Our investment objective is superior long-term capital appreciation. We aim to achieve this in three ways:

• Outperform the S&P 500 Index in up markets
• Minimize permanent loss of capital in down markets
• Lower volatility than the S&P 500 Index
  

Governing Investment Principles:

• We believe that there is a limited number of attractive investments opportunities at any one time
• We are risk averse
• We invest in businesses we understand
• We invest in stocks that satisfy our rigorous "defining investment characteristics"
• We invest in stocks that we believe can double in value over a two to three year timeframe
• We short stocks that we believe are trading in excess of twice their fair value (ideally, where their fair value is zero)
• We have the discipline to maintain our course, but we practice exacting risk management when our work is at odds with the market forces