Parsad

If someone insinuates that he compounds at 26% and is called out on it when he is no where close to it, we are the "keyboard warriors" who wear "big boy pants." That's not correct. If Pabrai didn't go around parading his 26% mantra I doubt anyone here would call him out for his performance. After all, many investment managers can't and don't compound at 26% and they aren't being called out here. And there's a reason for that---they aren't anchoring to that number and using it for promotional purposes. Pabrai uses 26% as a target. He's fallen far short of it ending 2020, but he was on pace from 1995-2013. Now if you say your goal is to become a billionaire, but you fall short and are worth $350M, would you call that a dramatic failure? You still succeeded beyond most expectations...just not this lofty one you originally set out to hit. Peter Lynch averaged 30% a year for about 11 years. If Pabrai stopped managing money at 2013, would you guys be slinging mud like you are? Sure he's a public figure, excellent at marketing himself, but if he had shut his fund down in 2013 and walked away, you guys would be talking about him in the same breath as Lynch. C'est la vie! Like anything, your only as good as your last game...and Pabrai is the goat, not the GOAT presently! Funny thing is most of the people criticizing him had no problem eating his free dinners in the past! Cheers!

My friend, Tim McElvaine, who runs the McElvaine Trust sent out his annual holiday greetings. I thought this was probably the best card I've ever received from a peer/business/fund...very funny! Also incredibly well-timed for value investors in general. Enjoy! https://www.valuefund.ca/a-christmas-carol-for-value-investors.html

Arguably, the greatest pilot in history! Should have been the first one in space. Cheers Mr. Right Stuff!

That's all you had to say. I'm fine if you want to critique his performance...but critiquing his integrity just doesn't fly based on what he's done and how he treats everyone around him. Cheers!

You know Greg, that's the dumbest thing you've ever said! I know Prem really well, and he has never acted in a way that would be a "fuck you" to shareholders. He could...but he never has. He's actually one of the most humble people you will ever meet...a perfect CEO in terms of leadership, integrity and honesty. And you can forget about my opinion...Ajit Jain would tell you that! David Sokol would tell you that! The numerous executives who have worked with Prem would tell you that. The hordes of shareholders who know him well will tell you that. By the way, the media came up with the "Warren Buffett of Canada" moniker. Prem has never liked that. Does he make mistakes? Sure. Is he as good as Buffett...he would be the first to tell you he isn't. But he keeps trying...keeps aiming to live up to that standard. That's all you can expect of anyone. So please refrain from talking like an asshole about something you know absolutely nothing about! Critique all you want, but keep the slander to a minimum. Cheers!

Stock market capitalization is closing in on 185% of GDP...long-term interest rates are near zero...you have bubbles in other assets classes...tech stocks are frothing at the mouth with Tesla leading the way at a 1,000+ P/E...government debt as a percent of GDP is hovering over 100%+ for most developed countries...consumers while paying down debt in 2020, still live hand to mouth for the most part...what happens when stimulus stops...I'd say the short position this time may have some legs going forward compared to after the tech wreck when they didn't invest heavily and held short positions. Cheers! After posting my last comment and thought about it a little more I also wondered if shorting Tesla right now actually makes some sense (not that we know that is the name FFH was short at end of Q3). So, yes, I agree with you :-) I’m not a fan of shorting...but if I had to pick one, even though I really like the company and Musk...that would be the one. Extremely overvalued...one miss and boom! Cheers!

Stock market capitalization is closing in on 185% of GDP...long-term interest rates are near zero...you have bubbles in other assets classes...tech stocks are frothing at the mouth with Tesla leading the way at a 1,000+ P/E...government debt as a percent of GDP is hovering over 100%+ for most developed countries...consumers while paying down debt in 2020, still live hand to mouth for the most part...what happens when stimulus stops...I'd say the short position this time may have some legs going forward compared to after the tech wreck when they didn't invest heavily and held short positions. Cheers!

I've never changed my mind about a stock purchase or sale in a day, and then executed on it. That being said, other than non-taxable family accounts, I don't sit on a stock forever...even if it's Berkshire. I buy below intrinsic value and I sell above intrinsic value. You should also think twice about what you call a "turd"...the differentiation between a success and failure is not as black and white as you may believe. See the attached pictures showing Fairfax vs the S&P500 over 10-12-14 years. That dramatic shift between "turd" and "blossom" would only take a reasonable drop in the S&P500 and Fairfax returning to book value...which is pretty likely to occur! Cheers!

You're kidding me right? You were being sarcastic...did you actually sell a day before and bought back today? Cheers!

Are you incapable of reading the annualized numbers and calculating the return? Or simply going to Standard and Poor's and comparing his annualized returns to the S&P? What colors should he use on the website so my eyes don't hurt as much from the bluelight...can't he think of these things? What type of moron doesn't take into consideration how blue light hurts people's eyes. That blaring white website is so disruptive to when I read how badly Pabrai has performed. What a lunk head he is! Cheers! This isn't about whether or not I am capable of categorizing the annualized returns/returns over 5/10 year period. This is 100% about Mohnish (he's the only one I have seen not show 5/10 year numbers) in a transparent way. Sure investors should do their own dd prior to investing, but someone who follows Warren/Charlie should know that being honest and forthright is super important. In terms of saying new investors are getting a free ride--that's totally untrue. The might not be paying Pabrai a fee but they are effectively losing by investing with him. If you are going to be managing money for other people and leveraging Warren/Charlie's name the way Pabrai does you should act the way they would act. And underperforming for the length of time Pabrai has (~15 years by my best count) should warrant him calling it quits I'm not saying you should or should not invest with Pabrai or Spiers. The question is whether active management is necessary or passive investing is better. We know that at least 80% of the time, passive investing is superior to active investing. My point was that you should be criticizing active management altogether...not picking on the managers that actually have a fair model that incentivizes the correct behavior. Cheers!

Summary of copyrighted material from letters: Performance sucks. Nothing to see there there. Amazing how he talks so much but when the letters gets published he gets all upset. ::) Einhorn still lets his letter out (I'm assuming since it's very easy to get) and he isn't such a self-promoter and his performance has also sucked. Haha! You're correct that Einhorn isn't a self-promoter...he just promotes his stock selections instead! Cheers!

Are you incapable of reading the annualized numbers and calculating the return? Or simply going to Standard and Poor's and comparing his annualized returns to the S&P? What colors should he use on the website so my eyes don't hurt as much from the bluelight...can't he think of these things? What type of moron doesn't take into consideration how blue light hurts people's eyes. That blaring white website is so disruptive to when I read how badly Pabrai has performed. What a lunk head he is! Cheers!

You guys are picking on Pabrai and Spiers, whose performance fees only get paid when they overcome a specific hurdle. Yet there are tons of other investment managers, including many of you who are critiquing them, who take 1% off the top every year...regardless of your performance. So yes, while they have underperformed significantly...like many value investors, including Prem and Buffett...and myself included...their investors putting in new capital, and any new investors coming in, get a free ride until they recoup the cumulative amount since the high watermark, plus their hurdle rate annualized. There is nothing wrong with you guys bashing people, but really...you guys are going to bash the few guys who actually don't have a management fee and have always actually been forthright with their investors or people who just want to chat with them and pick their brain?! Cheers!

Happy Thanksgiving All! Cheers!

I just listed the BB convertible debs on my spreadsheet with no value/change in value. Any increase in value in these should be added to the $1 billion. Is it correct the increase would fall in the ‘mark to market’ bucket? Those particular securities are not traded, so they would need to be marked-to-model rather than marked-to-market. I presume that they would be included in the "mark to market" bucket in the same way that the value of the CPI derivatives are adjusted every quarter based on their modelled value. However, we probably wouldn't even notice a ~$50m mark for the debs when they are included with all of the other changes in the $30B fixed income portfolio.... SJ Got it :-) Thanks With the spreadsheet i am trying to group the equity holdings based on how changes in their value show up in Fairfax’s reporting: 1.) holdings where changes in stock price/value flows though to earnings and impacts BV each quarter 2.) holdings where changes in stock price/value do not directly impact BV each quarter ————————— Could be a busy 5 weeks for Fairfax to finish 2020. 1.) Does BAL / Anchorage transaction close? 2.) Does Fairfax Africa / Helios transaction close? 3.) Does Fairfax purchase OMERS stake in Eurolife? (2019 AR said this would happen in 2020) I also wonder if they do not monetize something large to realize some cash. Last year it was Riverstone and ICICI Lombard. Before that it was First Capital. There is also talk about Chen selling Blackberry's telecommunication patents in the range of $350-500M...which if it happens, may push BB's price up further. Cheers!

Dark Waters was pretty good...if you like corporate intrigue, the law, etc. Mark Ruffalo is terrific as a lawyer who takes on a corporate giant...very easy to give away what this is about if I say anything. Also for my Canadian compatriots, CBC's War of the Worlds is a terrific take on the old story. Cheers!

God, talk about you guys blowing stuff out of proportion. The world won't end tomorrow and Covid-19 will be part of history next year. All of the chicken little stuff about lockdowns, etc is just political posturing again by certain people and posters. The real shit will hit the fan when interest rates eventually rise and debt loads explode a few years down the road! Cheers!

Yeah, your out of the contest! If your post's timestamp were only 10 minutes earlier, you would have won. ;D Cheers!

One of the greats! Unfortunately passed away over a decade ago...but his music is still here. Suffered enormously with racism during his life...including even near the end in this day and age! People can be so ignorant and stupid. But truly an amazing artist! Cheers!

Please don't repost the same thread...I've removed the two previous threads with the same title. Simply bump up the old thread with a new post, rather than reposting a whole new thread under the same title. Thanks! Sanjeev

Many of you always wondered what some of us saw in this company...although we didn't think it had to take a pandemic to get it there...Overstock.com had another blowout quarter and opportunistically took advantage of their stock price: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/overstock-reports-q3-2020-financial-120000825.html Cheers!

Hey, that's worth a prize too if you are right. ;D Cheers!

I was listening to the 3rd Q conference call, and Prem made an interesting statement regarding monetizing assets within Fairfax, including taking public certain private businesses within Fairfax in 2021. What businesses do you think he was referring to and what type of valuation do you expect? The closest three guesses...both company and valuation...will each win a gift basket prize next year. The winners will be selected based on net value they expect from the transaction and getting correct which private business...myself and two other moderators will pick the winners. Selection(s) need to be posted before December 31st, 2020, and the winners will be announced at the end of Q2 2021. Cheers!

Large scale renewals will happen in Q4 and into Q1, so you should see a significant bump in premiums relative to the three previous quarters. Cheers!

I have noticed this for years. Doesn't happen every time but more often than not, especially if there is good news. Who needs a crystal ball? Probably buybacks kicking in after the blackout period. Although, I hope it's just a rational market moving capital to undervalued entities. Cheers!