“This past year was our eighth consecutive year of positive returns. Our two biggest contributors to the portfolio in 2019 were our investments in Apple +58.8% (AAPL) and Facebook +56.6% (FB), both of which were purchased during the Q4 2018 selloff. Just a few meaningful and timely decisions can make a big difference to portfolio returns.”
The Value Fund returned +5.3% in 2018 net of fees and expenses (or approximately +7.1% gross). We managed to outperform both of our benchmarks in 2018. The S&P/TSX Total Return Index finished down -8.9% for the year. The S&P500 Total Return Index was down -4.4% for the year. Measured in Canadian dollars (the Value Fund’s reporting currency) the S&P500 Total Return was up +3.9% for the year.
There is a concept in cycling that has been adopted by famed value investor Tom Russo that resonates with us – namely the capacity to suffer. There will be times when our prudent value investing approach will be out of step with the markets and we will experience the pain of looking foolish for ignoring expensive and/or poor-quality stocks. But our long-term and patient approach when things aren’t going our way serves us well when panic returns. The ability to endure short-term pain (be it psychological, emotional and/or physical) often leads to long-term rewards. Buffett has often said that temperament is more important than intelligence in investing. Fortunately we were wired a certain way that happens to be helpful in the investing arena.
One of our arbitrage investment ideas – long Express Scripts (NYSE:ESRX) – was republished by Barron’s earlier this week. Details inside.
… Value Fund holding Visa, Inc. is the world leader in retail electronic payments. Visa, along with competitor MasterCard, form a global duopoly in the sector. Visa is an incredible business. The company grows steadily without much capital reinvestment required, adds value to both consumers and retailers and is very difficult to compete against. Visa is truly a money-making machine.
… Value Fund holding Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) is the world leader in diabetes care with a global market share of 27% by value (46% by insulin volume). The company was founded in 1925 and is headquartered in Denmark. However, its origins have a uniquely Canadian connection…
… Many (most?) investors are fascinated by the daily fluctuations of the stock market. CNBC, BNN and other business news programs fill countless hours of their programming days featuring “experts” that try and give meaning to recent market moves and predict the way forward. Investors are thus conditioned to search for meaning in Mr. Market’s every twitch. It is a Pavlovian-like process.