We can thank Benjamin Graham for coming up with the value investing philosophy, which is when an investor buys a stock at less than the intrinsic value. Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio) also adopted this philosophy, but that's no surprise since he was Graham's pupil.
Another value investor is Seth Klarman (Trades, Portfolio), founder of Baupost Group. His Boston-based firm is a private investing partnership.
In 1991, a little over 10 years after founding his firm, Klarman wrote a book entitled, Margin of Safety: Risk-Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor, in which he outlines what it means to be a value investor and what it takes to become one. The book is now out of print and is going for $1,200+ on Amazon and eBay.
In the book, Klarman talks about how hard it is to be a value investor. Even though the concept is easy to grasp, following through with all of the hard work and dedication is hard for many because it can be very time consuming. According to Klarman, the hardest components are discipline, patience and judgement. Investors need the discipline to stay away from all of the useless investing ideas and opinions others will share with them. They need the patience to wait for the right stock and judgement to know when to make the right call.
Klarman's most recent stock purchases include a couple companies that help people with multiple sclerosis and muscle wasting conditions and oncology. This is not the first time Klarman bought stock in a company that focuses on these diseases, either. In 2009, he bought shares in Facet Biotech, a company that develops oncology drugs. Klarman's current stock purchases include: Forward Pharma AS (FWP, Financial), Atara Biptherapeutics Inc (ATRA, Financial)
Forward Pharma AS (FWP, Financial) is a company that is currently preparing to begin a Phase 3 clinical trial using FP187 to treat multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. The company recently filed a lawsuit against Biogen Idec GmbH, Biogen Idec International GmbH and Biogen Idec Ltd because of Biogen's marketing of Tecifidera in Germany. Although Forward Pharma is not looking to stop sales of Biogen's MS treatment, the company is seeking damages for the alleged unlawful sales of Tecfidera.
The current price of FWP stocks is $21 and is down by 0.66%. The Sloan Ratio is currently at -2.03, which indicates that the earnings are possibly made up of accruals, in our opinion.
This chart shows the price of this stock
Atara Biotherapeutics Inc (ATRA, Financial) develops various therapeutics, with a concentration on muscle wasting conditions and oncology. The company recently signed an agreement with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to develop and commercialize the allogenetic T-cell therapies to treat certain cancers and viral infections.
The current price of this stock is $26.02 and is down by 1.25%. Earlier this month, the price was at $28.75. The interactive chart below shows how much the price has fluxuated within a month.
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