Volkswagen, Oracle, Lonmin Top Value Managers’ Picks
Jonathan Buck, Europe Editor at Barron’s attended the London Value Investor Conference this year and has written an article which features some of the investment ideas presented at the conference. These include Davide Campari-Milano, Regus, Volkswagen, Lonmin and Oracle.

Dark warnings about the impending sellside cull
This FT article starts with the premise that the only way to beat the market is to focus on markets which are under-researched. Whilst this premise is perhaps flawed, for many managers it might be true – partly because their stock portfolios have so many positions. The article goes on to argue that longer-term the current regulatory changes will be bad for the sell side analyst community and that a smaller sell side analyst community will be of benefit to active stock pickers.

Howard Marks latest memo – Risk Revisited Again
This latest memo returns to old themes about which Howard has written many times, including on page 8 where he repeats a graphic from his book “The Most Important Thing”, which provides a graph displaying his view on the real relationship between risk and likely return. There are also some new thoughts included in the memo, including on page 18 where Howard details some reasons why he considers risk control more important than usual at present.

Make a Beeline for the Tales of Woe Few Want to Hold
This James McIntosh article in the FT takes a look at the current environment for deep-value and contrarian investors, where there are “slim pickings for contrarians in developed markets”. It takes in some perspectives about where some investors are finding value today – although some of these areas would require the need for, as the author puts it “a strong stomach and the willingness to hold on when things go from bad to worse.”

The Chinese Stock Market: from Ugly Duckling to Beautiful Princess
Paul Scott wrote an article which summarised the presentation given by Dato’ Cheah Cheng Hye of Value Partners Group at the London Value Investor Conference. Paul referred to the presentation by Mr Cheah as “An absolutely fascinating lecture, challenging many of our preconceptions about China, which I’m very glad I attended”; it was certainly one of the highest rated presentations at the LVIC this year.

The Evolution of a Value Investor
Tom Gayner is President and Chief Investment Officer at Markel Corporation. He addressed Google employees recently to present his talk on “The Evolution of a Value Investor” which addresses his journey as an individual and value investor. Well worth listening to as Tom talks about characteristics of businesses he likes and doesn’t like.