List of Most Successful Value Investors in the World: Value investing is the most successful investment strategy to make consistent returns from the market. It is a time-proven century-old investing strategy. The basic strategy of value investing is to buy companies at a significant discount. Here, you look for an amazing company, find its true value, and pay a lot less to purchase the stock.
“The secret to investing is to figure out the value of something — and then pay a lot less.” — Joel Greenblatt
Today, we take a look at the most successful value investors in the world who have made a great fortune by following value investing strategies.
7 Immensely Successful Value Investors in World
1. Benjamin Graham
“An investment operation is one which, upon thorough analysis, promises safety of principal and an adequate return. Operations not meeting these requirements are speculative.” ― Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor
Benjamin Graham, also known as the father of Value Investing, was a British-born American investor and economist. He was a sincere value investor and often credited for popularizing the concept of value investing among the investing population. Graham was a strict follower of value investing and preferred purchasing amazing businesses when they were trading at a significant discount.
Graham was a professor at Columbia business school and authored the best-selling book ‘Security Analysis’ (1940) and ‘The Intelligent Investor’ (1949). Benjamin Graham was also the mentor of legendary investor, Warren Buffett, who studied at Columbia School under Graham.
2. Warren Buffett
“Long ago, Ben Graham taught me that — Price is what you pay; value is what you get. Whether we’re talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down” — Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett, also known as the ‘Oracle of Omaha’, is the most popular name in investing. He is an American business magnate, investor, speaker, and philanthropist who serves as the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Warren Buffett is considered the greatest value investor of all time.
Warren Buffett, born in 1920, in Omaha, Nebraska, made his first stock investment at the age of eleven. Later, he attended Columbia Business School as a graduate where he learned the philosophies of Value Investing through his mentor- Benjamin Graham, the father of value investing. As of May 2022, he is the sixth richest person in the world with a net worth of over $116 Billion.
3. Joel Greenblatt
“We want to get more earnings for the price we’re paying.” — Joel Greenblatt
Joel Greenblatt is an American Value Investor, hedge fund manager, and professor at Columbia University. He runs Gotham Funds with his partner, Robert Goldstein. Joel is considered a genius by other fund managers on wall street. Such was his acumen that post the release of his book ‘You Can Be A Stock Market Genius’, many hedge funds claimed they were following his approaches.
Joel Greenblatt has also developed a Magic Formula that he discussed in his book ‘The Little Book That Beats the Market’. This book is specifically written to assist small investors in understanding various value investing strategies.
4. Seth Klarman
“Value investing is risk aversion.” — Seth Klarman
Seth Andrew Klarman is an American billionaire investor and hedge fund manager. He is a graduate of Cornell University and has a business degree from Harvard Business School. Klarman is the founder of The Baupost Group, a Boston-based private investment partnership, that focuses on making value-based investments in the US public markets (founded in 1982).
In the recent decade, Warren Buffett and his lieutenant Charlie Munger have voiced their support for Klarman’s investment style and even went on to state that he would be one of their asset managers of choice to manage their personal portfolios. Besides, Klarman is also a close follower of the investment philosophy of Benjamin Graham.
Seth Klarman has also authored a best-selling book, “Margin of Safety” (1991).
5. Mohnish Pabrai
“You don’t make money when you buy stocks. And you don’t make money when you sell stocks. You make money by waiting.” — Mohnish Pabrai
Mohnish Pabrai is an Indian-American Value Investor, businessman, and Philanthropist. He is the Managing Director of Pabrai Investment funds, an investment fund based on a similar model to that of Warren Buffett’s Partnerships in the 1950s. Since its inception in 1999, this investment fund has consistently beaten the S&P 500 Index.
Mohnish Pabrai has authored the book, “The Dhandho Investor: The Low-Risk Value Method to High Returns” (2007).
6. Charlie Munger
“All intelligent investing is value investing, acquiring more than you are paying for. You must value the business in order to value the stock.” — Charlie Munger
Charles Munger is an American billionaire investor, businessman, and former real estate attorney. He is the business partner and vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate run by Warren Buffett.
Like Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger is a deep believer in Value Investing Principles. He has also authored the book “Poor Charlie’s Almanack” (2005) which is a collection of speeches and talks by Charlie Munger, compiled by Peter D. Kaufman.
7. Walter Schloss
“If the stock goes down we want to buy more.” — Walter Schloss
Walter Jerome Schloss was an American Value investor, fund manager, philanthropist, and a notable disciple of the Benjamin Graham school of investing. Walter Schloss’ investment theories are most applicable to small value investors and were based on the teachings of Benjamin Graham.
Schloss’s studies helped gain an insight into how to perform deep value investing that is still relevant in today’s market. While the basis of Walter Schloss’s principles was based on Graham, he developed his own strategies while staying close to the fundamentals. His theories earned him the title ‘Superinvestor’ in 1984.
Closing Thoughts
From Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, and Carl Ichan to Joel Greenblatt, Seth Klarman, all have modified the value investing strategies a little to suit their investing style and made immense money. In India, a few of the popular value investors are Parag Parikh, Raamdeo Agarwal, RK Damani, Vijay Kedia, etc.
Other Investors who didn’t exactly follow value investing principles, yet became immensely successful are Peter Lynch (Growth at Reasonable Price Investing), Philip Fisher (Growth Investing), Carl Ichan (Contrarian Investing), Mohnish Pabrai, etc.
If you want to learn more, you can enrol in this FREE Value investing Course, exclusively available at FinGrad. Happy Investing.
