Updated May 24, 2026 · 2187 articles
Insights
Research, news and field guides on institutional positioning. Powered by real SEC filings — 13F, 13D/G, Form 4.
Gross Margin: An Early Read on Business Quality
Gross margin, what a company keeps after the direct cost of its goods, is often the first quantitative fingerprint of a competitive advantage. Learn why high margins signal pricing power, why the trend matters as much as the level, and how it shapes quality portfolios.
Sarah MitchellBook Value and Price-to-Book: The Balance-Sheet Yardstick
Book value, assets minus liabilities, was once value investing's starting point, and price-to-book its key ratio. Learn why it still anchors bank and insurer valuations, why intangible-rich businesses broke it, and how to tell when a low price-to-book is a clue or a trap.
Sarah MitchellConcentration Risk: When One Position Is Too Big
Concentration turns conviction into outsized returns, or outsized losses. Learn the unforgiving math of position sizing, why a 25% holding that halves can define a year, why concentration amplifies risk most when paired with uncertainty, and how to read it directly in a 13F.
Sarah MitchellPrivate Credit Explained: The Lending Boom Outside the Banks
Private credit, lending by asset managers instead of banks, has grown into a multi-trillion-dollar market since the financial crisis. Learn how it works, why quality investors own the fee-earning platforms like Apollo and Blackstone, and the risks hidden beneath the growth story.
Sarah MitchellDividend Payout Ratio: How to Judge if a Dividend Is Safe
A dividend yield is a promise, not a guarantee. Learn how the payout ratio, the share of earnings or free cash flow paid out, reveals whether a dividend is safe, why a fragile 8% is worth less than a dependable 3%, and how high-dividend value managers screen for durability.
Sarah MitchellBeck Mack & Oliver 13F (2026 Q1): A Bet on Private Capital
Beck Mack & Oliver, a New York firm dating to the 1930s, leans into a modern theme in 2026 Q1: the rise of the alternative-asset managers. Its book is led by Apollo and Blackstone, with Schwab and Gallagher alongside, a quality-financials tilt toward private-market finance.
Marcus ChenBroad Run 13F (2026 Q1): A 24-Stock Book, One 21% Bet
Broad Run takes concentration literally: 24 positions, with AST SpaceMobile alone at 21% of the book. Its 2026 Q1 filing pairs that outsized, speculative bet with a core of quality compounders, Applied Materials, Brookfield, Markel, O'Reilly, conviction expressed without a safety net.
Marcus ChenCullen Capital 13F (2026 Q1): A High-Dividend Value Book
Cullen invests in value through the dividend lens, favoring large, cash-returning businesses that pay above-market yields at modest valuations. Its 2026 Q1 book spreads $9.75B across 213 dividend payers, pharma, banks, utilities and energy, with nothing above 3.2%.
Marcus ChenFenimore (FAM) 13F (2026 Q1): A Quality-Compounder Book
Fenimore's FAM Funds buy well-run, durable businesses and hold them for years. Its 2026 Q1 book spreads $4.48B across 92 quality compounders, Ross Stores, Amphenol, Stryker, Fastenal, Markel, with only light trims, the texture of a patient, low-turnover strategy.
Marcus ChenPricing Power: The Rare Trait Quality Investors Hunt For
Pricing power, the ability to raise prices without losing customers, is one of the rarest and most valuable traits a business can have. Learn where it comes from, how to test for it, and why it becomes decisive when inflation squeezes everyone else's margins.
Sarah MitchellCircle of Competence: Investing Within What You Know
The circle of competence isn't about how much you know, but how well you know its edge. Learn the Buffett-Munger idea, why misjudging the boundary causes the worst mistakes, and why a borrowed stock idea is only useful if it falls inside your own circle.
Sarah MitchellEarnings Yield: Valuing a Stock Like a Bond
Earnings yield flips the P/E ratio to show profit as a percentage of price, letting you weigh a stock like a bond. Learn how it works, its starring role in Joel Greenblatt's magic formula, and why it only works paired with a measure of quality.
Sarah MitchellIntrinsic Value: The True Worth Behind a Stock's Price
Every value judgment is really a comparison between price, which the market hands you, and intrinsic value, which you must estimate. Learn what intrinsic value is, how investors approximate it, why it's inherently uncertain, and how that uncertainty creates opportunity.
Sarah MitchellNet-Net Investing: Graham's Original Deep-Value Strategy
Net-net investing, Graham's original method, buys stocks for less than their net current asset value, effectively getting the business for free. Learn how NCAV works, why such bargains are rare today, and the value-trap risks that make diversification essential.
Sarah MitchellReturn on Equity (ROE): A Core Test of Business Quality
Return on equity measures how much profit a company earns on its owners' capital, and high, consistent ROE is a signature of business quality. Learn why quality investors prize it, what counts as good, and the leverage and buyback traps that can mislead.
Sarah MitchellWeitz 13F (2026 Q1): Omaha Quality-Value, Anchored by Berkshire
Wally Weitz built one of Omaha's most respected value shops, and his 2026 Q1 book is fittingly anchored by Berkshire Hathaway. A focused, quality-tilted portfolio held steady this quarter, with one clear move: a 16% add to Microsoft.
Marcus ChenJensen 13F (2026 Q1): A Strict-Quality Fund Trims Megacap Tech
Jensen only owns businesses that have earned 15%-plus return on equity for ten straight years. Its 2026 Q1 book of proven compounders shows the firm de-risking megacap tech, trimming Apple and Nvidia, even as sustained outflows have halved its reported assets.
Marcus ChenCooke & Bieler 13F (2026 Q1): A Diffuse Value Book
Cooke & Bieler, a long-established Philadelphia value boutique, runs a diffuse 100-name book where no stock tops 4%. Its 2026 Q1 filing leans heavily on specialty insurers, RenaissanceRe, White Mountains, Arch, which it trimmed, alongside a new Sunbelt Rentals stake.
Marcus ChenKahn Brothers 13F (2026 Q1): Deep Value in the Graham Tradition
Kahn Brothers, founded by Benjamin Graham's own teaching assistant Irving Kahn, practices deep value in its purest, most contrarian form. Its concentrated 2026 Q1 book is led by Citigroup and Bayer, with hard trims in Merck and BP and a new Zillow stake.
Marcus ChenMr. Market: Graham's Parable of Price Versus Value
Benjamin Graham's Mr. Market is a moody partner who quotes you a price every day, sometimes euphoric, sometimes despairing. Learn the parable, the price-versus-value lesson at its core, and how it explains the behavior of disciplined value managers.
Sarah Mitchell