Value Investing With Legends Podcast
Hosted by Tano Santos, the David L. and Elsie M. Dodd Professor of Finance and faculty director of the Heilbrunn Center, and Michael Mabuoussin, Head of Consilient Research on Counterpoint Global at Morgan Stanley Investment Management and adjunct faculty member at Columbia Business School, in this podcast you will hear from some of the world's greatest investors, their views on the investment management industry, how they developed their investment process and how they see the field changing over time.
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Amy Zhang - Identifying Exceptional Potential
“We look for exceptional small and mid cap companies with the wherewithal to become exceptional large companies.” This is at the core of the investment philosophy of today’s guest, Columbia Business School alum Amy Zhang.
Amy is Executive Vice President and Portfolio Manager of the Alger Small Cap Focus, Alger Mid Cap Focus, Alger Mid Cap 40, and Alger Small Cap Growth Strategies. She joined Alger in 2015 and has 27 years of investment experience, including over a decade at Brown Capital Management as a Partner, Managing Director, and Senior Portfolio Manager of its Brown Capital Small Company Strategy. Amy has received multiple accolades, including being named one of the "Best Female PMs to Invest with Now" by Morningstar in 2022 and one of the “Top 20 Female Portfolio Managers” by Citywire in 2021, 2019, and 2018.
In this episode, Amy, Michael, and I discuss Amy’s unconventional background and studies, why she made the move to managing small cap growth portfolios, how to think about small cap investments, the key metrics she looks for when assessing potential companies, her classification system of motorboats and sailboats, opportunities available in the current market, and so much more! Read the show notes from this episode here.
Ashvin Chhabra - The Aspirational Investor
How do you create a portfolio strategy that takes into account both safety and the pursuit of your aspirational goals?
That’s what today’s guest, Ashvin Chhabra, set out to answer with the Wealth Allocation Framework. Ashvin is President and Chief Investment Officer of Euclidean Capital, a New York-based family office for James H. Simons & Marilyn H. Simons. The Simons Foundation is dedicated to advancing research in mathematics and the basic sciences and is currently one of America's largest private funders in those areas. Prior to his current position, Ashvin was Chief Investment Officer for Merrill Lynch and Chief Investment Officer at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He's also the author of a terrific book, The Aspirational Investor, which was published in 2015. Ashvin holds a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Yale University in the field of nonlinear dynamics.
In this episode, Ashvin, Tano, and I discuss Ashvin’s background as a theoretical physicist, why he didn’t see himself becoming a great trader, how the Wealth Allocation Framework was developed, his frustrations with modern portfolio theory, how he brings behavioral finance into wealth management, how to think about inflation and wealth preservation, and so much more! Read the show notes from this episode here.
Abby Joseph Cohen - Blending the Quantitative with the Qualitative
In the current market environment with uncertainty at every turn, it’s an advantage to be able to blend quantitative and qualitative analysis with years of experience observing the interaction between the economy at large and financial markets.
Today we’re joined by Wall Street Legend, Abby Joseph Cohen, a student of the market who has seen lots of ups and downs from early in her career. Abby was most recently Senior Investment Strategist at Goldman Sachs and she is now a full-time member of the faculty at Columbia Business School, where she teaches a very popular course called the Future of the Global Economy. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Allison Fisch - Unlocking Value in Emerging Markets
Allison is Principal and Portfolio Manager at one of the great names in value, Pzena Investment Management. Pzena was founded in 1995 by Richard Pzena as a value-oriented investment management company and now has more than $50 billion of assets under management. Allison joined Pzena in 2001 after starting her career as a business analyst at McKinsey & Company. She earned a B.A. summa cum laude in Psychology and a minor in Drama from Dartmouth College where she was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and Psi Chi national honor societies.
In this episode, Allison and I discuss how starting in management consulting created a great foundation for her investing career, how she developed her investing philosophy, why she’s excited about opportunities for value in emerging markets, her approach to idea sourcing, risk management, and portfolio construction in emerging markets, and so much more! Read the show notes from this episode here.
Munib Islam - Creating Long-Term Value
Joining us today to talk about what it means to be an engaged, long-term shareholder is Munib Islam. Munib is someone who has experienced investing from many different angles, from a traditional long-short hedge fund to sitting on corporate boards and seeing the process of approving corporate performance from the inside. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Lauren Taylor Wolf - Adding Value With A Creative Approach to Environmental, Social, and Governance Change
Activist investing is the new frontier for value investors, allowing them to be the agents of their own returns. Today we’re continuing our examination of the activist style of investing by exploring the intersection of two important trends in the money management industry: activism and environmental, social, and governance investing. Impactive Capital’s Lauren Taylor Wolfe joins us to share her perspective and Impactive’s unique approach to creatively incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) into activism. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Mason Morfit - Bringing An Outside Perspective Through Transformational Activism
In a world of plentiful capital and compressed yields, activism and being the agent of one's returns is a way forward. Transformational activism in particular is centered around a deep commitment and trusting relationship between the investor and the company. This multi-dimensional approach forgoes short-term solutions like financial engineering and instead focuses on working with great leaders to put together the right people, resources, and strategies for long-term results. Few firms exemplify the value creation associated with shareholder engagement and activism better than ValueAct and today I’m joined by Mason Morfit, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of ValueAct Capital. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Thomas Russo, Ryan Albert '21, Rainbow Chik '21, and Andres Helland '21 - 5x5x5 Russo Student Investment Fund: Class of 2021
Not satisfied with the lack of value most student-run investment clubs offered to students, Tom Russo designed a better way. Through the 5x5x5 Russo Student Investment Fund, he set out to prove the teaching value of a long-term fund rather than the conventional short-term activity that the existing systems favored. Each year, students submit their ideas for new investments with five ideas ultimately being selected and held in their entirety for five years. At the end of those five years, the inflation-adjusted original amount is invested back into the fund and any other gains are used to support scholarships for traditionally under-represented members of the class. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Chris Davis - A Multifaceted Perspective on Financial Services
A year and a half into the pandemic, a lot has changed in the investment landscape. Individual investors have been empowered, economies reacted in unpredictable ways, and we still have no clear idea of what is to come. At the same time, when we take a retrospective look, we can find parallels between the trends, behaviors, and reactions of today and events in the past. Today we’re joined by one of the great conversationalists in the community, Chris Davis, to share his perspective on investing in a time of COVID and his outlook for the future. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Chase Sheridan '06 and Will Pan – The Art of Fund Management
On our first episode together we’re delighted to welcome Chase Sheridan '06 and Will Pan of one of the great names in value investing, Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb. Chase Sheridan joined Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb in June 2006 upon his graduation from Columbia Business School. Prior to attending Columbia, Chase was a senior vice president at Citadel Investment Group, a hedge fund based in Chicago and a partner at Q.E.D. Capital, an arbitrage firm based in Chicago. After interning with the firm in 2009, Will Pan was set on a career path with Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb. He joined the firm in 2010 after graduating from Harvard College. On this episode, Chase, Will, Michael, and I discuss Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb’s history and connection to Warren Buffett, why the Hyperion found was started, the team dynamic between Chase and Will as co-managers of the fund, their approach to idea sourcing and portfolio construction, and so much more! Read the show notes from this episode here.
Anne-Sophie d'Andlau – Driving Change By Engaging With Impact
Listeners of this podcast will know that I believe one of the most dynamic areas of investing is that of activism. In the true spirit of value investing, there’s a crop of activist investors who are now embracing their role in engaging management in various ways, whether to improve operational performance, address governance issues, or simply to encourage better capital allocation and distribution policies. Today we’re exploring this topic further with Anne-Sophie d’Andlau. Anne-Sophie co-founded CIAM with her partner, Catherine Berjal, in 2010. Since then they have led several groundbreaking activist campaigns in Europe, capturing the attention of the financial press everywhere. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Florian Schuhbauer and Klaus Roehrig – Applying Activist Tactics to European Markets
One of our goals with this podcast is to get to know new markets, new situations, and new investors who bring dynamism to all markets. A great example of this is the new generation of activist investors in Europe. Students of mine have heard me say for some time that Europe has been ripe for activism. I believe that with structural changes in European capital markets, combined with the state of global markets, a new wave of activism is happening and will be quite transformative. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Elizabeth Lilly – Embodying the Principles of Value Investing
The value investing in legends class is one of the highlights of the Heilbrunn year. It’s filled with special moments, including the annual visit from our guest today, Elizabeth Lilly. Beth embodies the principles and practices of value investing like very few people do. She makes investing look easy and her lecture always captures the pure essence of value investing. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Anna Nikolayevsky '98 – The Value of Independent Thought
Any sound investment strategy must include both a tactical and a structural component. The tactical side requires close attention to the firm’s financials and prospects, while the structural side puts that analysis in the specific context of the industry as well as the economy at large. Our guest, Anna Nikolayevsky '98, is here today to share her approach and how her investment strategy has evolved. Read the show notes from this episode here.
David Marcus – Developing a 3D Perspective of Investing
Over the last few years, the opportunities for global value investing have improved significantly. Yields are incredibly low across the board, putting pressure on improving operational performance to generate returns. In such an environment, Europe is fertile ground for the value investor. With room for operational improvement in many sectors and a robust institutional environment, it’s an ideal market to deploy your activist dollar. When I decided to bring this topic to the show, I couldn’t think of anyone better than David Marcus to have a thorough conversation. David Marcus is Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Investment Officer of Evermore Global Advisors, LLC, which he co-founded in 2009, and is also portfolio manager of the Evermore Global Value Fund. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Samantha Greenberg – Recognizing True Asymmetry
Many of the guests that I've had on this program are people I've known for years. We approached those conversations as an opportunity to explain together to the audience their methods, philosophies, and approach. Today’s conversation with Samantha Greenberg is a bit different. Samantha is someone I’ve looked forward to meeting for some time now as she would come up constantly in conversations with other investors and I’m happy to get to know her alongside you. On this episode, Samantha and I discuss how she developed an interest in the investment industry, why asset management is a particularly good field for women, how her experiences at Goldman and Paulson shaped her investment philosophy, her catalyst-driven approach, why resources are critical to scaling, the benefits of extensive data modeling, and so much more! Read the show notes from this episode here.
Mohnish Pabrai – The Rare Value of Continuous Learning
There are several great investors out there who are effectively offering free lessons through their positions, letters, and interviews. What’s surprising is that while many people listen to them, hardly anyone puts those lessons into practice. Today’s guest, Mohnish Pabrai, is not one to miss such opportunities and he attributes much of his success to his hunger to learn, improve, and adjust. Mohnish is an author and the Founder and CEO of Pabrai Investment Fund, which he started in 1999 at the peak of the tech bubble. In 1983 he moved to the United States from India, to study computer engineering at South Carolina's Clemson University. After working in research and development, Mohnish launched his own successful IT consulting firm, TransTech, in 1991. One of the most original investors out there, Mohnish arrived relatively late in his professional career to the world of investing but he has made such an impact ever since. Through Pabrai Investments, Mohnish has built one of those records that is the stuff of legends. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Jan Hummel – The Rare Advantage of Real-World Experience
Modern value investing emphasizes investing in resilient franchises and letting the compounding do the work for you. Today’s guest, Jan Hummel, is a fantastic expositor of this subject and a friend of the Center who has been part of many of our events over the years. In 2007, Jan launched the Paradigm Capital Value Fund with Bruce Greenwald, the founder of the Heilbrunn Center and Columbia Business School alumnus, Mario Gabelli '67. Paradigm’s investment philosophy is built around a focus on mispriced securities in the small- and mid-cap space within Europe, deep fundamental research, a concentrated portfolio, and hedging of the portfolio through non-equity investments and derivatives. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Howard Marks – Successful Investing Through Buying Things Well
The most successful investors combine a profound analytical understanding of financial markets and the economy at large with the ability to act on those ideas. My guest today has these two attributes in spades. Today’s conversation is with Howard Marks, the Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, which is one of the largest credit investors in the world and certainly the largest investor in distressed securities. Howard started his career at Citicorp as an equity research analyst and then Director of Research, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager overseeing convertible and high yield debt. After leaving Citicorp, he moved to The TCW Group, where once again, he was responsible for investments in distressed debt, high yield bonds, and convertible securities. In 1995 he and another group of partners from TCW founded Oaktree, where he remains today. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Henry Ellenbogen and Anouk Dey – The Multi-Faceted Future of Value Investing
Today’s conversation is with Henry Ellenbogen and Anouk Dey from Durable Capital Partners. Henry founded Durable in 2019 and serves as Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer. Before that, he was a Vice President of T. Rowe Price, T. Rowe Price Group Chief Investment Officer for U.S. Equity Growth, the lead Portfolio Manager for the U.S. Small-Cap Growth Equity Strategy, and the Portfolio Manager for the New Horizons Fund. Anouk is a Partner of Durable who joined the firm at its inception in 2019. Before joining Durable, she was also a Vice President of T. Rowe Price Group, where she was an investment analyst in the U.S. Equity Division, focusing on small-cap growth stocks. Anouk also co-teaches the Compounders Independent Study at Columbia Business School. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Rishi Renjen – Evolving Your Investment Process
Today’s conversation is with Rishi Renjen, the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of ROAM Global Management. Before founding ROAM Global, he was a Managing Director and Sector Head at Maverick Capital, a Partner at TPG-Axon Capital, and a Senior Analyst at Glenview Capital. Rishi earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics, with a concentration in Finance, from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and he is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Value Investing Program at Columbia Business School. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Richard Lawrence – Investing in Superior Businesses
For this season, in addition to the essential lessons about investing and good asset management practices, we are going to explore broader investment experiences and different approaches. Today, I'm particularly delighted to share this conversation with the great value investor, Richard Lawrence who has made a career as a true pioneer, particularly in Asia, where he built a legendary track record. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Thomas Russo, James Shen '20 and Freda Zhuo '20 – Learning from Five Years of the 5x5x5 Russo Student Investment Fund
Welcome back to a new season of the show! Our first conversation is going to be a little different as we’ll be talking about this year’s picks for the 5x5x5 Russo Student Investment Fund. Joining me today is Tom Russo, who designed and funded this first-ever student investment fund at Columbia Business School in 2014, and students James Shen '20 and Freda Zhuo '20, whose portfolio picks have performed particularly well. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Kim Shannon – Value Investing - Bringing it All Together
Today’s conversation is with Kim Shannon, President and Co-Chief Investment Officer at Sionna Investment Managers. Kim founded Sionna Investment Managers in 2002 and has more than 35 years of industry experience, and previously served as the Chief Investment Officer and Senior Vice President at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers Canada. Kim is also a board member with the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance, the author of The Value Proposition: Sionna's Common Sense Path to Investment Success, and the recipient of numerous awards, including Morningstar Fund Manager of the Year (2005). Read the show notes from this episode here.
Dan Davidowitz & Jeff Mueller – Compounding with Polen Capital
Tano speaks with Dan Davidowitz and Jeff Mueller of Polen Capital, a firm that is dedicated to researching and analyzing the highest-quality companies around the globe and investing for the long haul and with a business owner’s mindset. Dan is the co-head of the Large Company Growth Team and the lead portfolio manager of the firm’s flagship Focus Growth strategy. Jeff is co-portfolio manager of the Global Growth strategy and earned his MBA from Columbia Business School, where he was a graduate with honors and distinction of the Value Investing Program. Read the show notes from this episode here.
C.T. Fitzpatrick – Value Investing in Times of Deep Disstress
Hear from C.T. Fitzpatrick, Founder, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Investment Officer at Vulcan Value Partners in this week's episode of Value Investing with Legends. C.T. founded Vulcan in 2007 and since then, all five strategies have peer rankings in the top 1% of value managers in their respective categories. Before starting Vulcan Value Partners, C.T. worked as a principal and portfolio manager at Southeastern Asset Management and over his 17-year tenure, his team achieved double-digit returns and was ranked in the top 5% of money managers over five, ten, and twenty-year periods consistently. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Michael Mauboussin – Investing in Times of (the Coronavirus) Crisis
Today’s conversation is with Michael Mauboussin, Head of Consilient Research at Counterpoint Global. Before joining Counterpoint Global, Michael was the Director of Research at BlueMountain Capital Management in New York and previously the Head of Global Financial Strategies at Credit Suisse and Chief Investment Strategist at Legg Mason Capital Management. Michael has also authored several books and has been an adjunct professor of finance at Columbia Business School since 1993, where he is on the faculty of the Heilbrunn Center for Graham and Dodd Investing. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Francisco García Paramés - Value Investing for the Long Term
Listen to Tano Santos speak with Francisco García Paramés, chairman and chief investment officer at Cobas Asset Management, which he founded in 2016. Before founding Cobas, Francisco was with Bestinver for over 25 years. During that time, he built a legendary record and posted an average annual return of 15%, outperforming the reference benchmark by more than 700 basis points. Read the show notes from this episode here.
David Samra - Leveraging Fundamentals to Remain Relevant
Listen to David Samra, founding partner of the Artisan Partners International Value Team, speak about how to leverage fundamentsl to remain relevant. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Bruce Greenwald - Staying on the Right Side of the Trade
Today’s conversation is with Professor Bruce Greenwald, guru to Wall Street’s gurus. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Matthew McLennan - The Power of Selectivity and Patience
Hear from Matt McLennan, head of the Global Value team and a portfolio manager of the Global Value, International Value, US Value and Gold strategies at First Eagle Investment Management, as he discusses the Power of Selectivity and Patience in this episode. Read the full show notes here.
Joel Greenblatt - Investing Off the Beaten Path
Joel Greenblatt, Founder and Managing Partner of Gotham Asset Management discusses investing off the beaten path. Since founding Gotham in 1985, Joel and his partner Robert Goldstein have developed the firm into a large asset management company, well beyond the traditional hedge fund model and offering mutual fund products for the retail investor. Read the show notes from the episode here.
Leon Cooperman '67 - Looking For More For Less
Today’s conversation is with Leon Cooperman, billionaire investor and Chairman and CEO of Omega Advisors. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Ross Glotzbach - The Power and Strength of Experience
In this episode Tano speaks with Ross Glotzbach, the CEO and Head of Research at one of the great names in value investing, Southeastern Asset Management, the firm founded by Mason Hawkins over 40 years ago. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Jenny Wallace '94 - Identifying Value at the Summit
Hear from Jennifer Wallace ’94, a wonderful expositor to the main ideas of value investing, but also a very deep thinker when it comes to the interaction of value investing and the market at large. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Connecting Theory and Practice through the 5x5x5 Student Investment Fund
Tano connects theory and practice talking about the 5x5x5 Student Investment Fund and has a deep discussion about some of the specific stocks in the portfolio with Tom Russo, the master of consumer brand investing, and two of our best students, Jeffrey Johnson '19 and Michael Allison '19. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Jean-Marie Eveillard- Taking a Top-Down Approach to Value Investing
Today’s conversation is with international value investor, Jean-Marie Eveillard. As portfolio manager of the Société Générale International Fund, later becoming the First Eagle Global Fund, where he returned an annualized 15% for over 25 years. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Chris Davis- Investing with Curiosity
Find out why investor Christopher Davis thinks the extreme disconnect between financial statements and the underlying reality of businesses matters. Chairman of Davis Advisors, Christopher Davis oversees approximately $30 billion of client assets worldwide. Read the show notes from this episode here.
David Abrams- Applying a Fundamental and Value Oriented Approach to Investing
Hear from David Abrams, who was described by the Wall Street Journal as a “one man wealth machine.” David is the CEO and Portfolio Manager of Abrams Capital, an investment firm that he founded in 1999. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Michael Mauboussin- Overcoming Biases for Effective Decision Making
Today’s conversation is with one of the finest intellectual investors and academic at heart, Michael Mauboussin. Michael is the Director of Research at BlueMountain Capital Management in New York and was formerly the Head of Global Financial Strategies at Credit Suisse and Chief Investment Strategist at Legg Mason Capital Management. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Tom Russo- The All Important Power of Consumer Brands
Hear from the master of consumer brand investing, Tom Russo. Tom is the Managing Member of Gardner Russo & Gardner LLC, Partner at Semper Vic partnerships, and he oversees more than $9 billion through separately managed accounts and Semper Vic partnerships. Tom is also a board member of the Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing at Columbia Business School. Read the show notes from this episode here.
Mario Gabelli '67- Welcome to Value Investing with Legends
Welcome to Value Investing with Legends! Our first conversation is with the legendary Mario Gabelli, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GAMCO Investors, Inc., the firm he founded in 1977. A 1965 summa cum laude graduate of Fordham University's College of Business Administration, he also holds an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School, and honorary doctorates from Fordham University and Roger Williams University. Read the show notes from this episode here.