Thanks for an excellent well thought out and knowledgeable reply.
I agree with all of that I think that PTM dropped the ball and their performance has been unacceptable. The only thing they should be saying is sorry and we will do x,y,z better.
When I look at PM capital website I can't see their returns easily but if they've done well as you say then credit to them. I see they also have a long short strategy but I don't really see the value bias?
I think if I went behind the scenes at PTM then I would carry a big stick and sort out the nonsense that Andrew Clifford clearly is not. But I don't have enough shares that I would care to do that.
For me it's a play on the competent rather than the exceptional I think beating the MSCI benchmark by 2% a year after fees is pretty good service on 17bn AUM if you aren't taking big risk. The problem is the risk a manager takes is pretty amorphous.
PTM is comparable to David Einhorn's greenlight capital or Jeremy Grantham's GMO in that they've seen underperformance and outflows.
You refer to the principle agent problem which I agree exists here. The issue is that there are good and bad staff and their skills are extremely fungible.
The good ones we need to keep such that the whole organisation is greater than the sum of the parts. I am not saying to acquiesce to any demand but you can destroy the business really quick if you screw the staff.
I have a very different style to these guys but they're a sort of queer cousin I can appreciate what they're doing.
I get that its frustrating for long term investors and that 5 years is just too long, I shouldn't make it seem like I am apologising for them.
It's more that I tend to turn up bright eyed and bushy tailed after everyone else has spent 5 years shell shocked in the trenches. I've been in the trenches though plenty of times before and probably in future.
& I have seen this dispersion they're taling about in my own practice, I haven't underperformed the last 3 years I've only matched the VOO which is pathetic by my usual standards.
Should they have made more in COVID and then the 2022 slump? Would you have them buy put options and make agressive market timing calls?
I actually think that's the way but no fund manager would ever do that and perhaps rightly so.
When I bang on about a theme what I am doing is saying here's where I think the market is wrong. The facts are facts I completely agree.
Perhaps not so much wrong as shell-shocked?
People are complacent, we are in a 2000 type environment where leveraged speculators get wiped. Platinum make themselves out to be the shiny object I see a tortoise that in time will win the race and from this price and point in the cycle I see that as a decent outcome.
I don't want to be a cheerleader, there are still big problems at this company. By focusing and fixing these when times are tough companies can do better in the good times - Andrew doesn't seem to be admitting them and the BOD seems smug.
On the other hand I have bought and made money on companies with horrific management. It's just a case of the scale of issues relative to perception.
PTM Price at posting:
$1.59 Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)