Tariq at the Street Capitalist blog had a great post on learning from Michael Burry.
Excerpt from Tariq’s post:
Later, he cites the Rediscovered Benjamin Graham book’s material in order to argue that going long value stocks may not be enough if we are faced with a downturn:
“I’d like to think that if I own real absolute value stocks it won’t matter if the big indexes drop 50%. But that might be wishful thinking. ”
Jim, in that Rediscovered book, Graham makes it quite clear that value stocks will be punished every bit as much and probably more in a market downturn, according to his research. He of course advocates raising cash or adjusting to bonds if one thinks the market is too high. In another area, though, he talks of the tremendous values that can be found even in a high-priced market. I find this book fascinating — lots of stuff I hadn’t read before.
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My guess is that most of Wall Street did not bother to wade through the hundreds of pages that comprised a subprime MBS. Unlike Burry, who sat in an office and learned these bond deals by himself, most of Wall Street likely deferred their judgement to the ratings agencies or sell side contacts. Ultimately, those groups lacked any substantial knowledge about these securities, they models were flawed which made their opinions flawed. So when investor groups came to them to get their opinions, they were almost always given the wrong answer.
Going through all of Burry’s posts, you will see that he was constantly analyzing stocks. To the point where he was at least posting a few ideas every week, in addition to his day job. To me, that is the definition of deliberate practice for an investor. You really have to get into the habit of frequently analyzing and valuing companies. In one post, Burry mentions that he has built a watch list of over 80 companies that he would be ready to pounce on if they ever hit his target price. That level of work, with a tendency to think independently, should help improve anyone’s investing.
This quote by Michael Burry in The Big Short says it best:
I have always believed that a single talented analyst, working very hard, can cover an amazing amount of investment landscape, and this belief remains unchallenged in my mind.
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