From William Bernstein at CFA Institute: Benjamin Graham, John Templeton and David Swensen made their mark not in the best-lit chambers of the world’s securities markets, but rather in their undiscovered nooks. Graham didn’t have instant online access to the balance sheets of thousands of companies. In that era, such data could be a closely kept secret that not infrequently required getting on a train to a distant city and sweet talking an executive’s secretary. Perhaps his greatest triumph came when he found, before any other outside shareholder, Northern Pipe Line’s huge cash hoard and managed its deft disgorgement. How many US investors do you imagine travelled to Japan before World War 2 looking for stock bargains? Templeton did, and the valuations he found popped his eyes out. Alas, in those days the Japanese authorities didn’t look kindly on Americans shopping for company shares, and he came back home empty-handed. Soon after he noticed that small-cap companies sported attract...
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