Francis Chou

Chou Associates Management

Last Update: 2013-05-15

Number of Stocks: 28
Number of New Stocks: 0

Total Value: $380 Mil
Q/Q Turnover: 0%

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Francis Chou Watch

Francis Chou Drastic Cut - Overstock Up 237% Over 12 Months
by Sally Jones - Apr 26, 2013
As of April 23, 2013, Francis Chou, fund manager of Chou America Mutual Funds, reduced his position in Overstock.com (OSTK) by 12.25%, with current shares after the trade at 1,891,587. Chou sold in the price range of $18.91 per share, for a 1.48% loss to his portfolio. OSTK’s current price is $1.75 with a change from average up 4%. This is Chou’s second reduction so far this year, and his fifth chop since last fall when the share price was around $15.5, according to GuruFocus Real Time Picks.

His holding history since third quarter 2011 shows an average price for shares bought at $11.8 per share with a 67% gain. Continue Reading »
Canadian Value Investing Guru - Francis Chou's 2012 Annual Report
by CanadianValue - Mar 28, 2013
Chou Funds Annual Report 2012

Continue Reading »
Francis Chou Makes Largest Overstock.com Paring Yet
by Holly LaFon - Jan 30, 2013
Francis Chou, fund manager of Chou America Mutual Funds, has for the fourth time since October reduced his stake in Overstock.com (OSTK). This time, he shed 3.58% of his holding, shrinking his shares owned to 2,155,611 as of Jan. 25, according to GuruFocus Real Time Picks.

This is the most drastic cut Chou has made to the holding of his four recent parings. The company’s stock spiked 70% in the past six months, though it has declined 5% since the year began. Continue Reading »
Francis Chou Joins Prem Wasta in RIMM Bet; Sells USG, WPI, S, GPS, SYA, OSTK
by GuruFocus - Nov 15, 2012
Canadian value guru Francis Chou joined his friend Prem Watsa in the bet RIMM and Dell (DELL), according to the latest filings of Chou Funds. Francis Chou bought 200,000 shares of RIMM at the average prices of $7. He also bought another beaten down tech stock Dell at about $11.5 a share. He sold out his position in USG, and reduced holdings in Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp, Gap, Inc., Overstock.com, Inc., etc.

As we reported back in July, Prem Watsa Doubled Down on Research-In-Motion, Again. Prem Watsa has incurred large losses with RIMM. He started buying when the stock crashed from $140 a share to $50 a share. He kept adding to the position, but the stock prices continue to decline. His latest purchases are in July, in which he doubled down again and lowered his cost per share to about $17 a share. Prem Watsa is still having a more than 50% paper loss with RIMM. Continue Reading »
The Latest on Overstock.com and Francis Chou’s Stake with the Online Retailer
by Dianne Tordillo - Oct 31, 2012
Utah-based Overstock.com (OSTK) has reported its third quarter results on Oct. 25 per the welcoming of a new earnings season, covering the months between July and September. Guru investor and 10% owner of Overstock, Francis Chou of Chou Associates Management, reduced his holding of the stock one day later.

Overstock experienced increases in revenue by 7%, gross profit by 21% and diluted earnings per share by $0.44, in a year-over-year comparison with 2011 data. Continue Reading »
Francis Chou's Semi-Annual Letter
by Holly LaFon - Aug 28, 2012
Letter originally posted on investor, Francis Chou's fund website, www.choufunds.com, under Semi-Annual Reports Continue Reading »
Latest Picks from Francis Chou: USG, NOK; Sells GPS
by GuruFocus - Aug 16, 2012
Francis Chou, like his friend Prem Watsa, loves to buy cheap stocks, especially if everyone else hates them. Market is giving him a lot of opportunities of doing so, as we can see from his latest portfolio. We have written extensively about Francis Chou. You can read it here: Francis Chou – The Investment Guru That You Never Heard Of. “Francis Chou's experience is an amazing success story of value investing. He came to Canada in 1976 at age 20 with $200 in his pocket. Without a college degree, he could only work on blue collar jobs. Finally he landed a job at Bell Canada as a telephone repairman. Somehow he was introduced to the books of Benjamin Graham. As written by Warren Buffett in his famous article, The Superinvestors of Graham-and--Doddsville, "It is extraordinary to me that the idea of buying dollar bills for 40 cents takes immediately to people or it doesn't take at all." The idea apparently took Francis Chou immediately.”

Francis Chou buys Nokia Corporation (adr), Usg Corporation, sells The Gap Inc., Qiao Xing Mobile Communication Co., Ltd. during the 3-months ended 06/30/2012, according to the most recent filings of his investment company, Chou Associates Management. As of 06/30/2012, Chou Associates Management owns 30 stocks with a total value of $328 million. These are the details of the buys and sells. Continue Reading »
Overstock.com Oversold?
by Barel Karsan - Jun 12, 2012
Shares of Overstock.com (OSTK) are held by value investor extraordinaires Prem Watsa and Francis Chou. But the stock has languished as of late, having lost 2/3's of its value since 2010 and half of its value over the last year. As a result, you have a chance to get in on this stock at better prices than have these wise gentlemen.

At a market cap of $160 million, Overstock trades for just 15% of sales. But if you subtract the company's relatively large net cash position from the market cap, Overstock trades for just 10% of sales! Yet the company operates in an industry (online retail) that is expected to continue to grow. Continue Reading »
Chou Funds 2011 Annual Report – Discusses TARP Warrants (Still Long and Strong)
by CanadianValue - Mar 28, 2012
Value investor Francis Chou who has close ties to another Canadian value investing legend Prem Watsa, is out with his annual report for 2011.

Over the past five years the Chou record has not been great. Over the past 10 and 15-year periods it is very good. Continue Reading »
Canadian Guru Francis Chou Buys Bank of America Warrants, Citigroup, Sears
by gurufocus - Feb 16, 2012
Value investor Francis Chou had a difficult year in 2011. His Chou Associates Fund was down 18.8%. The loss was mainly from the financials he owns. He owns many financial stocks that Bruce Berkowitz owns, too. But apparently Francis Chou does not have the redemption problem that Bruce Berkowitz has. He took the opportunity and added more to the positions that he has conviction in.

If you are not familiar with Francis Chou, you should be. He came to Canada at a young age, never went to college, and worked as a telephone technician. But he found out about value investing. Since then he has built an amazing track record and manages more than $1 billion. For more about him, please read: Francis Chou – The Investment Guru That You Never Heard Of. Continue Reading »
Top Dividend Stocks of Francis Chou
by Mara Kohn - Jan 12, 2012
Francis Chou is the manager of Chou America Mutual Funds and he has been managing Chou Funds since 1986.

Chou's Equity Opportunity Fund has a mandate: to invest in equity securities of companies located in developed and emerging markets across the world insofar as Chou thinks they are at market prices and less than their value. The idea of the investments is to identify compelling opportunities that, according to the circumstances, ensure a long-term growth of capital. As he puts it: “If you know how to spot a bargain it will make you a good investor.” Continue Reading »
A Closer Look at Overstock.com's Frequent Earning Restatements
by Anh Hoang - Jan 11, 2012
There are a lot of arguments relating to the company Overstock.com (OSTK), and conflicting signals in terms of guru buys, its management, and business and financial performance. Any investors would be scared of the company which has issues with auditors concerning the misrepresentation of financial statement numbers, leading to the restatement of the past reporting figures or to legal disputes with its shareholders. I have briefly looked at the overall performance of the company in the 10-year historical period in my previous post. And today I would like to dig deeper into the restatement of financial figures of the company.

Looking back the recent history of OSTK, it started in October 2008, when OSTK restated its financial reports for five years, from 2003 to 2008. It had to do this because of errors relating to accounting of customer refunds and credits. The restatement led to the reduction of $12.9 million in revenue and $10.3 million in operating loss, along with nearly $1 million in net loss from continuing operations for the whole five-year period. The restatement just affected the income statement, as it stated in its SEC filings: “The estimated cumulative impact of these adjustments increases the accumulated deficit by $10.3 million as of June 30, 2008. The adjustments for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004 and 2003 and the quarterly periods ended June 30, 2008 and March 31, 2008 have no cash flow impact.” Continue Reading »
Francis Chou's Top Dividend Stocks: NOK, RSH, SKM, VOD
by Henry Tan - Dec 28, 2011
From humble beginnings as a phone technician at Bell Canada, a Francis Chou emerged as one of the leading Canadian value investors of the decade. With a mere 12^th grade education, and a desire to invest after reading literature from legendary investor Ben Graham, Chou, with the trust and loan of $51,000 endowed upon him from fellow employees, launched Chou Associates. Such a low-key beginning would lead to the formation of one of Canada’s most successful investment management firm that now manages over $827 million in assets as of the third quarter of 2011.

From his arrival in Canada with a mere $200, Chou embodies that of the true value seeker, in both personality and investments. Driving a bland Dodge Caravan, and utilizing a Costco-branded credit card, Chou’s personality is a far cry from flashier wealth managers. Perhaps such conservation stems from Chou’s tutelage under the “Warren Buffett of Canada,” Prem Watsa. Like most value investors, he seeks equities under-priced from their intrinsic value. Chou prefers a margin of safety of approximately 50%, and a return on equity of 15% or greater. He also likes to purchase baskets of what he so eloquently nicknamed CRAP, or Cannot Realize a Profit. These are companies that are teetering on the edge of liquidation, but due to market irrationality, are trading at less then the value of the full liquidation of the company. Continue Reading »
Francis Chou Buys Citigroup Inc., Bank Of America Warrants, Sears, Goldman Sachs
by gurufocus - Nov 16, 2011
Canada based value investor Francis Chou just reported his third quarter portfolio. Chou follows the classic Ben Graham’s approach of value investing, and has achieved great long term track record. To understand more how Francis Chou invests, please read our featured article, Francis Chou – The Investment Guru That You Never Heard Of.

Francis Chou buys Citigroup Inc., Bank Of America Warrants, Sears Holdings Corp., Primus Telecommunications Group Inc, The Goldman Sachs Group Inc., etc., sells Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., Cryptologic Ltd. during the 3-months ended 09/30/2011, according to the most recent filings of his investment company, Chou Associates Management. As of 09/30/2011, Chou Associates Management owns 36 stocks with a total value of $383 million. These are the details of the buys and sells. Continue Reading »
Francis Chou 2nd Quarter Letter and Holdings
by CanadianValue - Aug 28, 2011
Francis Chou who manages the Chou Funds is a true Benjamin Graham type investor. An uglier looking portfolio you will never find. Ugly, but successful:

15 Year Annual Compounded Rates of Return Continue Reading »
Value Guru Francis Chou Reports Q2 Portfolio
by gurufocus - Aug 16, 2011
Canadian Value Guru Francis Chou reported his second quarter portfolio. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Chou’s firm, Chou Associates Management offers five distinctive funds to their clients. To learn more about Francis Chou, please read Francis Chou – The Investment Guru That You Never Heard Of.

Francis Chou buys The Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Radioshack Corp., Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Cl A, Jpmorgan Chase & Co. Wt, Sears Holdings Corp., Gap Inc., Bank Of America Warrants, sells Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., International Coal Group Inc. during the 3-months ended 06/30/2011, according to the most recent filings of his investment company, Chou Associates Management. As of 06/30/2011, Chou Associates Management owns 32 stocks with a total value of $442 million. These are the details of the buys and sells. Continue Reading »
Francis Chou: Investing in Debt Securities
by gurufocus - Jul 18, 2011
In aggregate, over the years, our returns for the family of Chou Funds from investment grade and non-investment grade debt securities have been satisfactory.

While the following focuses on our experience with non-investment grade debt securities, it is largely applicable to investment grade securities as well. Continue Reading »
Francis Chou:The Investment Guru That You've Never Heard Of; Comments on ABH, WPI, BAC, BRK.A
by gurufocus - Jul 15, 2011
No college degree. No connection. No formal education in finance or business. Living at a place far from Wall Street. Just one assistant in the office. But still achieved an amazing long-term track record and manages more than $1 billion. No, we are not talking about Walter Schloss.

We are talking about Francis Chou! Continue Reading »
Value Investor Francis Chou and His Top Holdings: ABH, WPI, OSTK, S, SHLD
by Henry Tan - Jun 15, 2011
Chou Associates Management is an investment management firm that offers five distinctive funds to their clients. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, the fund is currently led by Francis Chou, a CFA charter holder with over 25 years of experience. Chou’s beginnings can be described as nothing more then humble, as Francis Chou was a blue-collar worked armed with no more then a 12^th grade education. Working at Bell Canada for seven years as a phone technician, his decision to read "Security Analysis" by Graham led to a passion that launched an investment club with $51,000 of his coworker’s seed money. This humble investment club would grow into the Chou Associate’s flagship associate fund, and become one of the most well-known firms in Canada.

“Find bargains and maintain discipline; if you can’t find bargains stay in cash.” Continue Reading »
Fairfax Friend Francis Chou's Guide To Successful Bond Investing
by CanadianValue - Apr 23, 2011
From the Chou Funds recent letter to unitholders: Continue Reading »