I met Zeke Ashton at an value investment seminar in Italy in 2007 where he presented. Not only did he give an excellent presentation but he was able to explain complex ideas in a simple way. That really appealed to me.
Since then I have kept in touch with Zeke exchanging ideas and learning from him.
I have also looked around on the web, and greatly benefited from Zeke’s writings so I decided to put this resource page together so you can also benefit from Zeke’s investment wisdom.
Zeke Ashton at the Motley Fool
Zeke Ashton has been a long time contributor to The Motley Fool, and was a full-time analyst and writer at the Fool for several years. During this time he held seminars on biotech and small-cap investing, wrote regular columns on investing strategies, and served as co-creator and editor of The Motley Fool Select.
Here is a list of Zeke’s articles at the Fool: Zeke Ashton’s Fool articles
Centaur Capital Partners
Zeke is now the managing partner of Centaur Capital Partners LP, a money management firm based in Dallas, Texas.?
Centaur Capital Partners LP website
About Centaur Capital Partners LP
Zeke Ashton articles sorted by year:
2018
At the end of 2018 Zeke, in spite of his outstanding track record, decided to close down his hedge fund. Here is a great summary of Zeke’s outstanding performance: Zeke Ashton Closing Down His Hedge Fund.
2015
In this September 2015 article Zeke Ashton talks about his convertible bond investment in Blucora.
In March 2015 Centaur Total Return Fund celebrated its 10th birthday.
Even though its five year performance is slightly behind its benchmark the fund’s 10 year performance is outstanding with an annualized return of 9.70% compared to its benchmark’s return of 7.26% over the same period. The S&P 500? Total Return Index has returned 8.32% over the ten years
2013
In this July 2013 video clip Zeke explains ? I think Michael Burry would not quibble with my definition of him as a home run investor. I?m much more of an on-base investor?.
In this article Value Investing World has a link to a 7 May 2013 Value Investing Congress presentation titled Dumb and Dumber ? Learning from Mistakes?
2012
On 28 December 2012 Zeke gave a talk on why Michael Burry has been one of the most important influences on his investing life. In the article he explains why the best advice Michael Burry gave him was to ?find ideas that work best in your hands?.
2011
On 15 August 2011 my friend Jacob Wolinsky wrote an excellent article titled Zeke Ashton: The Unknown Value Guru The article gives details of his excellent track record as well as his investment style.
This 11 February 2011 article Zeke Ashton Annual Commentary Plus Two Specific Investment Ideas by Gurifocus contributor CanadianValue contains Zeke Ashton’s comments on the Tilson Dividend Fund he manages for the year ending 31 October 2011.
The article also contains a writeup (not by Zeke) of two investments included in the fund.
2010
Thanks to Jay at market folly who alerted me to this excellent 27 December 2007 OpalesqueTV interview video with Zeke Ashton called
Opalesque Exclusive: Hunting the ?consistent compounders? at Centaur Capital
In the interview Zeke talks about Centaur Capital’s investment strategy, the importance of finding a distinct niche as well as how to outperform the market with ?neglected, hated and feared? stocks.
Insider Monkey on 21 December 2010 posted an interesting analysis of the excellent performance of the Tilson Dividend Fund (TILDX) managed by Zeke Ashton. In an article titled Best Mutual Funds: Tilson Dividend Fund (TILDX) Insider Monkey found that the fund had a monthly alpha (performance better than the market) of 52 basis points.
This equalled more than 6% per year after expenses and was so far the best mutual fund Insider Monkey has analyzed.
This 27 July 2010 article called Risk Management ? Some Thoughtful Observations from Centaur Capital’s Zeke Ashton, Zeke gives his thoughts on why his funds came through the 2008 crisis in such good shape, losing only 7% compares to a 40% decline in the S&P 500.
Zeke Ashton as manager of the Tilson Dividend Fund was featured in this March 2010 US News and World Report article 10 Great Mutual Funds You?ve Never Heard of. The fund earned a place on the list after beating the market by 18% in 2008 and, for the trailing three years, the fund’s returns was in the top 1 percent of Morningstar’s mid-cap blend category.
2009
In this October 2009 Forbes article Don?t Fear ObamaCare Zeke Ashton talks of his favourite investment idea, Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings.
The May 2009 Manual of Ideas Exclusive Interview with Zeke Ashton
Notes from Zeke Ashton presentation, at the May 2009 Value Investing Congress entitled Surviving the Worst Case: Risk Management and Value Investing.
2008
Zeke Ashton’s May 2008 Value Investing Congress presentation entitled Ten rules of value investing
2007
A transcript of Zeke Ashton presentation, at the November 2006 Value Investing Congress entitled Digging for Value in the Real Estate Rubble
A short video of Zeke Ashton giving his opinion Value Investing Congress September 2008
March 2007 Motley Fool interview with Zeke Ashton titled Value Investing Lessons From Centaur Capital
2006
May 2006 TheStreet.com interview with Zeke Ashton titled An Odd Time to Be a Value Investor?
2005
Google Books extract of the James Altucher interview with Zeke Ashton from Altucher’s book Trade like Warren Buffett
2003
In April 2003 Zeke wrote a great defense of the bashing hedge funds received in the media: The Hedge Fund Bash – Zeke Ashton examines the financial media’s assault on hedge funds.
Here is an extract from the article:
“Hedge funds, like it or not, provide an alternative. Not every hedge fund will beat the market over an extended period of time, of course. Maybe even most of them won’t, as is the case with actively managed mutual funds. But there are some great funds out there, run by honest and capable people”
2001 ? 2002
Zeke Ashton collection of Motley Fool articles (.pdf)
2000
In the two January 2000 articles Building a Unified Fool Portfolio (part 1) and Building a Unified Fool Portfolio (part 2) Zeke explains how the Motley Fool’s Rule Maker investing strategy, which he was advising on at the time. fits in with the many other ideas and philosophical camps that are represented within The Motley Fool.
1999
The Early Warning Flow a September 1999 Motley fool article where Zeke explains the Flow Ratio and how important it is in financial analysis.
Mini-Makers (part 1) and Mini-Makers (part 2) a September 1999 Motley Fool article where Zeke Ashton analysis a potential investment.