About Us
- We kicked off the weekend listening to our own Bob Robotti address the 16th Annual Value Investor Conference at the University of Nebraska. Rune Mosbech, author of North Star Investor, summarized Bob’s remarks nicely in this article posted to his website here. *
- The Women in Value conference started by Robotti alum Stephanie Baas with the backing and support of Bob Robotti and the entire Robotti team was resurrected by Kim Shannon, Barbra Bertrand and Laura Rittenhouse as the Annual Variant Perspectives: Women in Value Investing. Warren Buffett surprised us with an impromptu half hour keynote and Q&A session, showing support for leading women in the industry. Buffett noted “The stock doesn’t know who owns you. It’s not going to do anything different because female eyes are looking at it.” We are very proud to continue to be sponsors and provide support for such an important event which you can read more about here and hope you will plan to join us next year!
- The opportunity for value investing in today’s market – the energy from the sea of value enthusiasts was palpable. Given all of the current geopolitical discord and market volatility, when one might be tempted to take all their money and put it in their mattresses, how does the value investing community sleep well at night? The beauty, as I am learning, of value investing is in patience and quality. I have a 2 year old girl who is destined to one day be a star (completely objective opinion). In the interim, however, she is definitely in her “terrible twos” but I am not pulling my time, attention or money away from her and putting it towards my well-behaved 5 year old. Instead, I am doubling down because I know just how great the long-term opportunity really is – and I see that true value investors see the current short and medium-term market volatility and cyclicality in the same way, in phases and as an opportunity, if in the right companies to actually invest more.
My name is Lindsey Sichel Rubinstein and I joined Robotti Advisors in March as Managing Director to lead the marketing and investor relations effort. This is my first post for the Robotti Blog, and as I reflect on my first couple of months with the team, I have found tremendous value in the community of individuals and institutions that consider themselves to be value investors (ourselves included).
I was told there is no better way to become oriented with the world of value investing than making the annual pilgrimage to Omaha, NE for the Annual Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Meeting. Below are some highlights from my first trip to Omaha:
Robotti has a contrarian approach to cyclical investing. He sees a lot of opportunities in small-cap value stocks after ten years of underperformance. Most investors avoid near-term uncertainty and a contrarian view is difficult even for a value investor. However, with the right framework, deep industry knowledge, and the right investor base, you can take advantage of this and invest in things that others disagree with.
According to Robotti, cyclical companies with a low valuation and a competitive advantage can give great returns if you are able to invest at a good time in the cycle. The process is often the same. The valuation discount in cyclical companies continues to grow in a downturn and you are likely to be too early when you buy. So, you need to have conviction and be able to increase your position when the stock gets even cheaper.
Lastly, I remarked to a friend on a commute home before going to Omaha that I was not going to consider the trip complete unless I enjoyed some good steak and met Warren Buffett. Well, I can happily say that I checked both items off of my Omaha Bucket List. The blog is a newer effort for us – please let us know your thoughts and what you would like us to post more about.
*This article was written by a person unaffiliated with Robotti & Company Advisers, LLC (“R&CA”) and without any input from R&CA. This article is not intended to be a recommendation to buy or sell Subsea 7 S.A. securities and is provided solely for informational purposes. R&CA is not providing investment advice through this material. Bob Robotti and clients of R&CA own a significant amount of Subsea 7 securities.