Expanding Your Opportunities
“To ignore global opportunities means not investing in many of the world's largest and finest corporations.” - Christopher H. Browne
Truly great investment ideas are rare. Many investors don’t venture beyond their own geographical borders, and that can often be a mistake. A few big investment winners—sometimes, just one really big winner—can change one’s financial life. So why not open oneself up to the rest of the world when searching for those winners?
The late Christopher H. Browne wrote the words below in 2006 in The Little Book of Value Investing. The numbers below are even more understated today as markets—including emerging markets—and stock exchanges around the world have continued to develop, and more and more international companies are available for one’s investment dollars.
Why invest globally? Aren't there plenty of opportunities in your own backyard. Perhaps. However, if you think of the universe of stocks as a grocery store as I do, why limit yourself to half the merchandise that exists in the world? While the United States contains approximately half the publicly traded companies in the world (out of a total pool of more than 20,000 stocks), if you expand your horizons to all developed countries of the world you can double your chances of finding cheap stocks.
In a world where many of us drive a Toyota or a Lexus, enjoy a cold Heineken or Corona with our sushi, or stop for a nice Johnny Walker and soda or Beefeater martini at happy hour; use Flonase for our allergies; have insurance or other financial products from AXA or Allianz; watch movies on a DVD player from Sony or Toshiba; and load Fuji film into our Canon Camera, it seems foolish to limit our investments to just one country.
By using a global approach, you can double the potential opportunities to stock the shelves of your value investing store and also put yourself in a position to benefit when other markets and companies are cheaper than your home-based counterparts.
Echoing this sentiment was well-known investor Nick Sleep who, in his first investor letter, wrote the following:
When we evaluate potential investments we are looking for businesses trading at around half of their real business value, companies run by owner oriented management and employing capital allocation strategies consistent with long term shareholder wealth creation. Finding all three is rare, and that is why we think Nomad has a material advantage in being a global fund. We can look far and wide for candidates and simply are not required to invest in anything that does not fit. Chris Browne of Tweedy Browne has likened the research process to detective work or perhaps investigative journalism, and we could not agree more.
We encourage all investment detectives and investigators to open up and consider investing globally, as many of the great investors of the past and the present.
Lunch at the Club With Joe Moglia
Joe Moglia will be our guest for Lunch at the Club on Wednesday, July 21 at 2:00 pm EST. Moglia is a former chairman of the board and CEO of TD Ameritrade - the largest online discount brokerage firm in the world in terms of the number of retail online equity trades placed each day. Moglia also served as the head football coach for Coastal Carolina University for 6 seasons where he impacted the team and CCU community with his BAM leadership philosophy.
If you sign up for Premium before July 19th and attend Lunch at the Club, we will send you a signed copy of Joe Moglia’s incredible and uplifting life story 4th & Goal: One Man’s Quest To Recapture His Dream (If you are a current Premium Member simply attend this Lunch at the Club and we will send you the book!)
Top 50 Microcap Investor List
Thomas Bachrach
Thomas Bachrach is a fund manager at PFH Capital, LLC, where he manages a long-term, value-oriented strategy. He is biased towards off-the-radar international and emerging market businesses with significant insider ownership, strong return on capital, ample growth runway and healthy finances.
As an investor, Tom did not take the traditional Wall Street path. After graduating Cornell University in 2005, he spent half a decade in the Middle East with an Egypt-listed public company. In 2011, after to returning to the US, Tom began dabbling in public market investing, attempting to utilize the finance and accounting knowledge he built up overseas. Little did he know, investing would become a full-fledged passion.
Read our feature on Thomas Bachrach here.
In Case You Missed It on Twitter
Last week for our Top 50 list we featured Sean Iddings. Occasionally he shares investment ideas via social media. On Friday he tweeted this thread on his highest conviction idea:
Open Market Insider Buys
If you are interested in seeing open market insider buys join our Premium Membership! Premium members have access to a portal where we post these updates twice a week.
Podcasts and Readings
The Surprise Key To Winning - by Joe Moglia
Investing Abroad - by Chris Mayer
Journey to 100X - by Meb Faber
eDreams ODIGEO (EDR.BME): The Costco of European Online Travel
Yet Another Value Podcast: Kyle Cerminara on deSPACing OppFi with $FGNA
Failing Forward
Jemele Hill’s Ted Talk “Success is scarier than failure” highlights her journey to become a sports journalist for ESPN.
Hill experienced various hardships throughout her life such as parents who struggle with addiction and economic insecurities. These challenges ultimately made her stronger and helped her reach the success she has today. Despite growing up in poverty, she persevered through college and now hosts her own show on ESPN called His and Hers.
Within this Ted Talk she speaks about her mindset regarding failure. Hill says that 90% of the time while preparing for her show she imagines all that could go wrong. People often see all the things that can go wrong but rarely think of what could go right. Many do not want to envision success because they are worried about the potential let down of not reaching it.
Hill often asks herself “how do you change from always envisioning failure to making success feel real.” Her answer remains the same “turn your negatives into positives, all the reasons you can’t have to become the reasons that you will.” Jemele’s path to success started by envisioning her rough childhood and unusual circumstances to inspire her resiliency to earn a full ride college scholarship. She ends the presentation by asking the audience to reflect on their own path, “think about every negative in your life, think about every reason you have not to succeed, every barrier that’s in your way right at this moment. I guarantee you everything you thought of, that’s going to be the reason you succeed.”
If you have not already upgraded your membership…
Avenel Financial Group, a merchant banking, and advisory firm located in Charlotte, NC, launched a new business venture called the Co/Investor Club. The Co/Investor Club is a community of value-oriented investors that collaborate on investment opportunities and ideas. You are receiving this newsletter because you are a Free or Premium Member of the Co/Investor Club!
Chat with Mike
Whether you’re an executive with investment opportunities or a college student looking to network, we would love to chat with you!
Email our Founder, Mike Pruitt, at mp@coinvestorclub.com with questions and ideas or schedule a meeting.
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