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Graham and Doddsville an Investment Newsletter from the Students of Columbia Business School

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Graham and Doddsville an Investment Newsletter from the Students of Columbia Business School Graham and Doddsville An investment newsletter from the students of Columbia Business School Volume II, Issue 2 Summer / Fall 2008 Inside this issue: Joel Greenblatt p. 9 Making Heads and Tails of Mohnish Pabrai Visiting the Oracle p. 10 Mohnish Pabrai launched Pabrai by the Indian approach called Funds in 1999. Less than a dec- Dhandho. When asked about Pershing Square p. 14 ade later, Mr. Pabrai’s name is his investment philosophy, he Challenge often mentioned in the same often repeats the mantra breath as legendary value inves- “Heads I win, tails I don’t lose tors who have been in the busi- that much.” Graham and The Winning Pitch: p. 16 Doddsville was lucky enough to NutriSystem ness for decades. The Pabrai Funds annual shareholder meet- sit down and delve deeper into ing has become a stop on a Mohnish Pabrai’s investment 11th Annual CIMA p. 18 value investing tour that in- philosophy. Conference cludes the annual meetings of Berkshire Hathaway, Wesco, Question: How did you get Advice from The p. 21 and The Sequoia Fund. He is started with value investing? Oracle also a frequent guest of Bloomberg, CNBC, and The Mohnish Pabrai—Pabrai Funds Until I was 30 years old, frankly, Value Investing Congress. I had never heard of Mr. Buffett. Editors: spent the afternoon of July 25 I had never heard of value in- In 2007, Mr. Pabrai published his with their mentor. vesting. This was 1994 and I second book, The Dhandho In- was vacationing in London with David Kessler vestor , which is quickly becoming In April, Mohnish made his first my wife. I was looking for MBA 2008 a ‘must read’ for all value inves- appearance at Columbia Busi- something to read on the flight tors. Last year, along with Guy ness School where he appeared back to Chicago, and I picked up Charles Murphy Spier, manager of Aquamarine as the guest lecturer in Profes- one of Peter Lynch’s books. I sor Bruce Greenwald’s Value am an engineer by training, so MBA 2009 Fund, Mr. Pabrai was the highest bidder in an eBay auction for Investing Seminar. Mr. Pabrai’s this was a different field for me. lunch with Warren Buffett. investment style has not only I read that book on the flight David Silverman With his daughters sitting on been influenced by Benjamin and I loved it. It made all the MBA 2009 either side of Buffett, Mr. Pabrai, Graham, Warren Buffett, and sense in the world to me, in Mr. Spier and their families other value investors, but also (Continued on page 2) Contact us at: Graham and Doddsville Celebrates the 75th [email protected] Anniversary of Graham and Dodd’s Classic Visit us at: www.grahamanddodd.com Welcome back to Graham and cation of the sixth edition of eration of investors who follow www.gsb.columbia.edu/students/ Doddsville! The summer has Security Analysis . This edition the framework set forth by organizations/ cima/ come to an end, and a new comes as we celebrate the 75th Graham and Dodd. This issue school year has begun amidst anniversary of the first edition, is no exception, and we are the largest shake-up on Wall published in 1934. Professor especially pleased to present an Street since the Great Depres- Bruce Greenwald continues interview with Mohnish Pabrai sion. While the times have Columbia’s rich tradition of of Pabrai Funds. changed, the original tenets of value investing as co-editor of Columbia Business School Pro- the new edition along with Jim Inside you will learn from inves- fessors Benjamin Graham and Grant and Seth Klarman. tors such as Warren Buffett, David Dodd remain the same. Joel Greenblatt, Bill Ackman, Graham and Doddsville strives Rich Pzena, Daniel Loeb, and Along with the new school year, to bring you insight and infor- many others. We are also September also marks the publi- mation from the current gen- (Continued on page 2) Page 2 Graham And Doddsville Celebrates… (continued from page 1) (Continued from page 1) proud to feature Shilpa Marda’s winning pitch from The First Annual Pershing Square Chal- lenge. This year promises to be an exciting one for all investors. We will continue to bring you insights from some of the most prominent citizens of Graham and Doddsville. If you have any comments or suggestions, e-mail us at: [email protected]. Go online to find this and past issues of Graham and Doddsville, as well as other resources from CIMA: Erin Bellissimo, co-director of the Heilbrunn Center, and professor Dan Kruger, Professor of Distressed Value In- http://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/ vesting catch up at the 11th Annual CIMA Conference students/organizations/cima Mohnish Pabrai (continued from page 1) terms of how to and how not The thing that I found very ‘winging it’. That is how I saw “The thing that I to invest. I thought this was an strange was that if there is such mutual funds work – they were interesting area and I wanted a thing as the laws of investing, just winging it, or they come up found very strange to know more about it, so I Warren Buffett has pretty with any nuance or ‘flavor of found that Peter Lynch had much laid them out. What I the day’ they want to pursue. I was that if there is another book and I read that couldn’t understand was that had a thought that if novices one too. I wanted to learn when I looked at the entire like me simply adopted Buffett’s such a thing as the even more, but I ran out of mutual fund industry at the approach and invested in the Peter Lynch books to read. I time, which were the profes- equity markets with a concen- laws of investing, remembered that in one of the sional managers that I had ex- trated portfolio, etc. that I was books, Peter Lynch mentioned posure to, I saw that these guys likely to do better than most of Warren Buffett has Warren Buffett and told a not only did not follow the the industry professionals. So I story of how Buffett had called fundamental laws of investing, said it was worth testing this pretty much laid him to get his permission to but most of them didn’t even hypothesis out. I was lucky at use a quote. This was the first know what they were. At the the time in 1994; I had about them out.” time I had ever heard of War- same time, their results re- $1 million in cash. I had just ren Buffett. I figured since flected sub-par performance. sold some assets of my busi- Lynch was talking to Buffett, I So I thought there must be a ness and I decided to go ahead should learn more about who correlation between these guys and manage that in a Buffett- Buffett is. I looked around, and not following the rules and style concentrated portfolio, found the first two biographies having poor performance. buying things I understood, etc. that had just been published: That is how I got into value Lowenstein’s The Making of an The second thing I found very investing. American Capitalist and Hag- strange was how you can have strom’s The Warren Buffett an entire industry which does Question: You have man- Way . I read those books and I not function with a solid frame- aged Pabrai Funds since just had an epiphany. They work. To me, it is like people 1999. That must have resonated strongly with me. doing brain surgery by just (Continued on page 3) Volume II, Issue 2 Page 3 Mohnish Pabrai (continued from page 2) (Continued from page 2) Question: Where do you is in fact a good invest- been quite a time to open a hunt for your ideas? ment? “What I couldn’t value fund. When I look for ideas, I look in After I identify an interesting Actually, 1999 was very inter- places like the 52-week-low company, I begin to drill down understand was esting. I think it was a great list, Value Line , as well as stocks reading the 10K’s and 10Q’s. time to start as a value investor with low P/E ratios, low P/B When I first come across a that when I looked because the market in 1999 ratios, or large discount-to- business, I generally ask myself and 2000 had segregated. As a book value. Now I have Joel within the first few minutes: Is at the entire mutual matter of fact, on the day that Greenblatt’s Magic Formula; I this something I understand the NASDAQ hit its peak, look at that on a daily basis as well? Is this a relatively fund industry at the Berkshire hit its 52-week low. well. I also subscribe to Portfo- straight-forward business to What happened is that a lot of lio Reports , published by Out- understand? If I am not getting time… I saw that money had gone into these standing Investor Digest , which a clear idea in my head of how frothy dot-com type stocks, gives a listing of all the buying the business works and how it these guys not only but effectively it had come out of major value investors every makes money, then I will gen- of brick-and-mortar, normal few weeks. I also look at 13F erally stop and move on to the did not follow the businesses. A lot of brick-and- filings of the usual suspects next business.
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