Matt Momentoff
Matt Momentoff, 25
Occupation
Chartered accountant/tax specialist
The portfolio
Includes shares in Clarke Inc., Martinrea International Inc., Trimac Transportation Ltd., Transocean Ltd., MasterCard Inc., Union Pacific Corp. and Omega Protein Corp.
The investor
Matt Momentoff is a chartered accountant, and has completed all three levels of the Chartered Financial Analyst program. This background, along with extensive reading on value investing, gives him a deep skill set for valuing companies.
How he invests
Using a term from Benjamin Graham's seminal book The Intelligent Investor, Mr. Momentoff describes himself as an "enterprising investor." This means he follows the active approach of holding "concentrated positions in businesses trading at significant discounts to intrinsic value."
For example, shares in Omega Protein Corp., a producer of Omega-3 fish-oil products, were recently acquired after an earnings disappointment caused them to slide substantially below book value. A lower price-earnings ratio also indicated that the market was undervaluing the company's track record on growing earnings.
Investment firm Clarke Inc. was bought at $7 over a year ago, below the per-share value of its holdings. He still likes the managers' ability to identify investment opportunities, although the discount is smaller now that the stock price is around $10.
Mr. Momentoff also has positions in "franchises" (businesses with sustainable competitive advantages). One is MasterCard Inc., which has a "strong brand that is recognized globally." Another is Union Pacific Corp. – it traded below intrinsic value when railway shipping volumes dried up during the last recession, and is now doing better as the economy improves.
Best move
"Buying during the 2008 to 2009 period when great businesses were selling at large discounts to their intrinsic value [the total annual compound return on his portfolio from January, 2007, to January, 2014, is a little over 27 per cent]."
Worst move
"Buying BlackBerry [in 2008]. … Just because a stock is near a 52-week low doesn't mean it's cheap."
Advice
Only pick stocks if you are "seriously committed to doing the research." Otherwise, you're better off "broadly diversifying through a mix of low-cost exchange-traded funds or mutual funds."
Want to share your strategies? E-mail mccolumn@yahoo.com