market folly

At day two of the Value Investing Congress, Bernard Horn of hedge fund Polaris Capital Management gave the case for a long of in a presentation entitled "Traveling the World to Uncover Value."

Be sure to check out all our notes from the Value Investing Congress.


Bernard Horn (Polaris Capital Management)

Embedded below is his full slideshow presentation:



Long discussion on his investment style- says markets are efficient, sounds like something of a closet indexed, “screen” approach, across markets worldwide. Says instead of the emerging world standard of living converging up to ours, ours will drop to theirs.

Defensive companies in their portfolio:

Nichirei Corp: Japanese frozen food manufacturer and logistics company. In deflationary environment, negative growth, but he still says stock goes from 360Y to 420Y because earnings will climb as they cut costs. “Chicken processing facility in Thailand” not an exciting company, lots of risks.

Methanex Corp: Largest global methanol producer. Chinese are more expensive, provide a floor to pricing. Stock at $20, price target $47. $2B market cap.

Trevi Finanziaria Industriale S.p.A.: Italian foundation equipment company. €450M market cap, stock €7 now, target price €15. Work on foundations of big buildings, such as the WTC. Risk is weak commercial real estate.

Smurfit Kappa: European packaging materials company, got hurt badly this summer, exposed to Europe. Stock price €4 now, price target €9. Lots of debt, €3B, €8.1B EV.

YIT OYJ: Building and industrial services. Construction in Finland.

Ameris Bancorp: South Georgia bank, very weak market. $9 stock, price target $19, expanding with FDIC- assisted deals.


Don't miss the rest of the hedge fund manager presentations in our notes from the Value Investing Congress.