I'm still waiting for Francis Chou to post his annual report and shareholder's letter on his site. I'll probably be struck by lightning for saying this, but I think reading the thoughts and goings-on of managers like Chou (and Meryl Witmer and some others) may be more valuable for individual investors than Warren Buffett's letters.
Why? Because Berkshire is hampered by its size in picking investments.
Then again, that probably doesn't mean nearly as much in this bear market.
Back to Chou, he has posted his 25 top investments for his funds as of December 31, 2008. Here's where you can find them for his flagship Chou Associates Fund (scroll down). King Pharmaceuticals (KG/NYSE) is a huge position. There's a story there, and hopefully Chou will enlighten us in his upcoming letter.
totally agree on the buffett point.
if you investing small sums of capital i.e. anything below USD30M then you are way better off reading the buffett partnership letters.
Posted by: Jamie | March 19, 2009 at 06:18 PM
Jamie: Agreed. Plus, I saw Buffett on the old Adam Smith PBS show back in the early to mid 1990s. He said his advice to a young investor starting out would be to do what he did when he (Buffett) started out -- research and find undervalued companies. (He chuckled and said, "Start with the A's.")
Posted by: John | March 19, 2009 at 07:35 PM