Martin Whitman is Founder and Portfolio Manager of the Third Avenue Value Fund (TAVFX). Whitman is a 1949 graduate of Syracuse University, which recently renamed its School of Management after Whitman, after a large gift from him in June 2003. He is an adjunct faculty member at Yale School of Management.
Investing Philosophy:
Whitman is a "buy and hold" value investor. He buys stock in companies when he thinks that the company has strong finances, competent management, and the business is understandable. Also the company's stock must be cheap, meaning it trades at a significant discount to intrinsic value. The market price must lie substantially below a conservative valuation of the business as a private entity, or as a takeover candidate. He generally sells an investment only when there has been a fundamental change in the business or capital structure of the company that significantly affects the investment's inherent value, or when he believes that the market value of an investment is overpriced relative to its intrinsic value
In the latest package of THIRD QUARTER REPORT AND PORTFOLIO MANAGER COMMENTARY published by Third Avenue Funds, Chairman Martin Whitman wrote an insightful letter addressing the topic of “The Uses and Limitations of Financial Accounting for the Value Investor”: More...
Legendary value investor Marty Whitman started his investment firm at the age of 60. He is still going strong. His shareholder letters are sharp and insightful, a very good read to those who like to learn. This is the portfolio update of his fund as of 4/30/2010. More...
Marty Whitman is truly a living legend in the world of value investing. It is always a pleasure to read and find great investing insights from his letters. Here in this letter from the year 2001 he reflects on "net nets" and investing practiced in the real world, as opposed to what is taught in the business schools. The concept of Net-Nets was invented by Graham and Dodd and is very rarely found in the present markets, however Marty Whitman refined this definition to the next level. He explains that for a retailer it's inventory which is considered to be a current asset, is in fact a fixed asset of the worst type and it cannot stay in the business without maintaining a certain level of inventory. However, for a company which owns some real estate and has triple A tenants with long term leases in class A office buildings it can sell the properties or refinance them. It may be called a fixed asset, but it is much more current asset than a retailer's inventory. Using this definition one can find companies trading below their net current assets. More...
This is an excerpt from Martin Whitman’s latest letter to shareholders:
I recently finished reading the book, Freefall by Joseph E. Stiglitz, an eminent economist. It certainly seems obvious from reading Stiglitz’s prose that economists, whether left wing or right wing, have little conception in certain important areas of what is really involved in rehabilitating troubled companies, or what are the uses and limitations of financial accounting.
Operating companies: 10 times peak earnings or less than net asset value.
Tech companies: twice book value, less than 10 times peak earnings, twice revenue and more cash than liabilities.
Recently, We updated Whitman’s Quarter-end portfolio as of January 31, 2010. Applying his ruleof thumb, perhaps we can understand why he bought the stocks or how strictly he apply the rule in his purchasing. More...
Third Avenue Value Fund was founded by legendary value investor Martin Whitman. The fund invests heavily in Asia. Mr. Whitman writes great shareholder letters quarterly, where value follow can learn his insight. More...
After stepping down from the front-line of day-to-day operation of the firm, Investment Guru, Chairman of Third Avenue ManagementMartin Whitman wrote his first “Chairman’s Letter” to Shareholders. The responsibility for usual quarterly letter of Third Avenue Value Fund (TAVF) has been placed on co-manager Ian Lapey. More...
Despite a snowstorm that caused the absence of several speakers, the Columbia Investment Management Conference in New York today included many interesting presentations and panel discussions. The highlight of the day was the conversation between Columbia Professor Bruce Greenwald and Martin Whitman, Founder and Portfolio Manager of Third Avenue Management. More...
When I was a corporate bond manager, I often dealt in less liquid bonds. Why? They had more yield, I only bought those that my credit analysts liked, and I had a balance sheet that could hold them. I had the option of holding those bonds, but not the obligation of holding those bonds. As credit conditions improved in early 2003, to leave my successor with a simpler portfolio, I decided to lighten my holdings of bonds issued by a private bank. I held 35% of the issue, and bought most of it near the height of the panic. More...
Veteran investor Martin Whitman will relinquish his role as Third Avenue Management LLC's co-chief investment officer, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. Whitman's protege Curtis Jensen will be Third Avenue's sole investment chief, according to the paper's online edition. More...
If you have been reading this blog for any sort of time, you would know I am a big fan of Marty Whitman and the Third Avenue family of fund (especially the new Third Avenue Focused Credit Fund). Marty has penned a number of fantastic books on value investing and distressed debt investing: More...
(GuruFocus, December 3, 2009) Investment Guru Martin Whitman published his 4Q09 letter to the sharesholders and it can be assessed following this link. GuruFocus tracks the investment activities and insights of Whitman and his team of money managers (known as“Third Avenue Management”) separately. There is actually an overlap between the two portfolios. More...
Washington Post has an article entitled "Invest Like The Best" by Elizabeth Ody. It lists the words of wisdom of six great investors. Among them, three are Investment Gurus that we track and you can get their stock holdings here at GuruFocus.com: More...
In his latest shareholder letter, 85-year old Marty Whitman shared the lessons he learned from the crash of 2008. He is convinced that Hong Kong is the place to invest. He is heavily invested in real estate. This is the equity portfolio of Third Avenue Value Fund as of 7/31/2009. More...
Marty Whitman, the legendary value investor who founded Third Aveneue Management, lost 45% with his fund in 2008, after building good long term track record. He learned new lessons at the age of 85! In this shareholder letter, he shared what he has learned and what areas he is looking at for new investments. More...
Martin Whitman is a legendary value investor and manager of the Third Avenue Value Fund (TAVFX). While his fund has suffered in 2008, his long-track record and expertise in distress investing make it worthwhile to try to figure out why he holds the investments he does. In his 2009 Second Quarter Shareholder letter he lists several Hong Kong Stocks currently owned by the fund and their respective Net Asset Values (NAVs). In this column we attempt to reverse engineer his Wheelock Group position. Please note, it will not be a perfect glimpse into his buying behavior since the position is not new. More...
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