So far this year we have seen a 10% sell-off in equity markets. We should open by saying this is no cause for concern. You will recall that we noted in our last few letters that statistically speaking, we have been due for a 14% peak to trough sell-off for a while now. Many...
First American Financial Corporation (FAF) is one of the two dominant players (along with Fidelity National Financial, FNF) in the title insurance industry. FAF isn’t exactly the sexiest company – they don’t show up much in the news – but they are the sort of very profitable, dependable, defensible company, providing a keystone service,...
This short piece is a continuation of our previous article challenging the obvious and critical flaws of the ‘efficient market hypothesis’- a theory which states that stock prices reflect all known information, and so always trade at their fair value. If true, that would make it impossible for active managers, such as us, to...
In our most recent quarterly update, we talked about the importance of long-term thinking in a world that is increasingly dominated by short-term news flow. Not to belabor the point, but this concept is so fundamentally important to what we do here at Globescan that we felt it deserved its own article. When we really...
Dear Clients, We are happy to report that 2019 was a very positive year in both absolute and relative performance terms. As you know, Globescan Capital was founded on the principle that investing in high-quality companies at attractive prices is the best and most consistent strategy to achieve long-run risk-adjusted performance. This remains as true today...
As you know, we run an active, concentrated portfolio. We believe that the best way to maximize long-term wealth is by owning high-quality companies that we can purchase at a discount to their intrinsic value. We also believe that it is less risky for an investor to own 25 stocks which they know inside...
As we approach the end of the year, we would like to take the time to discuss a question we often get from clients: "why isn’t there ‘tax- loss harvesting’ in my portfolio?" For the unfamiliar, tax- loss harvesting is the practice of selling investments to deliberately realize a loss in order to offset...
Dear Clients, Once again, we are pleased to report that this quarter has been positive for us in both absolute performance terms, as well as in relative performance terms (our portfolio vs the market overall). So far during 2019 we have been fortunate to have witnessed unusually positive overall market returns (combined with our healthy...
Here at Globescan, we are investors not traders- we research businesses in detail, understanding them inside and out, and only when we are comfortable with the economics and prospects of a business will we make an initial investment. We see this investment similarly to that of an owner or partner in the business over...
There are all sorts of price multiples, ratios and metrics that investors have come to rely on as shortcuts in determining whether a stock is undervalued or overvalued. Many private investors and even large investment houses rely on these shortcuts in order to make investment decisions. However, such a strategy is naive- these metrics can...
