Insights
Market Views
Market Views examines the forces that shape long-term market returns—including starting valuations, owner yield, fundamental growth, interest rates, and changes in investor expectations. Drawing on historical evidence and scenario analysis, these reports frame a range of plausible outcomes rather than predict near-term market direction, while evaluating the assumptions embedded in current prices.
Company Research
Company Research applies our First Principles framework to individual businesses across global markets. Each report examines business quality, valuation, management and capital allocation, and the differentiated insight—or “hidden nugget”—that may not be fully reflected in the price. The research also tests return scenarios, balance-sheet resilience, downside risks, thesis breakers, and the evidence required to maintain or change a view.
Investment company whose largest holding is European discount retailer Action.
Supermarket operator focused on convenient neighborhood stores in smaller communities.
Automotive distributor connecting global manufacturers with customers across international markets.
World’s largest distributor of automotive collision and mechanical replacement parts.
Communications group offering advertising, media, data, and digital-transformation services.
World’s largest mountain-resort operator, with leading ski destinations and hospitality businesses.
Alternative asset manager specializing in private equity, credit, and retirement services.
Natural-gas producer with substantial Appalachian Basin operations.
Property group primarily operating premium office properties in prime Australian locations.
Distributor of industrial and electronic products, components, and maintenance supplies.
Financial-services company focused on independent retirement and wealth-management advice.
Insurance brokerage and risk-management company serving businesses and institutions globally.
Electric utility serving customers across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic.
​
Technology company providing payments, marketplace, and fintech services through a super app.​
Athletic footwear, apparel, and equipment company with a globally recognized brand.
Natural-gas and oil producer operating primarily in Western Canada.
Closed-loop payments platform specializing in fleet, corporate payments, and employee benefits.
Finding Great Jobs, Great Businesses, and Great Investments:
Lessons from Twenty Years in the Market
Our Investment Framework
Finding Great Jobs, Great Businesses, and Great Investments, written by First Principles founder Matt Hochstetler, explains many of the ideas that inform how we evaluate businesses and investments.
​
The book emphasizes that an attractive investment requires more than a low valuation. Investors must understand the quality of the business, the structure of its industry, the durability of its competitive advantages, its opportunities to reinvest capital, the ability and incentives of management, and the price being paid. It also introduces the concept of the “hidden nugget”—an important source of value or change that may not yet be fully appreciated by the market.
​
Readers interested primarily in the First Principles investment approach may wish to begin with:
-
Chapter 7: What We Look For: Quality, Price, People, and the Hidden Nugget
-
Chapter 9: Industry Structure and Profit Pools
-
Chapter 10: Moats, ROIC, and Reinvestment
-
Chapter 11: Valuation and Why It Matters: Turning Stories into Prices
-
Chapter 12: Management Teams: Judging the People Who Allocate the Capital
Together, these chapters provide a practical framework for identifying strong businesses, assessing management and capital allocation, estimating value, and distinguishing a genuinely attractive investment from a merely compelling story.
The book is provided for educational purposes and does not constitute investment advice or an offer to buy or sell any security.