Fairholme/Berkowitz

[BargainValueHunter]

Berkowitz loaded up on SHLD in Q1 it seems. He must still like the story.  ???

[educatedidiot]

He's continued to add to Sears all the way down: http://www.rocketfinancial.com/OwnHist.aspx?sID=484&fID=375

 

Incredible that he's owned it for 12 years now!

[longtermdave]

New interview posted today:

 

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4081459-interview-fairholmes-bruce-berkowitz

[Ballinvarosig Investors]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2017-06-19/why-bruce-berkowitz-still-likes-stocks-others-hate-video

 

Jumbo interview with Berko.

[Guest longinvestor]

When performance comes up short, talk gets longer. And frequent.

[DooDiligence]

Seems in denial re: Sears

 

I absolutely knew he was going to say St. Joe when asked what he'd buy more of, if he could.

 

He may redeem himself (all Flagler like) in NW FL.

I love the area (haven't been over towards Destin / Apalachicola in a decade or more but I know the more rural beach communities are super nice!)

 

Seritage could help in his redemption too.

 

I'm not qualified to comment on Fannie & Freddie.

 

Govt asked him - “Why are you the only guy who owns AIG & why do you own so much of it?”

Now the world is asking “same Q re: Sears”

 

---

 

“Just because I’m contrary doesn’t mean I’m right”

 

“People have to agree with me or I look wrong for extended periods, until I look right again" (I rearranged his words but this was the gist...)

 

“Keep things businesslike & be long term oriented.”

 

“I eat my own cooking”

 

Seems like a standup guy who may or may not be wrong sometimes.

 

---

 

I wonder if BB knows how to relax?

[rijk]

on his website, his fund outperforms the s&p over 17 years by a factor close to 2.5x

 

morningstar is showing 15 year performance in line with s&p of just over 8%/year

 

why the performances differ so much?

 

http://www.fairholmefunds.com/overview

 

http://performance.morningstar.com/fund/performance-return.action?t=FAIRX&region=usa&culture=en_US

[Williams406]

I haven't done a deep-dive performance analysis but was familiar with Fairholme in early 2000's. Tech and growth hit hard for a couple of years whereas Fairholme had things like Markel/Berkshire that were not hit hard. I'd guess relative performance in 2000/2001 alone was very profound for Fairholme relative to S&P 500. Longleaf knocked it out of the park during that era as well. The 15-year performance leaves out those early 2000's years.

[BTShine]

A crude look on google finance comparing FAIRX to the S&P 500  in the Jan 2000 - June 2002 (30 months) has Fairholme + 48% and S&P -37%.  $100 turned into either $148 or $63.  That's likely where the biggest difference comes from. 

 

Approx 2.5X the S&P for the current 15 year historical starting point. 

[rijk]

thanks, indeed the difference is coming from the first 2 years

 

 

[fareastwarriors]

oh boy....

 

 

 

Bruce Berkowitz Seeks Return to Glory by Betting on Sears

https://www.wsj.com/articles/fund-manager-makes-contrarian-bet-loading-up-on-sears-1498734001

[OracleofCarolina]

Bless his heart!

[Ballinvarosig Investors]

Can someone help me see the full article?

[fareastwarriors]

Can someone help me see the full article?

 

Do you use Facebook? If you do, you can search the name of the article in FB and this will bypass the pay wall.

[redwood]

He just said in fairx conference call that sears worth $95/share and sears Canada worth $7.

[BargainValueHunter]

He just said in fairx conference call that sears worth $95/share and sears Canada worth $7.

 

Since 2017-07-06, Bruce has been dumping SRSC aggressively! Maybe he changed his mind.

[*]

SC 13D/A 2017-07-06 SEARS CANADA INC COMMON SHARES SRSC 21,468,056 -94,918 N/A

SC 13D/A 2017-07-27 SEARS CANADA INC COMMON SHARES SRSC 21,433,443 -34,613 N/A

SC 13D/A 2017-08-04 SEARS CANADA INC COMMON SHARES SRSC 19,034,637 -2,398,806 N/A

SC 13D/A 2017-08-18 SEARS CANADA INC COMMON SHARES SRSC 17,241,837 -1,792,800 N/A

SC 13G/A 2017-08-24 SEARS CANADA INC COMMON SHARES SRSC 16,544,647 -697,190 N/A

SC 13G/A 2017-08-30 SEARS CANADA INC COMMON SHARES SRSC 8,811,785 -7,732,862 N/A

[*]

Who would trust Berkowitz's word now after he has abandoned his value principles of the 90s and early 2000s. Remember when he talked publicly of his intent to hold Pfizer for a long time right before quietly dumping it...

 

https://www.forbes.com/2009/08/21/berkowitz-fairholme-pfizer-intelligent-investing-buffett.html

 

And we have Pfizer. We have Forest Drugs, Forest Labs. We have Humana , and WellPoint, the health insurers

 

How has the health care sector done vs. Sears Holdings since 2009?

 

Berkowitz is just another Warren wannabe who had his time in the sun and is now in the wannabe graveyard with all the rest.

[finetrader]

It is not the Board that preferred liquidation, but the Creditors.

[Eye4Valu]

We all know that for behavioral reasons investors pile in at the top, and ditch you at the bottom. Bruce is clearly in the dog house: http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=845450

 

Question is, does that presage more pain, or outperformance?

 

 

[frugalchief]

I vote outperformance once he kicks the losers out.

 

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1214344/000091957418000689/xslF345X03/p7807547.xml

 

 

[Spekulatius]

There isn’t much left once he got rid of his losers. St Joe looks like a dog to me as well.

[frugalchief]

2017 Annual out - http://www.fairholmefundsinc.com/Reports/Funds2017Annual.pdf

[Guest]

While the performance has been terrible it's nice to see that he's suffering from his large personal stake and a expense reduction (you almost never see an expense reduction on lower AUM). It's not Chou level but still better than the typical manager.

[DooDiligence]

There isn’t much left once he got rid of his losers. St Joe looks like a dog to me as well.

 

This area of north Florida is really nice and has a lot more leisurely pace than Miami.

 

Maybe he's planning on becoming a big fish in a small pond (the yacht will look kind of ridiculous so he may have to scale that down a bit.)

 

---

 

Is this anything?

 

http://www.washingtonprime.com

[Spekulatius]

There isn’t much left once he got rid of his losers. St Joe looks like a dog to me as well.

 

This area of north Florida is really nice and has a lot more leisurely pace than Miami.

 

Maybe he's planning on becoming a big fish in a small pond (the yacht will look kind of ridiculous so he may have to scale that down a bit.)

 

---

 

Is this anything?

 

http://www.washingtonprime.com

 

WPG is a B (or lower ) mall operator, optically cheap, but I would rather invest in Reits that one better properties, like KIM or a play like SRG. The mall sector is a battleground right now and I would rather  own  Reits that own better quality assets in this situation.

[frugalchief]

Quarterly filing out

 

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1096344/000119312518130957/d585240dnq.htm

 

sold large chunk of SHLD, quite a bit of Fannie/Freddie pref (hopefully locking in gains at beginning of year). Added Vista Energy (1% position). Cash and equivalents up about 4%. Net assets down about $300mm.