Erik Metanomski Quotes

101 Erik Metanomski Quotes

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I develop a value for that company. If it reaches that value, I have got to have a very good reason for continuing to hold it.
Erik Metanomski

I think most human beings are inherently lazy and would like to find an easier way of doing things.
Erik Metanomski

No matter how positive you feel about a stock after seeing a company, cool down for 24 hours.
Erik Metanomski

The newspapers are… one of the best sources of contrary information because they will hop on whatever is flavour of the day.
Erik Metanomski

You read the newspapers for two reasons: one, to keep informed; and two, to take advantage of misinformation and sentiment that can be created by misinformation or over-reaction to information.
Erik Metanomski

I am pretty ruthless about getting out of stocks that aren’t performing in an operational sense. If something goes wrong, I will never hold in hope.
Erik Metanomski

If I look at most of the big disaster stories among fund managers who have been successful for a reasonable amount of time, they start to believe their own hype and their own publicity. They start to believe they are infallible and they are special. They start taking short cuts…
Erik Metanomski

If you get cocky, it is just a matter of time before you get your head chopped off. Arrogance is a real evil. In this business, it is fatal.
Erik Metanomski

If I don’t understand what the real value is, I won’t know when to buy or when to sell.
Erik Metanomski

Technology changes every day so there’s a good chance that a company with a comparative advantage today won’t have it tomorrow.
Erik Metanomski



The key things are the quality of the company’s cash flows and the extent of the free cash flows.
Erik Metanomski

The track record of management is absolutely crucial. It’s not what they say to you but what they have done.
Erik Metanomski

Buying a great company at too high a price is a bad investment.
Erik Metanomski

[In 2003] Two years ago we were about 75 percent in cash, a year ago we were about 60 percent and we are now about 50 percent.
Erik Metanomski

[In 2003] If I could find another ten value stocks in the next week, we would be 100 percent invested.
Erik Metanomski

The toughest thing about this business is that you can’t walk in and say, look at my past returns, because every day you’ve got a new person in your fund who is starting from zero. Every day you are starting as if it’s day one.
Erik Metanomski

One of the good things about Adelaide is that you can remove yourself a little bit from it all.
Erik Metanomski

I don’t want clients who want me to trade, who want me to buy tech stocks, who want me to be in the latest hot stuff.
Erik Metanomski

[On the amount of funds being managed.] Ultimately, you can have as much money in the world… but after a certain period of time, if the performance is not matching the marketing, you will get found out.
Erik Metanomski

I place a lot of importance on investment calls that save us money…
Erik Metanomski



[In June 2005] We believe that an environment where share prices are rising strongly is generally an unfavourable one for value investors as it implies paying ever increasing amounts for the same forecast earnings streams. The longer such a scenario is sustained, the greater the risks become and the more potentially damaging the outcome to investor wealth.
Erik Metanomski

Investing in the current market [June 2005] at current prices implies a very optimistic long-term view with respect to earnings.
Erik Metanomski

I tend to approach risk from the perspective of what is probably the most important principle of investing. That is, it is the ‘price’ you pay for any investment that will be the ultimate determinant of the return you achieve – it’s certainly not how fully invested you are.
Erik Metanomski

[In June 2005] Long bull markets concentrate people’s minds much more on how much money can be made, with very little emphasis being placed upon the risk of significant capital impairment or wealth destruction should the virtuous cycle come to an end (as it always does at some point).
Erik Metanomski

If our appraisal of the potential upside in a stock is not significantly greater than the potential downside, we won’t go there.
Erik Metanomski

It is one of the great paradoxes that money tends to be freely and increasingly available to chase assets as they become more and more expensive but very tough to come by when opportunities are more abundant as prices fall.
Erik Metanomski

Insist on only buying assets when the prospects and the price are working strongly in your favour.
Erik Metanomski

Major losses play terrible havoc with long-term compound returns and attempted wealth creation. It is far better to be the consistent carthorse than the one-in-five-year wonder.
Erik Metanomski

History tells us that uninterrupted linear growth is a fantasy rather than a reality. There will be hiccups along the way…
Erik Metanomski

Our objective is to uncover companies that are out of favour for short-term reasons such as a temporary blip in short-term earnings prospects, being a victim of the market’s pre-occupation with headline versus underlying earnings, or being the subject of press hysteria and/or mis-reporting.
Erik Metanomski



Many of our most successful investments have caused considerable pain before the more than compensating gains.
Erik Metanomski

Popular asset classes and popular companies tend to trade at prices reflective of that popularity and are therefore seldom attractive to us.
Erik Metanomski

Investing in businesses brings with it myriad factors and risk that can render the best thought out and researched theses undone.
Erik Metanomski

Investors should always seek significant additional compensation well above the risk-free rate when investing in businesses.
Erik Metanomski

You have to have the courage and confidence in your own research and convictions to back yourself.
Erik Metanomski

[In June 2005] If we are unable to isolate sufficient opportunities that meet our strict criteria at any given point in time, it would be dangerous, foolhardy and irresponsible of us to invest in companies at valuations that could, ultimately, seriously threaten the capital of our shareholders.
Erik Metanomski

To say that a stock is cheap relative to an extremely expensive stock does not necessarily mean it is anywhere near cheap enough on an absolute value basis. It may, in fact, still be downright expensive.
Erik Metanomski

We are not paid, and nor should we be, for the quantum of our transactions. In fact. There is a strong argument to suggest that the two should be inversely correlated.
Erik Metanomski

Every day you learn something in this game.
Erik Metanomski

When you are so involved and passionate about an industry like this, you don’t just take your gold watch and leave.
Erik Metanomski



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