Another example of our buying activity was our decision to purchase shares of Fairfax Financial Holdings (TSX:FFH) during early 2018. Fairfax is a business that we’ve long admired and one that has been a successful investment for the Fund in the past. It’s been nearly eight years since the Fund last owned shares, but we have continued to monitor the business and the share price in the interim. In early 2018, we concluded that the stock price, business value, and future prospects for Fairfax finally aligned in a way that we could get excited about.
Our decision to buy Fairfax wasn’t predicated entirely on the valuation; the stock has been cheaper on various metrics at times over the past several years. Rather, our decision to invest was due to our belief that Fairfax’s business outlook is better than it has been for many years, and the company is also much more strongly positioned to pursue the opportunities available to it than it has been in recent years.
From Zeke Ashton (Trades, Portfolio)'s first-half 2018 shareholder letter.
