Quotes from Whitney Tilson

Dealing with uncertainty is always a key challenge for investors. But dealing with uncertainty doesn't mean avoiding it - on the contrary, it is often fuzziness about a company's future that creates the type of opportunity bargain-hunting investors cherish.

My portfolio consists of many companies I find fundamentally undervalued in which I expect activism to play a role in the value being realised.

While there's always plenty of room for improvement, our government is actually quite effective and efficient. Our military and judicial systems and national parks are the best in the world. Unlike in countries where government corruption is rampant, I've never once been solicited for a bribe.

My experience is that very few people have what it takes to be a successful investor, as I discussed in The Arrogance of Stock Picking.

Early in my career, we were just pure bottoms-up stock pickers.

When high-growth companies slow down, growth and momentum junkies often sell indiscriminately, which can create great opportunities for value investors. Just be careful not to anchor on the stock's previous price or earnings multiple, which are no longer relevant.

I have never believed that large-cap stocks are too well followed to be anything but efficiently priced.

While everyone would love to have that perfect portfolio of stocks that can be bought and held forever, it usually does not work out that way. Markets, technology, and businesses change too quickly to put portfolios on autopilot.

My advice to most people is don't short stocks. It's a very, very difficult business. And you can really get clobbered.

Small-company stocks, like any asset class, can get picked over from time to time, but there are fundamental reasons why diligently mining them with an eye for unrecognised value can get market-beating returns.

Most chief executives rise to that position by being good operating managers. Few have extensive experience or training with capital allocation. What CEO wants to return excess cash to shareholders when it could be used to expand his or her empire?

I have encountered thousands of value investors over the years and am constantly struck by their differences - and their similarities.

The exact details of how you practice value investing will vary investor to investor, but the fundamental principle of scouring the world, looking for dollar bills that you can buy for 50 cents or at some big discount - that is universal to value investing.

What's both fascinating and challenging about investing is that the changing nature of business and finance means you can never have it all figured out.