Tom Gayner: "The Evolution of a Value Investor" | Talks at Google

About the Talk Tom Gayner is the CIO of Markel Corp, where he manages the company's investment portfolio. He talks about his journey as an individual and value investor. A recent Wall Street Journal feature on Mr Gayner's investing style mentions: "He has an outstanding investing record. He works only for Markel and doesn’t take outside clients, but every investor can learn from him.You never would know any of this [extraordinary success] from listening to Mr. Gayner. After a good year, most portfolio managers beat their chests even harder than they beat the market; Mr. Gayner’s 2014 report merely said, “our overall equity portfolio earned 18.6%,” without even mentioning that the S&P 500 was up 13.7%.Instead of trying to mimic the inimitable brilliance of Mr. Buffett, maybe more investors should emulate the common sense and patience of Mr. Gayner." About the Author Tom Gayner is the president and Chief Investment Officer at Markel, and a Director at Graham Holdings, Colfax, the Davis Mutual Funds as well as The Community Fund of Richmond and the Bon Secours Health System. Mr. Gayner, who is a CPA, worked as an accountant, a stockbroker and an equity analyst before joining Markel in 1990.

Comments

1. What was the name of the book about him that was quoted from during his introduction?
2. I feel like the growth side is more important then it was back in grahams days.  Not saying his theories aren't important anymore but the game has changed.  Its not good enough to just apply his theories, you have to apply fishers theories more then before.
3. That part about dating.. lol
4. Pretty good lecture. Investing is a challenging pastime.
5. great.
6. I'm a HUGE fan of Gayner and MKL. That said, the stock is currently slightly overvalued. Also, he has started to overthink things and his returns have suffered. 53:33 I could tell that just from his performance, which has suffered because of it. Carmax (KMX) has been a mistake. While it's definitely a good company that will have acceptable returns to the average investor, it wasn't a value when they entered and price at entry makes a huge difference in total return. Gayner is chasing growth more and more these days rather than value, and his returns have suffered from it.
7. "I'm more interested in dollars than numbers."
   Understand what he means as an accountant.
8. This guy is a total dope. He was buying BAC in 2007 due to its yield. He just copies what other people do. LIGHTWEIGHT INVESTOR.
9. Tom Gayner is just brilliant. Very good orator as well. Rich and insightful seminar. Keep bringing him over and again.
   Thanks google talk.
10. honestly guys before to give a judgment on a topig try to learn something abou ! this Talk is pure rubbish... quote at 54:00 he say : "now every morning we look at the company that had a new hight" what f***K are u talking about ?
    1 so is it that way that u find undervaluate company (wich is the basic principle of Value Investing) ?
    2 is it buy looking at prices that you calculate the intrinsic value of a company (wich is another basic principle of Value Investing) ?
11. Lots of wisdom in this speech!
12. Fantastic lecture
13. Impressive insight at 15:00. Thank you @TomGayner
14. Agreed Raj - great talk!