We are classic value investors in the tradition of Ben Graham and Warren Buffett, seeking superior long-term performance through the purchase of securities selling at prices materially below our estimate of intrinsic value. This process of "winning by not losing" protects capital from permanent loss (as distinguished from "quotational risk") and puts us on the correct side of the mathematics of compounding.

We believe the best performance records in the investment industry have been created by small teams of value based analysts, as decisions are made by those doing the actual research, and work and time value are not wasted through committee and a laborious people management process.

We run concentrated portfolios, which allow our best ideas to drive performance. It is both a fool's errand as well as disingenuous to clients to over-diversify the results of careful decision-making and attempt to mimic indices to achieve performance. The only way to achieve superior long-term returns is to have the intellectual courage to differ from the mood of the day and the indices to which we are compared.

While we hunger for objective evidence and rigorously model our investment ideas, we retain a healthy skepticism toward advanced math and formulaic convention. We are investing in real businesses run by real people whose securities are valued in the short run through an imprecise prism into a future that is always uncertain. There will never be a precise formula for good judgment.

To paraphrase Buffett paraphrasing Graham, we will neither be right nor wrong because the crowd is disagreeing with us. We will be right when our data and reasoning are right.