Value Investing with Legends is a popular elective course at Columbia Business School taught by renowned value investors. As the name suggests, this unique course brings in investing legends like Joel Greenblatt, Mario Gabelli, Glenn Greenberg and Michael Price to share their insights and frameworks. With unparalleled access to these practitioners, students gain a well-rounded perspective into the core principles and real-world applications of value investing.
Value investing framework from legends like Michael Price
The article provides a glimpse into a Value Investing with Legends class session delivered by Michael Price, Seth Klarman’s mentor and founder of Mutual Shares fund. Price walked the class through his thought process of analyzing that day’s Wall Street Journal, demonstrating how he identifies investable ideas and actionable insights. This approach to focused information processing and decision-making contains key learnings for modern-day investors operating in an information overload environment.
How the course impacted Seth Klarman’s investment philosophy
Seth Klarman credits the Value Investing with Legends course and interactions with seasoned practitioners like Michael Price in shaping his grounding in special situations and arbitrage-oriented value investing. Unlike pure Graham-and-Doddsville style value investing, Klarman’s strategy at Baupost also capitalizes on mispricings across assets like spinoffs, index inclusions/exclusions etc. This versatility likely contributed to his stellar returns.
Why value investing remains viable despite AI progress
Klarman provides an insightful perspective on why generative AI models may not fully automate value investing – a knowledge-intensive pursuit dealing with complex and ever-evolving real-world cause-effect relationships. While AI can potentially enhance productivity for standardized analytical tasks, ultimate decision-making would still need seasoned human judgment.
Importance of long-term capital and patient growth
The article highlights how Seth Klarman adopted a patient approach to growing Baupost’s assets under management, not unlike mentor David Swensen’s philosophy. By focusing on long-term performance over business expansion, patiently onboarding like-minded investors rather than chasing short-term capital, Klarman fostered stability and helped deliver consistent returns over decades – a competitive edge very few investment firms enjoy.
Value Investing with Legends delivers unparalleled access to insights from real-world practitioners – a differentiator that likely helped shape Seth Klarman’s investment acumen and long-term success. Key themes reflect the continued relevance of human judgment in investing, and benefits reaped by investment firms who align philosophies with investors and focus on long-term trust over short-term commercial interests.