaningful when less than 1%, meaningful to me in every way.  A taxable story, that's my issue.  None of the above are where I'd be willing to sell and pay tax.  Coke, Pepsi, Berk...all 1975 basis while Norfolk (inherited 1/27th of grandmother's) is 1976 basis.

 

For nearly 3 decades I know for certain (my brokerage records) that this portfolio has advanced about 15% a year.  That's basically an AJG assisted thing of course.

 

I do have, not included in the above, a small IRA where I put in $30k, all before 1994.  I have shared that here a few times.  It continues to do well with almost no trading...ever.  Below since 2011 and never a tech stock or any stock for that matter much followed or discussed on COBF: 

 

Year	Return	Beginning Market Value	Deposits Minus Withdrawals	Investment Results	Ending Market Value
Since Performance Inception	+15.21%	$126,513.16	+$118,684.57	+$1,334,075.73	$1,579,273.46
YTD	+12.61%	$1,402,465.52	$0.00	+$176,807.94	$1,579,273.46
2023	+16.90%	$1,199,701.17	$0.00	+$202,764.35	$1,402,465.52
2022	+0.81%	$1,190,031.46	$0.00	+$9,669.71	$1,199,701.17
2021	+20.59%	$986,824.87	$0.00	+$203,206.59	$1,190,031.46
2020	+12.82%	$874,655.60	$0.00	+$112,169.27	$986,824.87
2019	+24.56%	$702,183.47	$0.00	+$172,472.13	$874,655.60
2018	-1.26%	$711,136.40	$0.00	-$8,952.93	$702,183.47
2017	+12.33%	$633,078.14	$0.00	+$78,058.26	$711,136.40
2016	+15.75%	$546,940.28	$0.00	+$86,137.86	$633,078.14
2015	+0.15%	$546,101.43	$0.00	+$838.85	$546,940.28
2014	+19.64%	$456,465.26	$0.00	+$89,636.17	$546,101.43
2013	+41.70%	$322,142.95	$0.00	+$134,322.31	$456,465.26
2012	+19.51%	$269,559.28	$0.00	+$52,583.67	$322,142.95
2011	+16.33%	$126,513.16	+$118,684.57	+$24,361.55	$269,559.28

@dealraker so 30k invested in 1994 is now $1,578,273.42? What stocks do you hold in the IRA or is it the ones you stated above

[dealraker]

8 minutes ago, Junior R said:

@dealraker so 30k invested in 1994 is now $1,578,273.42? What stocks do you hold in the IRA or is it the ones you stated above

Junior R, actually I already mentioned this on another thread, that I sold stocks on one day in this account.  I did that because Parsad just happened to mention (not relative to this account but towards or related to overall investing) his bias towards concentration that owning a slew of stocks was...(you can finish this sentence with all the obvious things he or anyone would state...which are of course obvious).  My wife Angela reads this forum (by my request) and she said, "Damn dude....why don't you sell something and concentrate for some much needed stimulation."  LOL!

 

I wiped the account clean in October of 2023 to all cash and concentrated.  Spek was chanting value about defense stocks LHX and RTX.... and he was mentioning our insurance brokers, my long held Brown and Brown for instance...and I read his posts always.  Already owning all of these discussed (by Spek and others) stocks in other accounts didn't stop me from doing this, I put the account entirely in the below- and I did it all on one day, the same day I wiped the account clean - and I can assure you there were no sales until then since the account began.

 

Norfolk Southern

LHX

General Dynamics

RTX

Brown and Brown

Wyllis Towers Watson

 

The account all in these six now.  For whatever reason, not sure if the entire market was down at this time, but all these stock had somewhat of a selloff in Oct.  

 

 

 

[wisowis]

Biggest new position this year was RCM, but already sold out on the takeover deal.

 

New positions in FRPH, RTO, XPEL, BUR. All approx. equal size but relatively small to the overall size of the portfolio. Thanks to those on this board that contributed on these ideas.

 

Other positions in AFN.TO and HTL.TO that I predict will be gone by end of the year.

 

Largest existing position that I've added to is FFH. Haven't added or subtracted from the other big rigs in my portfolio (BRK, CSU, BN).

[Junior R]

37 minutes ago, dealraker said:

Junior R, actually I already mentioned this on another thread, that I sold stocks on one day in this account.  I did that because Parsad just happened to mention (not relative to this account but towards or related to overall investing) his bias towards concentration that owning a slew of stocks was...(you can finish this sentence with all the obvious things he or anyone would state...which are of course obvious).  My wife Angela reads this forum (by my request) and she said, "Damn dude....why don't you sell something and concentrate for some much needed stimulation."  LOL!

 

I wiped the account clean in October of 2023 to all cash and concentrated.  Spek was chanting value about defense stocks LHX and RTX.... and he was mentioning our insurance brokers, my long held Brown and Brown for instance...and I read his posts always.  Already owning all of these discussed (by Spek and others) stocks in other accounts didn't stop me from doing this, I put the account entirely in the below- and I did it all on one day, the same day I wiped the account clean - and I can assure you there were no sales until then since the account began.

 

Norfolk Southern

LHX

General Dynamics

RTX

Brown and Brown

Wyllis Towers Watson

 

The account all in these six now.  For whatever reason, not sure if the entire market was down at this time, but all these stock had somewhat of a selloff in Oct.  

 

 

 

@dealraker what did you own in this account before shifting strategies? 

[sleepydragon]

Does concentrating really make sense? I have been wondering, because if you concentrate it’s very hard to keep a stock for very long term. People change minds too often. So holding long term seems to be conflicting with building a concentrated portfolio.

On the other hand, if I have a position started at 5% of the positions, and if it’s a 10 bagger, it will become 50% of the portfolio, and that’s much easier to deal with.

i guess my point is concentrating only make sense in that you don’t sell your winners?

 

[Seoshin]

5 hours ago, Spekulatius said:

PLX and EDEN. I regard both at one position. It’s one of the best business models I have seen and it’s cheap if they do what I think they can do. They both have not worked out yet.

I've been adding PLX a lot the past month as well. I can't really wrap my head around why it is falling other than the industry is unfavored by current regulations which I think is not impactful long term

[UK]

4 hours ago, sleepydragon said:

Does concentrating really make sense? I have been wondering, because if you concentrate it’s very hard to keep a stock for very long term. People change minds too often. So holding long term seems to be conflicting with building a concentrated portfolio.

On the other hand, if I have a position started at 5% of the positions, and if it’s a 10 bagger, it will become 50% of the portfolio, and that’s much easier to deal with.

i guess my point is concentrating only make sense in that you don’t sell your winners?

 

 

I think you need to find what works for you and with what you can sleep well. If you can follow some kind of system or semi formulaic aproach, perhaps you can do very well even with 50 positions of the same size. For me it would be almost impossible to do. Even these small basket positions, they usually just clutter my mind and I find myself giving the same amount of time and energy to a 2 percent position as to a 20 percent and this makes no sense at all. Also I trade or sell smaller stuff much much easier, so I find it surprising, that you think concentration is conflicting with holding long term, as it is the opposite for me. Finally, mentally I am not able to process/think about more then 5-8 things at the same time. I used to use a lot of excel etc for this (also for valuations etc, which was also silly), but slowly came to the conclusion it just makes no sense for me either. It is also much easier to find a few new ideas. I really do not buy anything for a big position I think I could not just forget and leave it for a 5 or 10 years. I do not leave them and watch them closely, but I really could (this may even lead to a better outcome). Also, I have to agree with dealraker's wise wife here: concentration excites me way more (this also could be dangerous, as more important thing is to make/not lose money, not the excitement). So again, all this is very personal, but If I was not allowed to own anything of more than 5 percent, I would probably just went 100 percent ETF tomorrow:). Most people around me own like 80 percent or more of their net worth in a real estate, often in one or a few buildings in the same city (owning real estate for investment is a national sport in my country), yet they consider owning stocks directly, especially of some meaningful amount, as very dangerous or even speculative. I find this very funny:)

 

Edited August 25 by UK

[UK]

8 hours ago, dealraker said:

39% in Berk, almost 42% AJG. 

 

Not only your track record, but also this, is really impressive. I owned >50 percent of BRK once (and would do this again at the right valuation), but ~80 percent in just two stocks (or perhaps it would be better to say businesses, as you see them) is really the different level of the game:)

 

Edited August 25 by UK

[hasilp89]

Great thread @dealraker

PARA was a large purchase for me this year that I recently bailed on. Was chasing returns and made a mistake. Thankfully nowhere close to fatal, but opportunity cost stings. Hopefully I learn from this.

 

I took a 6% position in APG (API group) during the Japan flash crash / post weaker earnings and guide. great business I’ve wanted to own for a while but have always sucked my thumb. Sprinkler inspections aren’t going anywhere. Sticky. Good people involved. Something you may like.

 

I also doubled lvmh to about 6% and Dominos london to 8%. GTX is another one I took up (from 9->14%) after weaker earnings /guide in the last few months.
 

CWK is interesting, someone had written it up a while back as a take out candidate by one of the others. Need to take another look and thanks for sharing.

Edited August 25 by hasilp89

[Sweet]

7 hours ago, Seoshin said:

I've been adding PLX a lot the past month as well. I can't really wrap my head around why it is falling other than the industry is unfavored by current regulations which I think is not impactful long term

is this the biotech company that produces recombinant proteins?

[dealraker]

9 hours ago, Junior R said:

@dealraker what did you own in this account before shifting strategies? 

Junior R I owned about 80 stocks in that small account.  But I had stars such as Old Dominion and more recently Enphase - a result of when I put dividends into whatever seemed promising - from buying an energy basket about 5-7 years ago when energy-to-all-else fell to historically low levels.  No AJG or Berk, lots of Lowe's, Tractor Supply, and Home Depot for instance.  

 

 

 

 

Edited August 25 by dealraker

[hasilp89]

1 hour ago, Sweet said:

is this the biotech company that produces recombinant proteins?

No. French listed benefits card issuer. Similar to a Wex for HSAs in the US but for meal benefits in countries that offer that as a tax free benefit.

[Sweet]

1 minute ago, hasilp89 said:

No. French listed benefits card issuer. Similar to a Wex for HSAs in the US but for meal benefits in countries that offer that as a tax free benefit.

Thanks @hasilp89

[73 Reds]

10 hours ago, sleepydragon said:

Does concentrating really make sense? I have been wondering, because if you concentrate it’s very hard to keep a stock for very long term. People change minds too often. So holding long term seems to be conflicting with building a concentrated portfolio.

On the other hand, if I have a position started at 5% of the positions, and if it’s a 10 bagger, it will become 50% of the portfolio, and that’s much easier to deal with.

i guess my point is concentrating only make sense in that you don’t sell your winners?

 

 

"Does concentrating really make sense?"  Yes.  Berkshire, for one has been an easy stock in which to concentrate.  For more than 40 years there has been entirely no reason to sell and many reasons to continue to add.  

[Spekulatius]

10 hours ago, Seoshin said:

I've been adding PLX a lot the past month as well. I can't really wrap my head around why it is falling other than the industry is unfavored by current regulations which I think is not impactful long term

Yes, a bit of a head scratcher. I think falling interest rates are another headwind since they get paid interest on their float. However it is a beautiful business model generating float when it growth, but with very little regulatory capital requirements unlike insurers or banks.

 

I could see double digit topline growth while also generating FCF which can be used for dividend or preferably buybacks. Perhaps regulatory issues will indeed hamper the business, but I see little evidence to far and in any case, they operate in many different countries which limits this risk.

[n.r98]

i bought chunks and chunks of TSM (now my largest position, followed by TH and CLMT) during the mkt meltdown period a few weeks back and w/o traditional DD like how i would for other stonks. I listened to buffett's opinion on it and it sounds like a comfort issue - as charlie said "warren ought to be comfortable.." Buffy loved TSM's biz (margins are rarified and only a few large businesses globally can sport such margins) and multiple has never been demanding perhaps due to high CAPEX req and geographics (which is Buffy's point of concern).. but hey, I think he wouldnt mind owning it if he were just uncle warren to his nephews/niece and not to the whole world. 

Every article i read about TSMC's problems seem to ironically, fortify their moat- e.g. labor shortages? yeah cool, how then do competitors get labor if TSMC can't themselves? 

 

So yeah, as one earlier poster said, if not now then when? Gutted i didnt pick this when Buffy was selling tbh. hope this ages well.

Edited August 25 by n.r98

[TwoCitiesCapital]

11 hours ago, sleepydragon said:

Does concentrating really make sense? I have been wondering, because if you concentrate it’s very hard to keep a stock for very long term. People change minds too often. So holding long term seems to be conflicting with building a concentrated portfolio.

On the other hand, if I have a position started at 5% of the positions, and if it’s a 10 bagger, it will become 50% of the portfolio, and that’s much easier to deal with.

i guess my point is concentrating only make sense in that you don’t sell your winners?

 

 

It's about dispersion of outcomes. The more you look like the "average" the more your returns will represent the average of 7-9% for stocks you often hear discussed. Concentration allows you to swing wide on either side of that range. So you could get 19% a year. Or -5%. 

 

The way I typically look at it is concentration is how you make money while diversification is how you keep it. Return maximization versus risk mitigation. 

 

I used to uber-concentrate. And all of my concentrated picks did very poorly while my small positions did exceptionally well. I changed my approach, capped myself at a 10% position limits in any one stock (and it takes me a long time to get there) which forced me to allocate more to smaller positions and to be less emotionally invested/tied to the success of any one company or idea.

 

As of this moment, Fairfax is the only stock that is a 10% position for me and a chunk of that was its outperformance/appreciation relative to the rest of the portfolio. And then Fairfax India and Exor are both roughly ~7-8% positions. 3 stocks are ~25% of my portfolio. It probably rises to 20-25 stocks to get to 50% and the rest is ETFs/mutual funds held in 401ks and HSAs. 

 

For me, this has driven acceptable returns while limiting my risk, and emotional investment, in any one single company - but still allowing me dispersion to the upside when my concentrated names outperform. 

Edited August 25 by TwoCitiesCapital

[dealraker]

12 hours ago, UK said:

 

Not only your track record, but also this, is really impressive. I owned >50 percent of BRK once (and would do this again at the right valuation), but ~80 percent in just two stocks (or perhaps it would be better to say businesses, as you see them) is really the different level of the game:)

 

There are many Wendy's type outcomes in such long term portfolios.  In 1976 I got a call from my aunt who asked me to go pick up my first cousin Bob Philpott from the Greensboro airport, now called the Piedmont Triad Airport.  

 

I snatched Bob and the first thing he says is, "You know I work for JC Bradford and Co and I'm the lead guy bringing Wendy's public.  You should buy some of their stock, I think it is going to do very well."  I did precisely that.  I'm still in college but I call Marshall at McDaniel Lewis and get a couple hundred shares as I remember.

 

Big time multi-bagger for a while, then the financial crisis...and basically all the way back down to  maybe a triple over many years.  Up again to multi-bagger and now struggling again.

 

I just own the stock.