Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Value Investing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Charshay who wrote (36859)	3/5/2010 8:56:33 PM
From: Jurgis Bekepuris	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 78476

I am sure Paul can give you an answer, but why not spend some effort and go to the horse's mouth? Mike's posts are there for anyone to read. I am sure they are almost as educational now as they were when he wrote them. ;)

To: Charshay who wrote (36859)	3/5/2010 9:20:59 PM
From: E_K_S	Respond to of 78476

Hi Charshay: Here is the SI link to Mike Burry's profile and hi9s SI posts: ( Member 690845 ). After reading the article that Spekulatius posted ( Message 26357928 ), I plan to go back and check out some of Mr. Burry's posts. With hindsight bias, I might learn something. EKS

To: Charshay who wrote (36859)	3/6/2010 1:45:06 AM
From: Paul Senior	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 78476

Charsay. Yes, Mike Burry could analyze companies very quickly and in detail and could spot anomalies. And he seemed to me to back up his decisions with a concentrated portfolio. He was a student of value investing who was VERY quick to absorb and to incorporate ideas. He was quite entrepreneurial. First (that I know about) beginning this thread and the Buffettology thread, then his own website, and his willingness to put himself out for media interviews (quoted in BusinessWeek or Fortune and writing for MSNMoney.) And then of course, starting his own hedge fund. After a while I came to sense that he had a lot of contacts in the investment community (pro investors) and these folks may have supplied him with some of his investment ideas. (And he they.) All his stock picks that I remember were based on his idea of fundamental value investing. No momentum stuff, or idea stocks. I followed him into several of his picks, and it worked out well for me. Since among the regulars who post here there's no consensus on what exactly a value stock is, for me, I did view many of his stocks as not at a value buy when I considered them. Other readers saw it differently. He had a big fan base here. He did his homework and could articulate the reasons for his buying (or selling or avoiding). He made some very good picks, but he made mistakes too, I believe. Certainly it is not so clear that he was the best value investor on the thread. "...were his picks easy for you to agree with or was he picking companies were the value was not so obvious?" That's surprisingly difficult for me to answer. If you mean, "If I(Charshay) were there with you and Burry and the others, and if Burry said he was buying XYZ for reasons A, B, C, would we see that as so compelling that we also take positions in XYZ.?" For some of us, yes. On the facts or logic (A,B,C) of it. Some people bet on the jockey though too: Mike had the cred and so he was avidly followed. For me and maybe some others, his picks may not have been easy to plunk money down on. Value stocks show up all the time, and we have our individual likes and dislikes. Mike might like a maybe-profitable net-net (was it BAMM back then?); some people would say forgetaboutit - no crappy dink stocks for me. Charshay, I come to it now about mentioning my baggage. That has something to do with my world-view and the bad side of my ego. I consider myself a journeyman in the land of investing. Along comes a "kid" with very little money or investing experience: what does such a person know about investing in the real world and how can such a person get a following on a website and in the media? (The same point made by John Bogle of Vanguard funds.) So I've had to watch myself with Mike's picks and try to separate my ego from the facts. That's been hard. So I say, for me, his picks were not easy for me to follow up with. Not knowing anything about you at all, I will guess if you were on the thread at the time and carried no baggage, you would find his picks if not appealing, at least easier to accept. And I'm trying to learn too. If for example, Dr. Ipsofacto turns out to be not the apprentice he appears, but rather a master like Doc B., then I want to accept that quickly and benefit from an objective look at his (or anyone else's) stock ideas here.