Luis Garcia Alvarez: Why Simple Value Investing Outperforms & A Case Study

Luis Garcia Alvarez, CFA, Head of the MAPFRE AM Behavioral Fund, presented his decade of experience at The Ben Graham Centre’s 5th European Value Investing Conference during the panel titled “10 Years Looking for Value: Mistakes Made, Lessons Learnt and Food for Thought”. Managing an equity portfolio on behalf of MAPFRE, the largest Spanish insurer, which oversees approximately 50 billion euros in assets, Alvarez emphasized his thesis: True value investing is not about buying statistically cheap stocks, but rather applying rigorous, simple analysis informed by behavioral finance to identify great businesses undervalued due to market noise and cognitive biases. His approach emphasizes that value investing is fundamentally "a way of living, a philosophy of life applied to the job", prioritizing capital protection through simplicity over complexity.

Also see our coverage of the 2025 Ben Graham Conference, 2025 Morningstar Investment Conference and the 2025 Value Investing Seminar.

Refining the Behavioral Value Mandate

Alvarez stresses the critical distinction between merely cheap stocks and companies offering great value, a lesson learned early in his career after investing in companies facing short-term troubles (like Continental, where his fund incurred significant losses). He argues that behavioral finance is inseparable from value investing. A key behavioral insight is that "we humans are very slow, very fast, incorporating bad news, but very slow and incorporating good news". This disparity creates opportunities for patient investors who can see beyond temporary market fear.