A down market in 2004 is now jogging memories to the critical importance of wealth preservation. But here's a radical thought: With the threat of terror and multi-dip recessions, one of the finest ways to preserve your capital over the long term is to keep investing it into stocks. Yes, stocks.
Value stocks, that is.
For an explanation of why, let's travel back to 1984 when Berkshire Hathaway
To prove his point, he cited the work of the four young employees at Mr. Graham's firm in the mid-1950s. Over the ensuing decades, using his teachings, they'd gone on to thrash the market's average return, through bear and bull markets. They'd done the equivalent of purchasing unclaimed diamonds at wholesale, then selling them three times higher at retail.
The result of it all to this day has been a delivery to their shareholders of untold millions of dollars. Consider, for example, that Donald and Mildred Othmer invested $50,000 with Warren Buffett in the 1960s and watched it grow into a $750 million estate over the next 30 years. Those rewards were driven by a curious and creative mind applying the basic precepts of value investing.
What makes for a great value play
Aspiring to add to this great tradition, The Motley Fool today announces the launch of Inside Value, our newest newsletter and online advisory network for value investors. The service features independent and cooperative research on some of the most unloved yet undervalued stocks in the world. These are special-situation stocks, the sort that brokers gruffly dismiss as "dead money." They're the stocks of companies emerging from bankruptcy, or transitioning into new management, or showcasing a tattered reputation or -- in the dream scenario -- all of the above.
You can take a free 30-day trial with no obligation to subscribe to what I promise is a truly wonderful service.
Our expert team, led by master value analyst Philip Durell, will scour the markets for promising companies priced with a margin of safety for investors. Indeed, our team of analysts has one simple goal: to patiently exploit that distance between a company's intrinsic value and its stock price for the benefit of our members. For fine examples of this, think back to McDonald's
The great value plays emerge just when everyone stops caring, or believes the cause is lost, when the brand name is tarnished, management gets booted, the stock trades to new lows, and the enterprise is left for dead. That's when, having done their due diligence, the great value investors tiptoe in, snap up shares, sit back, and wait for something good to happen. It's precisely what Warren Buffett did back in the late 1970s, buying up GEICO beginning at $2 per share, when many thought the firm would collapse. GEICO was the quintessential value play, with a wide margin of safety. It stands as arguably the finest investment in Warren Buffett's masterful career. Its greatness was only apparent to deep value investors.
Leading the march for value
As I said, leading our team will be all-star analyst Philip Durell (a.k.a. TMFAdmiral from The Motley Fool community). Philip was the winner of this year's Feste Award, given to the most valued contributor to The Motley Fool as voted by our tens of thousands of community members.
He's spent the last year writing for Fool.com and shining as a top assistant in my own newsletter, Hidden Gems, breaking down the financial statements and contributing sophisticated valuation work on promising value investments such as Fresh Del Monte
In the very first issue of Inside Value, you'll find thorough research, sound logic, and a pair of very compelling stocks. One is a toymaker nearly destroyed by a dreadful acquisition. Its stock today is priced for failure, just as the company's business prospects are improving. The other is a company emerging from bankruptcy with new management, an upgraded balance sheet, and the sort of deep price discount reserved for organizations with a blotted reputation. These are companies everybody loves to hate, but they're being offered at prices right now that value investors can come to love.
You can see his first two recommendations by taking that free trial of Inside Value. And I want this to be very clear. You can view the recommendations, enjoy the service, then cancel within 30 days without paying us a penny.
Inside Value's unending goal will be to find unfairly maligned companies and stocks on offer at prices that can help you beat the market handily. I've been extremely proud to work with Philip in Hidden Gems. I know he'll bring all his energy, enthusiasm, and exquisite analytical abilities to bear in Inside Value.
Plumbing the depths for profit
I don't want to make value investing seem simple. It isn't. It demands curiosity and a strict adherence to the principles of valuation. However, if market-beating value investing sounds impossible to you, that's not the case either. Great firms such as Tweedy Browne, the Royce Funds, Baupost Capital, the Weitz Funds, and the Clipper Fund have been practicing it successfully for many, many years.
They have succeeded because our stock market is still crowded by Wall Street brokers scalping commissions, mutual fund managers focused on their fees, and individual investors obsessed with daily stock price movements. Their short-term passions create plenty of undervalued stocks for those of us willing to become long-term owners.
The value investing philosophy can best be contrasted with investments in early-stage, rapid-growth companies. Picture venture capitalists searching universities and major urban areas for bright entrepreneurs with everything on their side: youth, enthusiasm, an innovative spirit, and the tendency to dream.
Some of the venture capitalists that funded the personal computer, semiconductor, wireless, and biotechnology industries at their outset did extremely well. But early investors in companies such as Microsoft
The opposite of these stargazing astronomers of commerce are the marine captains and deep sea divers of value investing. They plumb the undiscovered depths for fallen treasure, in dark and troubled waters. The greatest value investments are not out sunning in full view on the beach, not floating in a red balloon overhead, not soaring to the moon. They're buried deep in the slime and muck, under seaweed and rocks, out of view.
They're old-line manufacturing firms when the market is in love with and paying too much for technology stocks. They're Internet turnarounds with loads of cash on the balance sheet just when everyone finally agrees Internet stocks are a disaster. They're scandal-ridden, out-of-favor, disregarded, or recently disgraced companies with the potential to turn around in stunning fashion.
In Inside Value, Philip Durell is your deep sea captain (incidentally, he has served as a master mariner in the Merchant Marine). He's your turnaround specialist (having spent much of his professional career turning around companies as a senior executive). He is your guide to finding those great companies out there -- no matter where they are -- poised to outperform but available sometimes for pennies on the dollar.
Isn't it time you stopped running with the pack, buying into companies that you may not understand simply because they're going up... only to watch them crash down below your purchase price because you had no margin of safety?
I guarantee you Philip will offer you a different way to invest. Not only will he hand you great selections from month to month, he'll give you an education in investing that's unparalleled. He's already overseeing a burgeoning community of engaged, bright investors ready to discuss each recommendation and answer your investment questions.
Save your portfolio from the market forces huffing and puffing at your door. Inside Value offers you the bricks and mortar to secure your investing strategy and help you beat the market.
Take a free, no-risk trial to Inside Value today and become part of something special: the leading interactive network for long-term value investors.
Foolish best,
Tom Gardner
Tom Gardner is co-founder of The Motley Fool. Of the companies mentioned in this article, he owns Cisco and Microsoft. As always, The Motley Fool is investors working for other investors.