74 The Business of Value Investingrequired to fi le a quarterly statement disclosing holdings. This quar-
terly report is referred to as a 13 - F fi ling and is public information.
It has to be fi led 45 days following the end of each calendar quarter.
The four-step process of getting copies of 13 - F fi lings is quick
and simple:- Go to the SEC Web site, http://www.sec.gov , and click on the “ Search
for Company Filings ” link under the Filings and Forms
section. - Then click on the “ Companies and Other Filers ” link.
- Under the search information, enter the name of the invest-
ment fund in the Company Name section. - Once there, scroll down and look for the most recent 13 - F filing.
(Typically the dates will be 45 days after each calendar quarter.)
Many investment fi rms have various funds or different legal
names for the funds and the investment management company.
Also, some companies share similar names, so do some research
on the specifi c company and where it ’ s based to be certain you are
looking at the right one.
Once you have the 13 - F, it ’ s fairly simple to decipher. Figure 5.1
shows a section of the Fairholme Funds 2008 second - quarter 13 - F,
which was fi led on August 14, 2008 (about 45 days from June 30, 2008).
You can use this search process over and over for numerous
investors. Sometimes you might see similar investments across vari-
ous investment managers. These common holdings should really
grab your attention. For example, many value managers hold siz-
able positions in Berkshire Hathaway. It ’ s not hard to understand
why; many folks believe that at the current price of $ 90,000 per A
share as of June 2009, Berkshire is signifi cantly undervalued. Even
more so, Buffett still keeps on increasing intrinsic value by an aver-
age of 10 percent a year, so even at its current size, Berkshire still
represents a solid investment coupled with very little risk.CH005.indd 74CH005.indd 74 9/2/09 11:08:05 AM9/2/09 11:08:05 AM