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Posted

The latest bold bet from ‘The 400% Man’

Commentary: Why a top stock picker believes in Bank of America

 

http://on.mktw.net/YWoOoI

 

Mecham’s fund held $34 million, or 18% of its assets, in Bank of America at the end of 2012.

 

The Bank of America stake was just one contributor to yet another successful year for Arlington. The fund earned a stellar 36%—or 29% net of fees—in 2012, way ahead of the 16% gain for Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index

 

Mecham’s partner, Ben Raybould, told me last year that Mecham wants to get rid of the computers in their office, as they are a distraction. Mecham spends his time reading—mainly company filings, which he prints out, old-school.

 

You couldn’t get further from the modern world of Wall Street, where everyone is supposed to be online and connected all the time, and where we are all drowning in data. Every time someone praises the Internet in my presence I am reminded of Darth Vader’s scathing comment about the Death Star: “Don’t be too proud of this technological terror you’ve constructed.”

 

Man, those comments under the article are harsh. Tough crowd!

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Posted

The latest bold bet from ‘The 400% Man’

Commentary: Why a top stock picker believes in Bank of America

 

http://on.mktw.net/YWoOoI

 

Mecham’s fund held $34 million, or 18% of its assets, in Bank of America at the end of 2012.

 

The Bank of America stake was just one contributor to yet another successful year for Arlington. The fund earned a stellar 36%—or 29% net of fees—in 2012, way ahead of the 16% gain for Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index

 

Mecham’s partner, Ben Raybould, told me last year that Mecham wants to get rid of the computers in their office, as they are a distraction. Mecham spends his time reading—mainly company filings, which he prints out, old-school.

 

You couldn’t get further from the modern world of Wall Street, where everyone is supposed to be online and connected all the time, and where we are all drowning in data. Every time someone praises the Internet in my presence I am reminded of Darth Vader’s scathing comment about the Death Star: “Don’t be too proud of this technological terror you’ve constructed.”

 

Man, those comments under the article are harsh. Tough crowd!

 

haters gona hate...

Posted

In other news he's also getting rid of his telephone and switching to carrier pigeon, he was receiving too many calls and they were distracting. 

Surely, you jest, Oddball.  :)

But what you said reminds me of a Walter Schloss interview done by OID in either late 80s or early 90s. It was mentioned that the interview took the whole afternoon. The phone rang once during the interview. While picking up the phone, Schloss commented, "It must be my wife. I wonder why she calls." It turned out to be caller who had a wrong number.

:)

Posted

I think its crazy not to take advantage of technology. Investors today have huge advantages over investors of the past. The online availability of information being the hugest. This website is a case in point. But beyond this website there are a huge number of things you can do with technology that can help with investing. For instance if you want to determine all stocks which are cannibals you can run a Bloomberg stock screen and find out the answer in a couple of seconds.

Posted

In other news he's also getting rid of his telephone and switching to carrier pigeon, he was receiving too many calls and they were distracting. 

Surely, you jest, Oddball.  :)

But what you said reminds me of a Walter Schloss interview done by OID in either late 80s or early 90s. It was mentioned that the interview took the whole afternoon. The phone rang once during the interview. While picking up the phone, Schloss commented, "It must be my wife. I wonder why she calls." It turned out to be caller who had a wrong number.

:)

 

Yes, all humor, sorry if it doesn't translate well online.

Posted

I think its crazy not to take advantage of technology. Investors today have huge advantages over investors of the past. The online availability of information being the hugest. This website is a case in point. But beyond this website there are a huge number of things you can do with technology that can help with investing. For instance if you want to determine all stocks which are cannibals you can run a Bloomberg stock screen and find out the answer in a couple of seconds.

 

I completely agree, when used correctly computers are great tools.  I don't know why it would be hard to just turn off the monitor, he wouldn't see quotes or see newsflow. 

 

If he really wants to make sure he's clueless about his portfolio he should take my approach, get a full time job, then work from home with two little kids.  In between conference calls and helping out my wife during meltdowns I'm unaware there's even a market.  If someone came and told me some stock I owned dropped 50% while I was wrangling with a melting down toddler I'm not even sure it would register. 

Posted

I think its crazy not to take advantage of technology. Investors today have huge advantages over investors of the past. The online availability of information being the hugest. This website is a case in point. But beyond this website there are a huge number of things you can do with technology that can help with investing. For instance if you want to determine all stocks which are cannibals you can run a Bloomberg stock screen and find out the answer in a couple of seconds.

 

I completely agree, when used correctly computers are great tools.  I don't know why it would be hard to just turn off the monitor, he wouldn't see quotes or see newsflow. 

 

If he really wants to make sure he's clueless about his portfolio he should take my approach, get a full time job, then work from home with two little kids.  In between conference calls and helping out my wife during meltdowns I'm unaware there's even a market.  If someone came and told me some stock I owned dropped 50% while I was wrangling with a melting down toddler I'm not even sure it would register.

I don't know why fat people don't get thin, they'd just need to eat less.

Posted

I think of this example when I think about this. I imagine Buffet working in the 1950's for Graham. He has got on a grey lab coat. He goes through the Moody's manuals and fill in forms for Graham which examine stocks on criteria like Price to Book, debt to equity etc. He spends weeks and weeks doing along side Walter Schloss filling in hundreds of forms. After weeks of painstaking work the narrow they search down to a couple a handful of stocks worthy of further examination. Here are two outstanding future investors performing a basic stock screen MANUALLY that I could do in a few minutes on a computer and over a far huger universe than they would ever consider. And I am supposed to forgo this huge advantage?!

 

This all reminds me of this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIAoJsS9Ix8

 

 

Posted

I think of this example when I think about this. I imagine Buffet working in the 1950's for Graham. He has got on a grey lab coat. He goes through the Moody's manuals and fill in forms for Graham which examine stocks on criteria like Price to Book, debt to equity etc. He spends weeks and weeks doing along side Walter Schloss filling in hundreds of forms. After weeks of painstaking work the narrow they search down to a couple a handful of stocks worthy of further examination. Here are two outstanding future investors performing a basic stock screen MANUALLY that I could do in a few minutes on a computer and over a far huger universe than they would ever consider. And I am supposed to forgo this huge advantage?!

 

This all reminds me of this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIAoJsS9Ix8

 

Depending on the data in stock screens is not 100% accurate.  In the article is mentions that he gets most of his reading from SEC filings.  A big advantage for the 400% guy is actually reading the fillings since so few people do it.  I think his approach is unique is this era and he's wanting to take steps to eliminate alot of the noise. 

 

The internet is is kinda like a crack addiction, you never get enough.  Sometimes the best approach is to just unplug and think on your own, process the information.

Posted

I think its crazy not to take advantage of technology. Investors today have huge advantages over investors of the past. The online availability of information being the hugest. This website is a case in point. But beyond this website there are a huge number of things you can do with technology that can help with investing. For instance if you want to determine all stocks which are cannibals you can run a Bloomberg stock screen and find out the answer in a couple of seconds.

 

I completely agree, when used correctly computers are great tools.  I don't know why it would be hard to just turn off the monitor, he wouldn't see quotes or see newsflow. 

 

If he really wants to make sure he's clueless about his portfolio he should take my approach, get a full time job, then work from home with two little kids.  In between conference calls and helping out my wife during meltdowns I'm unaware there's even a market.  If someone came and told me some stock I owned dropped 50% while I was wrangling with a melting down toddler I'm not even sure it would register.

I don't know why fat people don't get thin, they'd just need to eat less.

 

While you jest it is true.  If someone were fat and they reduced their caloric intake to 500 or 1000 calories a day they would lose weight, that's not up for dispute.

 

This all boils down to self-control.  Why do some people spend all day on Facebook, or Twitter or corner of ber….uh...

Posted

I think its crazy not to take advantage of technology. Investors today have huge advantages over investors of the past. The online availability of information being the hugest. This website is a case in point. But beyond this website there are a huge number of things you can do with technology that can help with investing. For instance if you want to determine all stocks which are cannibals you can run a Bloomberg stock screen and find out the answer in a couple of seconds.

 

I completely agree, when used correctly computers are great tools.  I don't know why it would be hard to just turn off the monitor, he wouldn't see quotes or see newsflow. 

 

If he really wants to make sure he's clueless about his portfolio he should take my approach, get a full time job, then work from home with two little kids.  In between conference calls and helping out my wife during meltdowns I'm unaware there's even a market.  If someone came and told me some stock I owned dropped 50% while I was wrangling with a melting down toddler I'm not even sure it would register.

I don't know why fat people don't get thin, they'd just need to eat less.

 

While you jest it is true.  If someone were fat and they reduced their caloric intake to 500 or 1000 calories a day they would lose weight, that's not up for dispute.

 

This all boils down to self-control.  Why do some people spend all day on Facebook, or Twitter or corner of ber….uh...

Yes, but sometimes limiting your choices beforehand is the wiser choice. I know I' m not rational enough to always make the choices I actually want to make long-term

Posted

Yeah  agreed. Self-control is a scarce resource, it should be allocated wisely. If you're obese you shouldn't live in a house stuffed with snacks next to a Burger King. If you want to stop drinking / smoking you shouldn't go to a bar. And if you aspire to be a rational value investor you shouldn't have an office with Bloomberg tv, Interactive Brokers terminal ready to trade and a spreadsheet to show your p&l realtime. Much easier to succumb to the short term noise. No computer in your office might be taking it too far but I wouldn't be surprised if it is beneficial. There's such an overload of information and news on the internet that it's pretty easy to lose the big picture.

 

The worst things are the brokerage apps for your phone .. Now you can be distracted 24/7 by the performance of your portfolio!

 

Even this forum is a distraction (though a valued one :) ). The signal to noise ratio here is probably the best from all forums I've ever seen, but still if you spend two hours here they're not as productive as two hours of hard work: reading the actual 10K's, doing the math.

  • 1 month later...
Posted

New portfolio out as of 3/31/13.  Still about 60% BRK.  Added a lot more Vistaprint and XPO Logistics.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1568820/000139834413002407/fp0007252_13fhr.txt

 

It's easier to watch...

 

 

http://holdings.nasdaq.com/asp/OwnerPortfolio.asp?FormType=OwnerPortfolio&CIK=0001568820&HolderName=ARLINGTON+VALUE+CAPITAL%2C+LLC

 

NEW positions:

LUK

 

SOLD positions:

FFH

SD

 

Wow. That is much easier.  Thanks!

 

  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...
Posted

fareastwarriors

I am not smart enough to make a whole thesis on CHRW 

 

Dave Sather is president and founder of the Sather Financial Group, Made a 1h presentation on MOI on this.

Basically saying its a slow 8% grower for the next 10 years.

Posted

Any glaring reasons for selling 40% of LUK stake, a position that was just opened last quarter?

 

Allan is on here and posts rarely. Maybe he'll respond to a PM.

 

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