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One Of Buffett’s Favorite Investors Takes A Swipe At Grantham

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Jacob Wolinsky
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Frank Martin has a good long term record .. he nailed the both the GFC and Tech bubble [he really nailed them!] … been bearish for a while..

Buffet said this about Frank Martin ..

"For many years I've enjoyed reading Frank Martin's letters. This collection contains much investment wisdom and, just as important, sets a standard for advisor-client relationship" Warren Buffett via "Speculative Contagion: An Antidote for Speculative Epidemics" by Frank Martin

See Martin's 2017 annual letter to investors below

On Cape Ratio  .. “This metric better accounts for the cyclicality of earnings during the oscillations of the economy. When earnings are trending upward, the trailing 10-year moving average will understandably be less than earnings of the previous 12 months, providing a governor on excessive expectations of boom times. It works just as well to mitigate pessimism during downturns.”

Costco, a remarkable business, is not impervious  to competition. It currently sells at 32 times annual earnings. It sells for 47 times its 10-year earnings. This  valuation is despite massive shifts and intense threats in basic consumer products. Amazon continues new  forays into grocery and is growing its dominance in home goods. Walmart has brushed up the appearance of  its stores and moved to revitalize its grocery game. Perhaps most importantly, Aldi is drawing cost-conscious  millennial consumers just starting their families with a pared-down Costco model that requires no  membership fee. Meanwhile, valuations of the company don’t seem to take such threats into account.”

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Jacob Wolinsky is the ex-Founder of Valuewalk.com (founded 2011, sold 2023). He is founder of HedgeFundAlpha (formerly ValueWalk Premium), a hedge fund focused intelligence service for institutional investors. Prior to founding Valuewalk, Jacob covered small caps, worked recruiting members for a large hedge fund community and freelance financial journalism. Jacob lives with his wife and five kids in Passaic Park NJ. - Email: jacob(at)hedgefundalpha.com. For confidential inquires email me for my Signal ID. Other methods of secure communication are also available. FD: Most of my portfolio is in I mostly purchase broad-based ETFs, mutual funds or individual bonds - I do this for performance reasons and to avoid any potential conflict of interest or occasional receipt of insider information. I will disclose if I have a stake in any company, but in general I have few stocks and I avoid any trading especially around topics I am covering.