value and opportunity

In the first 3 months of 2024, the Value & Opportunity portfolio gained  +3,2% (including dividends, no taxes) against a gain of +6,0% for the Benchmark (Eurostoxx50 (25%), EuroStoxx small 200 (25%), DAX (30%), MDAX (20%), all TR indices).

Links to previous Performance reviews can be found on the Performance Page of the blog. Some other funds that I follow have performed as follows in the first 3M 2024:

Partners Fund TGV: +9,0%
Profitlich/Schmidlin: +4,0%
Squad European Convictions: 3,4%
Frankfurter Aktienfonds für Stiftungen: +5,9%
Squad Aguja Special Situation: +1,2%
Paladin One: -5,9%
Alphastars Europe: +0,6%
Gehlen & Bräutigam: -1,3%

Performance review:

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Treasure Hunting with a nice write-up on Cornerstone FS

The Giverny Capital 2023 letter with some important lessons after investing for 30 years

Despite a few good IPOs, the PE industry is still struggling

Really nice write-up on UK specialty Chemical company Croda

Former Bond King Bill Gross is still writing letters

Interesting FT article on the development of Private infrastructure Equity as major asset class (search result)

A fantastic “Business model breakdown” of retailers from Edelweiss Capital

Rob Vinall’s RV Capital 2023 letter as always is a great read with soem controversial views (China, PDD, Carvana)

I have to admit that Augustusville “outbored” me with its write-up on German small cap Nordwest-Handels AG

Great list of the necessary attributes for a long term successful investment process from Flyoverstocks

A great reminder: Patience is key for long term investment success

Ben Carlson with 20 great lessons from 20 years of investing

Joachim Klement on “post eanings drift” in stocks that are dominated by retail investors

Good write-up on Var Energi from the “modern Investing” substack

Interesting Microcap-Turnaround idea from Treasury Hunting Substack – Innovation Food Holdings (IVFH)

Roland Head looks at Diageo as a potential Dividend stock (Spoiler: not yet)

Hong Kong looks even more dead than Germany these days (search result)

FTAlphaville on the recent “AI superstar” Super Micro Computer (Search result, Spoiler: No so super duper)

A good summary on what we know about long term Private Equity performance (Spoiler: It isn’t special after fees)

It seems that retail noise traders (aka “Apes”) have made shorting stocks systematically more dangerous

Interesting “post mortem” from Forager on a distressed deep value investment in Finland (Blancco Technology Group)

Some more fund letters from the TGV family of funds:
 - TGV Partners (Software Circle, United Internet, Tucows)
 - TGV Compound Interest (EQS Group, Naked Wines)
 - TGV Rubicon Stockpicker (United Internet, hgears, Agfa etc.)
 - TGV Falkenstein (German, Energiedienst, Energiekontor, Compugroup)

Carson Block/Muddy Waters is (once again) short Prem Watsa’s Fairfax

Abilitato with a great (German language) write up on German Insulation company Sto

Stratechery’s Ben Tompson has been somehow underwhelmed by Apple’s vission pro

Davis Einhorn spoke with Barry Ritholz about the “broken market” and other things

A great collection of financial blogs from the “Awesome Goat Blog”

Gravity batteries in old abandoned mine shafts look like an interesting idea

Highly recommended: Portfolio review from the Wintergem Substack (Dollarama, Mercado Libre, Thermador)

GlobalStockPicking has summarized 12 years expierence of stockpicking in Hongkong

The Aquired podcast about Novo Nordisk is fantastic

Interesting guest post on Emerging Value about a Japanese amsuement park operator

David Einhorn had a pretty decent 2023 with Greenlight

Prof. Damodaran with some interesting data series and observations on interest rates

Walmart is a great example that logistics really matter

French Cognac exports are struggling even without Chinese sanctions (Search result)

Good write-up on UK stock Andrew Sykes from Wes Chambers

The fascinating world of undersea data cables that connect the world

Sam Altman says that AI needs much more power than expected

Flyover Stocks with a teaser for US insulation player Installed Building Products

For Berkshire/Buffett Super Nerds: Capital Allocation: The Financials of a New England Textile Mill (1955-1985) is available for free download

An interesting look into the home insurance problems in the “hard to insure” areas in the US

More year end letters:
– East 72 Dynasty Trust (E-L Financial, PSH)
– UK Dividend Investor

Carsten from Augustusville with a great write-up on Delek, a US Energy downstream player

The One-foot Bars substack has a very nice write-up on Champagne house Laurent Perrier

I can’t repeat it often enough: Prof. Damodaran is offering the upcoming Valuation class at Columbia for free. There is no better deal in financial education, guaranteed.

Twitter Thread from Dalius with 10 recommended investment blogs

12 pretty good lessons from the stock market in 2023

PE Fund investors really do want their money back

Some good year end reviews:
– Bruce Packard with a 2023 revew, some UK ideas and a stock write-up all in one
– Another, UK small cap focused year end review from Maynard Payton
– Very reflected Year end review from the Treasure Hunting substack
– Altay Capital with a year end review of its Japanese stock basket

Ian Cassel with an article that I also wanted to write but now don’t have to: The virtue of Active Patience

Undervalued Shares with a great post on Hilton

52 irrelevant but highly interesting things Kent Hendricks learned in 2023

Veteran VC Fred Wilson with a very positive outlook on 2024 (AI, Web3, Climate)

Interesting deep dive into US Steel, which once was the largest company of the world

The annual presentation of Ben Evans is always worth reading – “AI and everything else”