Tom Gayner is the Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer Of Markel Corp and President, Markel Gayner Asset Management, Inc., the investment subsidiary Of Markel Corp since December of 1990. The asset under management is about $2 billion. Over the last 10 years, Mr. Gayner has averaged an investment return of 14.3% a year, compared with S&P500ˇŻs 7.6% over the same period.
Investing Philosophy:
As the CIO of Markel Corp, Tom Gayner is certainly a value investor. He thinks stock is part of a business and the business is worth what the present value of the future cash flows are. ˇ°We operate with a Margin of Safety in the investment portfolio.ˇ± He said. He has also relatively concentrated portfolio. He believes that he can earn the best returns by concentrating his focus and portfolio in promising areas where he has the best understanding and knowledge.
(GuruFocus, November 9, 2009) Following reviewing the top holdings of Tom Gayner as of September 30, 3009, here we present the top buys of the Investment Guru: More...
(GuruFocus, November 8, 2009) Investment Guru Tom Gayner manages the portfolio for Insurance Company Markel Corp. (MKL). Markel Corporation markets and underwrites specialty insurance products and programs to a variety of niche markets. More...
Markel Corp’s CIO Tom Gayner is looking for silver medal winner, he is worrying about inflation. He likes WalMart because it sells the things people need. This is his Q3 portfolio update. Tom Gayner owns 77 stocks with a total value of $1.3 billion. More...
(GuruFocus, September 22, 2009) Investment Guru Tom Gayner, Chief Investment Officer of Markel Corp. made the following comment during the company’s 2Q09 conference call. I found it interesting as it contains a strategy of how to invest in the uncertain times as to whether we are going to have inflation or deflation ahead of us More...
Markel Corporation markets and underwrites specialty insurance and have been doing business since 1930. They are not a big well known company except in the value investing community. This might be due to them being in a rather boring industry- insurance. Wall Street seems to push everything in vogue and the retail investor seems to follow along. Berkshire Hathaway was not well known either 25-30 years ago, and Warren Buffett had already been involved with Berkshire for nearly 20 years. I must admit when I first heard of Berkshire back in the mid 1980's it was trading around 1500 a share. The only reason I noticed it, was that it had a high price tag or so I thought at the time. Hear it is almost twenty-five years later and another high priced insurance stock has got my attention. Well actually I've known about this one for a few years now. Did I say high priced at $342.00 dollars a share. Well for some of you new folks the stock price does not have anything to do with true value of the company. The reason why you see Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A),(BRK-B) and Markel (MKL) trading so high is because they don't split More...
In my most recent article I discussed a conservative and proactive way to approach individual stocks even if the recent rally had made you wary of investing at the currently more elevated valuations. Another tactic that I will detail in this piece is to attempt to identify either specific stocks or entire sectors that have not participated meaningfully in this rally and are still trading at reasonable valuations. More...
Another Admirer of Warrern BuffettTom Gayner, Chief Investment Officer of Markel Corp., like Prem Watsa (who we reviewed yesterday), is another Warren Buffett's admirer and attends Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting on regular basis. Tom Gayner and Prem Watsa do what Warren Buffett does, namely managing the float money generated by a profitable insurance business, and over a long period of time, increase the book value of the insurance company behind it. With one exception, their portfolio is one or two zero truncated from that of Warren Buffett’s. At end of 1Q09, Markel Corp. total asset on balance sheet was Merely $9.3 billion, More...
These are my notes from a small group meeting with Markel (MKL) CIO Tom Gayner on 5/19/09. This is the second time I have seen him speak in the last few weeks. I really like the way he approaches investing and risk. In this piece the analogy between a person's age and the state of the insurance industry is brilliant. Enjoy! More...
A Path to Great Fortunes It is no secret that Fairfax Financial Holding (FFH) Chairman and CEO Prem Watsa admires the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett. By his own admission, he attended Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholders meeting in the past 25 years. That is since he became he the Chairman and CEO of Fairfax Financial Holdings. More...
Tom Gayner, CIO of Markel Corp, likes companies that have survivability, companies that are ready, willing and able to answer the bell for the next round, want companies that in 20 years you will still be talking about, according to the shareholder meeting notes. This is the Q1 portfolio update of Markel Corp. More...
Disclaimer: These notes were taken in real time at the Markel (MKL) Annual Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on Sunday May 2 nd, 2009 without the use of a recorder. The goal was to get the gist of the questions and as much of the answer as possible. Please excuse any mistakes or omissions. More...
[Tom Gayner, CIO of Markel Corp, is selling more than what he bought. Is he raising capital for Markel? Or he saw risks in the market? These are his buys and sells during the fourth quarter. More...
Tom Gayner, CIO of Markel Corp., understands how insurance works. That's why he was said to be one of the possible successors of Warren Buffett. Tom Gayner owns 83 stocks with a total value of $1.5 billion. These are the details of the buys and sells during the third quarter. More...
Tom Gayner, Chief Investment Officer at Markel Corp, is said to be a candiate for Warren Buffett's CIO position. Not surprising, since Gayner know how to invest with insurance float, which is the major cash source of Berkshire Hathaway. These are Tom Gayner's buys and sells. Tom Gayner owns 84 stocks with a total value of $1.5 billion. More...
We know there are many Berkshire fans who also follow Markel, so we thought some members might benefit from some of the things Markel's management, particularly CIO Thomas Gayner, had to say at the company's annual meeting last week. More...
Tom Gayner is the Chief Investment Officer of Markel Corp. There were rumors that he might be a candidate for Warren Buffett's CIO. Similar to Buffett, Gayner invests the float of insurance business. Tom Gayner owns 80 stocks with a total value of $1.8 billion. These are the details of the buys and sells. More...
If you like to see what insurance stocks Gurus are buying, you should certainly look into what Tom Gayner does. Being CIO of Market Corp, Tom Gayner understands insurance business. These are his buys and sells during the fourth quarter. More...
During Markel Corporation’s recent conference call, Tom Gayner , Chief Investment Officer, explained why Markel had sold off their positions in the mono-line insurer/financial guarantors, Ambac and MBIA. More...
CarMax (KMX) has always been a compelling growth story. Tom Gayner, the Chief Investment Officer of Markel Corporation has owned CarMax’s stock for several years. When Berkshire Hathaway’s Lou Simpson purchased CarMax in the third quarter, my interest was naturally piqued. At first glance CarMax stock looks expensive. However, there is a long runway of growth with approximately 45,000 independent used vehicle dealers while CarMax has only 86 used car superstores. Wal-Mart (WMT) has operating margins of 6.5% while CarMax’s operating margins were 4.9% in 2006. As they grow they can leverage their fixed costs, i.e. they can buy advertising as well as materials for stores nationwide, similar to the way one goes to Costco to buy in bulk to receive a discount. More...
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