David Einhorn Quotes
101 David Einhorn Quotes (Greenlight Capital Quotes)
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What I like is solving the puzzles.
David Einhorn
People say things in the market that they don’t believe to be true both in promoting stocks and rejecting stocks.
David Einhorn
I was never a believer that the markets are efficient.
David Einhorn
We can't change the course of events, but we can attempt to protect capital in the face of foreseeable risks.
David Einhorn
[In November 2007 about whether it was time to start bottom-fishing among financial stocks] You don’t have to be a hero.
David Einhorn
[In April 2008] One of the things I have observed is that American financial markets have a very low pain threshold.
David Einhorn
When you leave a good job to go off on your own and don’t expect to make money for a while, you name the firm whatever your wife says you should.
David Einhorn
Market extremes occur when it becomes too expensive in the short-term to hold for the long-term.
David Einhorn
In the real world, illiquid assets carry a discount.
David Einhorn
The loss was not bad luck. It was bad analysis.
David Einhorn
It isn't reasonable to be agnostic about the big picture.
David Einhorn
The lesson of Lehman should not be that the government should have prevented its failure. The lesson of Lehman should be that Lehman should not have existed at a scale that allowed it to jeopardize the financial system.
David Einhorn
A Jelly Donut is a yummy mid-afternoon energy boost. Two Jelly Donuts are an indulgent breakfast. Three Jelly Donuts may induce a tummy ache. Six Jelly Donuts - that's an eating disorder. Twelve Jelly Donuts is fraternity pledge hazing. My point is that you can have too much of a good thing and overdoses are destructive. Chairman Bernanke is presently force-feeding us what seems like the 36th Jelly Donut of easy money and wondering why it isn't giving us energy or making us feel better…
David Einhorn
As an investor my job is to figure out what will happen rather than what should happen.
David Einhorn
I have played rotisserie or fantasy baseball for 22 years. Overall, I’ve won some and I’ve lost some. It wouldn’t surprise any of you, that I am usually a value buyer of players.
David Einhorn
[In May 2006] There are few companies today as entrenched in the world of technology and software as Microsoft.
David Einhorn
I am not a techie…
David Einhorn
I don’t know Carl Icahn…but he seems like a nice guy.
David Einhorn
When people ask me what I do for a living, I generally tell them ‘I run a hedge fund.’ The majority give me a strange look, so I quickly add, ‘I am a money manager.’ When the strange look persists, as it often does, I correct it to simply, ‘I’m an investor.’ Everyone knows what that is.
David Einhorn
When people ask me what I did on my summer vacation, I generally tell them ‘I played in the World Series of Poker.’ Nobody gives me a strange look.
David Einhorn
Investing and poker require similar skills.
David Einhorn
I don’t play a lot of hands. But I don’t just wait for the perfect hand. They don’t come up often enough. I try to pick out one or two people at the table I want to play against or who I sense don’t want to play against me.
David Einhorn
On any given day a good investor or a good poker player can lose money.
David Einhorn
Any stock investment can turn out to be a loser no matter how large the edge appears.
David Einhorn
One of the best investors around, Joel Greenblatt, has written a popular, charming and funny book about investing in great companies at low P/E multiples. To simplify an already simple book, great companies are generally measured as companies that can generate lots of profit without requiring a lot of capital. This means that they have high ROEs.
David Einhorn
[In April 2008] Investment companies with thirty times leverage are not safe.
David Einhorn
More leverage means more revenues, which means more compensation. In good times, once they pay out the compensation, overhead and taxes, only a fraction of the incremental revenues fall to the bottom line for shareholders.
David Einhorn
A 99% Value-at-Risk calculation does not evaluate what happens in the last one percent… This is like an air bag that works all the time, except when you have a car accident.
David Einhorn
[In April 2008] The market perceives the rating agencies to be doing much more than they actually do.
David Einhorn
The agencies themselves don’t directly misinform the market, but they don’t’ disabuse the market of perceptions – often spread by the rated entities – that the agencies do more than they actually do. This creates a false sense of security and in times of stress this actually makes the problems worse. Had the credit rating agencies been doing a reasonable job of disciplining the investment banks – who unfortunately happen to bring the rating agencies lots of other business – then the banks may have been prevented from taking excess risk and the current crisis might have been averted.
David Einhorn
The rating agencies remind me of the department of motor vehicles in that they are understaffed and don’t pay enough to attract the best and the brightest.
David Einhorn
Bear [Sterns] didn’t fall because of market rumors. It fell because it was too levered and had too many illiquid assets of questionable value and at the same time depended on short-term funding.
David Einhorn
While Value-at-Risk might make sense to the quants, it has led to risk taking beyond common sense.
David Einhorn
The… question is whether the bail-out was a good idea. It really comes down to Coke vs. water. If you are thirsty you have choices. Coke tastes better and provides an immediate sugar rush and caffeinated stimulus, while quenching thirst. Water also quenches thirst, but it isn’t as stimulating. It purifies your body. It doesn’t make you fat and is much better for your long-term health.
David Einhorn
[In April 2008] I’ll offer a few words about Lehman Brothers, another stock which Greenlight is short. Lehman’s management is charismatic and has almost cult-like status. Lehman management gets tremendously favorable press for everything from handling the 1998 crisis to supposedly hedging in this crisis to not playing bridge while the franchise implodes… From a balance sheet and business mix perspective, Lehman is not that materially different from Bear Stearns.
David Einhorn
My father and grandfather were businessmen. The family business was Adelphi Paints in New Jersey. When the first energy crisis came in the early 1970s, the business suffered. My grandparents decided to sell. Though my father was a chemist, he worked on the sale of the company. When it was over he enjoyed the work so much he decided that his future would be in mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
David Einhorn
I was a pretty good student, especially in math.
David Einhorn
My parents often discussed business at the dinner table. Like his father, my dad has an enormous reservoir of patience and persistence. My mom is much more demanding…
David Einhorn
On my best days, I fancy myself a combination of Dad’s persistence/patience and Mom’s toughness/skepticism.
David Einhorn
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