I'm sorry to see that John Dorfman has written his last column for Bloomberg, which he's penned since 1997. There aren't too many stock pickers writing good columns. He's going to devote all his time now to Thunderstorm Capital, the firm he founded in 1999.
For his final Bloomberg piece, Dorfman lists nine lessons he's learned in the nine years of writing his column. I'll post the nine lessons here, but be sure to read the entire linked column, since he expands on this thinking.
One: Out-of-favor stocks are the best road to capital gains.
Two: Don't be swayed by what Wall Street analysts say.
Three: High portfolio turnover is not necessary for good results.
Four: The investment value of a stock is independent of whether it has been moving up or down.
Five: Predicting the market with consistency is extremely difficult.
Six: Predicting the economy is probably even harder.
Seven: High valuations alone aren't a good reason to sell a stock short.
Eight: High profits alone are no reason to invest in a stock.
Nine: Dialog with readers was one of the best parts of my experience as a columnist.
I think most value investors would agree with all of those. And, although I am not a columnist, I can relate to Dorfman's sentiment because of many wonderful emails I've received since launching Controlled Greed.com in April 2005.
And more important than email, you offer the ability to comment on every post. Dorfman also should have had this, but never did.
Posted by: C. Maoxian | February 15, 2007 at 09:52 PM
CM: True, though maybe it was Bloomberg who wasn't up for allowing that. BTW, I thought of you when reading his #7. It ties in with your post about Weitz' shorts.
Posted by: John | February 15, 2007 at 10:28 PM