Value investing has had better times. At one point the concept of buying stocks for less than their intrinsic value was widely appreciated by professional and armchair investors alike. However, the advent of index investing and the strong outperformance of growth stocks (such as the FAANG stocks) in recent times has made value investing slightly less fashionable these days.
Ever since the Great Financial Crisis, growth investing has been dominant in both performance and seemingly interest from new investors. If you compare the growth and value versions of the S&P 500, through notable ETFs SPYV (value tilt) and SPYG (growth tilt), you can see the difference. According to Morningstar data, SPYG has returned 16% annualized over the past ten years, compared to just 11% annually for SPYV. That’s a difference of nearly $16,000 in total return if you had invested $10,000 in large-cap growth over value stocks during that time period.
And that only tells a part of the story; many professional value investors, who pick individual stocks in an attempt to beat the market have fared even worse than the S&P 500 value index in recent years, with multiple notable value investors shutting up shop and closing their funds from Ted Aronson at AJO Partners to the highly regarded international value managers IVA Funds.
Unfortunately, many value investing blogs have also ceased to publish in recent years, with many others posting only very sporadically.
The good news is that there are still some great value investing blogs publishing and thriving online. These blogs are a great place to learn about concepts like valuations, identifying individual underlying undervalued companies and similar topics.
Below are our favorite value investing blogs that continue to publish great content regularly in 2021.
Vintage Value Investing
Vintage Value Investing is a newer, focused blog on classic value investing topics. The blog doesn’t cut corners on visual appeal nor the quality of its content. Some the blog’s cornerstone articles focus on Warren Buffett’s investing approach and a profile of Benjamin Graham, the father of value investing. Beyond teaching readers about core value investing topics, VVI provides case studies of individual stocks such as Costco and Dollar General, as well as tackling current headlines like how value investors should assess the Gamestop mania. VVI publishes on a consistent weekly schedule and you can easily subscribe to get new posts in your inbox.
The Aleph Blog
The Aleph Blog brings the extensive expertise of professional investor David Merkel, of Aleph Investments. This is a great blog to see the world through the eyes of a how a professional institutional investor sees things. We really enjoyed his recent article disproving the “wall of money” theory that was trumpeted by a well-known mainstream financial publication. David covers a wide range of investing topics but typically through the lens of his preference for cheap stocks with strong balance sheets and a tight focus on what could go wrong. His recent post forecasting roughly breakeven returns for those who hold the S&P 500 index over the next ten years may make a value investing approach such as his a lot more appealing if this return climate comes to fruition.
Contrarian Edge
Called “the new Benjamin Graham” by Forbes, Vitaly Katsenelson and his blog Contrarian Edge has a large following of dedicated readers who come to learn about active value investing strategies from someone with both academic and real-world experience as a portfolio manager and Chief Investment Officer. The investing topics on Contrarian Edge range from specific case studies that tie in core value investing concepts like book value, as well as updates on various asset classes from gold to dividend stocks. It doesn’t end there—Vitaly is also an avid music obsessive and shares his recommendations on the best classical music as well as more general thoughts on life in the bog. It’s a great read and one we always look forward to seeing in our inbox.
Value Investing Blog
Valueinvestingblog.net is a low key site in appearance that contains brilliant analysis of mostly international stock names through a value investing lens. If you’re looking for some “outside the box” value investments this is your place. Recent articles have profiled a Polish micro-cap stock, a Hong Kong healthcare company and the Czech Republic subsidiary of Philip Morris. The blog really crunches the numbers and is a great way to learn the ins and outs of fundamental analysis of global companies. You will never be bored with this blog’s value ideas!
ValueWalk
One of the originals in the value investing blog space, ValueWalk has made a leap closer to being a full-service financial news site in recent years. However, the blog stays true to its roots with regular great value investing content and guest posts from experts in the space. The site is also great for tracking the portfolios of a variety of hedge fund managers and other professional investors. Late last year the blog featured an exclusive interview with Joel Greenblatt on “what is wrong with value investing.” While value investing may be in the doldrums until very recently, ValueWalk itself is thriving by covering the topic.
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