Another tidbit from Omaha was from Robert Hagstrom’s talk at VALUEx Omaha (now available online) which was really good. He was critical of modern portfolio theory and efficient market hypothesis and how when these theories were released and promoted, the authors were less than responsible as they failed to mention some of the reasonable and competitive counter arguments. The latest study (sorry, cannot recall the reference) reports that looking back 10 years, 87% of professional money managers lag the S&P index, consistent with previous studies.


Fyi-Speaking of professional fund managers, I received an interesting promotional email from Pabrai Funds below. I have not received prior emails of this nature.

“Hope all is well. I am excited to share that approx. 7 months ago, I launched my first mutual fund, the Pabrai Wagons Fund (WAGNX). The Fund invests in high-quality global businesses and “circles the wagons” around its highest conviction holdings. We are off to a strong start. Since inception on 9/29/23 through 4/30/24, WAGNX is up 18.53%, slightly ahead of the tech-heavy S&P 500, which is up 18.44%. Year to date through 4/30/24, WAGNX is up 9.93%, vs. 6.04% for the S&P 500. Seven months is a short period of time to intelligently assess performance. However, the Fund owns some exceptional assets that I believe will do very well over the long run. It is a marathon, not a sprint!…”