Market Insights

A Remarkable Chart: Tesla vs Berkshire Hathaway

This blog was originally posted in December 2020, republished with updated data. 

Of the many charts illustrating the enormous run-up of growth stocks in the past few years, the chart below may take the cake.

Tesla (TSLA) began 2020 with a market capitalization under $100 billion, and by November 25

You Can’t Talk About Risk Without This

Risk is a hot potato. (In more ways than one.) We can’t talk about risk until we define it and give it context.

YODA from Star Wars said, “Named must your fear be before banish it you can.”

We’re Not Afraid of the Tough Questions

Some portfolio managers shy away from the difficult questions. Not the team at Prospector Partners:

• How much money do you have invested in your portfolios?
• When will your strategy typically do well? When will it underperform?
• What was one of your bigger mistakes in the portfolio?

An Abundance of Speculation: 2021’s Rise of Risk Assets

Last week* we reflected on the trillions of dollars of government stimulus and monetary support that has left the United States awash in cash.

The result of all of this has undoubtedly aided the rise in risk assets during the first few months of 2021, and has led to some speculative market...

Reflections on Value’s Outperformance and Our Outlook Going Forward

After the new $1.9 trillion stimulus package was passed along party lines early in the year, the multi-trillions of dollars of government stimulus and additional trillions of monetary support by the Fed left the United States awash in cash. As can be seen in the chart below, the U.S. money supply...

Upside Participation, Downside Risk Mitigation

The volatility of 2020 is still fresh in people’s minds.

On March 12th, 2020, the S&P 500 had it largest single-day percentage drop since the 1987 stock market crash, falling 9.5% in a single trading session.

This infamous record was short lived, as four days later on March 16th, the S&P 500 fell...

Questions We Ask Before We Invest

Successful investing doesn’t have to mimic rocket science. Warren Buffet breaks it down well in his first two rules of investing:

Rule #1 – Don’t lose money; Rule #2- Don’t forget Rule #1!

We adhere to this principle, and our entire investment process revolves around the idea of limiting downside...

Tips on How to Approach Value Investing

Prospector approaches value investing from a credit perspective, with an emphasis on value-based principles and bottom-up fundamental analysis.

Our in-house, deep dive research is key to our approach, focusing on regulatory and statutory statements when available, in addition to GAAP.

We look at...

Industry Spotlight: Property-Casualty Insurance for Commercial Lines

Businesses purchase insurance for vehicles, property, liability, and employees, among others. Workers’ compensation insurance is mandated by law, but most other coverages are purchased regardless. Actuarial data on historical loss trends is prevalent, but less reliable for extrapolation, for the...

Value Stocks as a Fixed Income Replacement

The yield component of value stocks can play a valuable role in client portfolios given the lack of yield currently available from traditional fixed income asset classes as well as the interest rate (duration) risk associated with those types of securities.

The yield component is also an advantage...