Julian Robertson Quotes

103 Julian Robertson Quotes

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[On being able to look at a long list of numbers in a financial statement he’d never seen before.] This one is wrong. [And he’d be right.]
Julian Robertson

[In 1996] I’m pretty good mathematically.
Julian Robertson

[In 1996 on David Gerstenhaber] He was the implementer. Decisions of any real size were made by me.
Julian Robertson

[In 1996] We’re not borrowing from the Japanese banks to fund our bonds.
Julian Robertson

[In 1996 on his father] Maybe he was too controlling. I’ve tried not to be too controlling. I’ve tried not to do that with my children.
Julian Robertson

[In December 1997 on his US Airways derivatives.] We probably own too much. We’ll have to sell some at some point.
Julian Robertson

[In December 1997 on the Japanese central bank’s $4 billion yen purchase the pushed the dollar down sharply and meant their funds dropped $500 million.] It was our worst night in history.
Julian Robertson

[In December 1997] Everybody here is overpaid, knows they are overpaid, and is determined to continue to be overpaid.
Julian Robertson

[In August 1989] We can’t get all that bearish on the market.
Julian Robertson

[In August 1989] The markets may be at or near all-time highs, but in terms of valuations, they are much cheaper than they were in ’87 – much cheaper. Earnings are high, P/Es are lower…
Julian Robertson



[In August 1989] Like everybody else in the world, we think hospitals are a needed item, and are going to be more so as more people live longer.
Julian Robertson

[In August 1989] McDonnell Douglas is a wonderful short. They’ve never made any money in commercial aircraft. So we don’t know why everybody assumes that they are going to make money in commercial aircraft. They certainly are not showing any signs of it right now.
Julian Robertson

[In 1998] Sometimes we are going to have a very bad month. We are going to lose money in Russia and in our U.S. longs, and the diversification elsewhere is not going to make up for that, at least not right away. You should be prepared for this.
Julian Robertson

[In March 2000] This approach isn’t working and I don’t understand why. I’m 67 years old, who needs this?
Julian Robertson

[In March 2000] There is no point in subjecting our investors to risk in a market which I frankly do not understand. After thorough consideration, I have decided to return all capital to our investors.
Julian Robertson

[In March 2000 on internet stocks.] I think it's going to be one of the greatest collapses of all time in this stuff. I believe in the value approach 100%, but price is no longer a consideration in this market.
Julian Robertson

[In March 2000] I've never been so convinced of the value approach, but it has been very frustrating lately. This isn't the environment for investors like ourselves.
Julian Robertson

[In March 2000] I don’t have any regrets.
Julian Robertson

[In May 2000 on US Airways [When previously on the Tiger Management investment in US Airways around 2000 a Tiger analyst had said ‘We’re too long to be wrong.’] I’m thrilled that we can end on a good note for [Tiger's] investors. Steven Wolf is a fabulous executive, and I've always thought the company had enormous earnings power.
Julian Robertson

[In May 2000 on his retirement from the money-management business.] It was a lifestyle decision.
Julian Robertson



[In May 2000] I said value investing would win.
Julian Robertson

[In December 2002] We’ve had some great shorts. The balanced approach to investing, where you own the best companies and short the worst, has done exceptionally the past several years.
Julian Robertson

[In December 2002] It is so much more fun and less stressful running your own money and not everyone else’s.
Julian Robertson

[In December 2002] I don’t think anybody likes that collective-bargaining thing.
Julian Robertson

[In December 2002] By and large, any true hedge fund should have done well through all of this. The only thing I regret is that my partners missed out on such a fabulous period.
Julian Robertson

[In December 2002] As Warren Buffett said, when a new industry starts - radio, cars, aircraft - very few companies last. When you are a value investor like I am, you realize it's like Las Vegas.
Julian Robertson

[In December 2002] Our parents told us to save money, to not borrow money. In essence, Greenspan and government policies discouraged savings. There's a tax on savings, but a tax deduction for borrowing. So the government encouraged spending, spending, spending. They encouraged borrowing, borrowing, borrowing. Refinance your house!
Julian Robertson

[In December 2002] I'm also very fond of an Indian software company. Infosys. It's a tremendous company in the software field that is reasonably valued and has tremendous growth - and will continue to have strong growth.
Julian Robertson

I once said, 'Let's hire one complete nerd and see how he operates…’
Julian Robertson

[On Peter Lynch when he retired at age 46] Peter missed one thing: He wasn’t having fun. He didn’t get people to help him.
Julian Robertson



[On the types of businesses he is attracted to.] Monopolistic and oligopolistic.
Julian Robertson

[On Ford’s period of mismanagement.] One of the big disappointments of my investment life.
Julian Robertson

Can you really know the merits of Schering-Plough, Merck, or Johnson & Johnson without having a decent knowledge of Smith-Kline Beecham and Fisons?
Julian Robertson

[In November 2006] I would describe myself as extremely cautious on the market.
Julian Robertson

[In November 2006 as a general hedge fund industry statement.] We will continue to have three or four of the hedge funds go bad every year. We should not be shocked over that.
Julian Robertson

[In November 2006] If you don’t do something about climate change, you’ll have no world.
Julian Robertson

[In November 2006 on supporting an Estate Tax.] These big inheritances have not in the past, brought happiness to many of the people who have received them.
Julian Robertson

[In October 2007] I think that the federal reserve will trash the dollar until there is a turnaround in the economy.
Julian Robertson

[In October 2007] We are going to have a dozy of a recession.
Julian Robertson

[In October 2007] I am bearish on stocks generally as well, but there really are some exceptions.
Julian Robertson



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