Peter Cundill Quotes

101 Peter Cundill Quotes (Indiana Jones of Canadian Money Managers Quotes, Mackenzie Cundill Value Fund)

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My history has always been in buying securities when they’re unpopular.
Peter Cundill

Investors tend to follow trends and fashion rather that taking the trouble to look for value.
Peter Cundill

Being out on a limb, alone and appearing to be wrong is just part of the territory of value investing.
Peter Cundill

Forecasting should be used as a device to put both problems and opportunities into perspective… but it can never be a substitute for strategy, nor should it ever be used as the primary basis for portfolio investment decisions.
Peter Cundill

If you’ve done the numbers and are satisfied with them and the principle is right, you just have to grit your teeth and be patient.
Peter Cundill

Always change a winning game.
Peter Cundill

There is no investment rule that remains immutable except the margin of safety.
Peter Cundill

The first investment I ever made was while I was still at McGill in 1959. I was doing a vacation job as an office boy at Wood Gundy, and I bought $500 worth of a speculative mining stock and in less than 48 hours I had lost the lot. It was an experience I never forgot.
Peter Cundill

[In 1985] We are having a difficult time finding anything we want to buy. Don’t send me your money!
Peter Cundill

[In March 1990] We don’t do a lot of forecasting per se about where markets are going to. I have been burned often enough trying to…
Peter Cundill



[In March 1990] Even if one doesn’t forecast, I think there is always a framework in which you live.
Peter Cundill

[On buying securities for liquidation value and bonds in chapter 11.] The idea was to buy a dollar for 50 cents. So, if you can buy it for 20 cents so much the better.
Peter Cundill

[In March 1990] If I can really see the bargains I’ll buy them.
Peter Cundill

[In March 1990] The problem often for a value investor is not only when the markets are overvalued, but also when they are, shall we say, merely optimistic.
Peter Cundill

[In March 1990] The average bankruptcy proceeding takes between three and five years.
Peter Cundill

[In March 1990] I have a lot of friends who say, ‘Peter I hope I have a lot of dinners with you in the future, but I hope I never get to see you as a shareholder again.’
Peter Cundill

[In March 1990] Patience is rewarding in this business.
Peter Cundill

[In March 1990] When things work out at times it all seems pretty easy. But I would get calls at three o’clock in the morning in London from pretty excited traders in Hong Kong saying ‘Do you really want to keep on going?’ and I would great yes and go back to sleep.
Peter Cundill

[In March 1990 on not shorting stocks.] The problem of the value investor is you have to be right on the timing side. And I am not sure value investors for the most part are very good at that.
Peter Cundill

[In August 1990] Back in mid-July, I was feeling very blue, the growth growth stocks were going up and I was sitting on all this cash. I just bought my first Japanese stock in five years.
Peter Cundill



[In March 1995 on him having 37% of his portfolio in cash at end of 1994 and about 25% in cash now.] We nearly always have something close to 20% cash and have never been below 10%. The idea is to keep cash in case there are market turbulences in our favor, so that we can go in and make a commitment and not feel squeezed.
Peter Cundill

[In March 1995] We’re living in turbulent times.
Peter Cundill

[In March 1995] Once you move overseas, you get into different accounting conventions.
Peter Cundill

[In March 1995] That’s what I’ve been doing lately… searching out securities that trade below their liquidation value.
Peter Cundill

[On him buying shares in the Telegraph.] Everyone who publishes on paper is going to be hurt by rising paper prices, and the Telegraph is no exception.
Peter Cundill

[In March 1995] I don’t short individual securities…
Peter Cundill

[On buying debt.] It’s not very different from buying stocks. You figure liquidation value and real value. If the liquidation value is lower, you buy.
Peter Cundill

[In March 1995] [Benjamin] Graham always said that if you buy cheap enough, you will eventually be rewarded.
Peter Cundill

[On what keeps him awake at night.] I have to confess that I sleep like a baby.
Peter Cundill

The mantra is patience, patience and more patience.
Peter Cundill



All I really need is a company's published reports and records; that plus a sharp pencil, a pocket calculator and patience
Peter Cundill

[As a young adult to his younger brother Grier.] I will never depend on others.
Peter Cundill

[In October 2001] If you buy shares trading below their liquidation value and you are patient, over time you will do very well…
Peter Cundill

[In October 2001] We tend to do more work in trying to assess what the inherent value of the business is in terms of sum-of-the-parts analysis as distinct from spending a huge amount of time ' although it is important ' assessing growth prospects.
Peter Cundill

[In October 2001] We probably look toward the balance sheet before we look at the statement of profit and loss, and the reverse would be true of most investors within the universe of US mutual funds.
Peter Cundill

[In October 2001] With interest rates in Japan so low, it pays you to hedge the yen versus the US dollar.
Peter Cundill

[In October 2001] The international markets are generally not as efficient as North American markets are. So if you have some skill in being able to understand country cultures, understand the accounting, the regulatory and legal environments, there are probably more opportunities to be able to access.
Peter Cundill

[In October 2001] We never invested in high-tech companies, but now we find ourselves buying things like Cable & Wireless, which are so low they're trading below the amount of cash on hand, even though some of them have what they call burn rates, meaning they're spending cash as they go along…
Peter Cundill

[In 2011 on one of his worst investments.] Cable and Wireless is an illustration of the fact that despite careful analysis and a strict adherence to Benjamin Graham’s value principles - a low share price, no debt, a huge amount of cash and profitable established networks - things can still go wrong, spectacularly so.
Peter Cundill

[In October 2001] I think the classic value investor is much more interested in lows, rather than momentum investors who are trying to look at companies that have already reached highs.
Peter Cundill



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