The New York Times recently ran a profile of Martin D. Sass, founder of the eponymous NY-based investment firm. Sass manages to fly under the radar, but he is every bit the fundamentals-focused value investor, so I thought it would be worthwhile bringing him to your attention.
What Mr. Sass does is real meat-and-potatoes investing. He scans the markets for companies trading at prices that he thinks do not reflect their earnings potential. He applies his accounting background to company financials to root out cash flow.
Mr. Sass entered this year bullish, betting that the economy was going to improve and that stocks were undervalued. He thinks the S.& P. 500-stock index could end the year closer to 1,500 from its current level of 1,331.
Aided by a small team of analysts, including his son, Ari, Mr. Sass develops broad investment themes and then digs for companies within those sectors that are positioned to benefit.
For instance, he built up his big stake in oil-services companies in the belief that they would gain once drilling resumed in the Gulf of Mexico. He has grabbed onto generic drug makers on the notion that large pharmaceutical companies are on the verge of losing critical patents on blockbuster drugs. And his firm took a sizable position in a company that makes slot machines, an area he argues will show tremendous growth as more states hope to address fiscal shortfalls through gambling.
Read the full profile here to learn how his back-to-basics approach helped him avoid investing with Madoff – twice!
Talk to Frank about Martin Sass
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