Stock Market Investors

The beginning to 2022 has been dark to say the least. The year has begun with losses in the index with much deeper red ink spilled across many recently exciting investments. The ominous feeling of the moment reminds me of the suspense I first felt watching The Silence of the Lambs. It was creepy, dark and intellectually intriguing to figure out what would transpire next. Allegorically, the final scene of that movie is like the first week of stock trading in 2022. […]

Most professionals who employ our strategy are wide-asset allocators. We fill a sleeve in the U.S. stock ownership category and for most, that is in the large-cap space. We compete with other value funds and ETFs, which represent themselves as value strategies. Using the James 1:27 test, how do we stack up at the beginning of 2022 with other value strategies and large-cap managers that are portrayed as value managers? […]

[…] Warren Buffett says, “Invest in a company as if the stock market won’t be open for the next five years.” At Smead Capital Management, we try to do in already public company shares, many of the same things that Blackstone has done in private equity. First, we seek value in undervalued assets and underestimated business models. Second, our people are invested side-by-side with our investors.

Third, we like to make investments which meet our eight criteria for common stock selection at what John Templeton called, “The point of maximum pessimism!” He said, “If you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, you are too late!” Fourth, we try as much as possible to patiently wait for wonderful companies to get dumped into our lap by temporarily difficult and distressful events. […]