We're going to make another decision when we're down 25 percent in a position. Did we just completely blow it? Are we right, but the market is just insane? Or is it somewhere in between? I believe the biggest way you add value as a value investor is how you behave on those down 25 [...]

The last step in our research process is to invite in a Wall Street analyst who is a bear, and they come in and make a pitch why we shouldn't buy this stock. We want to see if the reason they don't like it is if they see a real structural flaw in the business [...]

I can't tell you how many times I heard [during the Internet bubble] “You just don't get it.” I'd say things like, “Let's compare Kennametal to Cisco. I buy Kennametal and every year it makes 25 percent more money. Yes, I know the market is telling you it doesn't want to put a high multiple [...]

To us, the definition of a good business is if you can specifically identify reasons why it should be able to earn a return in excess of its [cost of] capital. It could be anything: a competitive cost position, a franchise brand, an installed base of business, unique technology some reason to believe that even [...]

I don't think being a value investor is something you can learn. You can learn how to be better at it and the analytical support for it, but you can't sit there and say, “I'm going to make an intellectual decision that I'm going to become a value investor.” My personal belief is that you're [...]

In my whole career I have yet to find the great business with a wonderful management team, high margins, a dominant market position and all the conditions everybody wants, at a low price. The stocks of such companies don't sell at a low price. If I find one, I'll cheer, but it hasn't happened yet.