Mark Landau: Why it’s time to put down the last decade’s playbook

Mark Landau: Why it’s time to put down the last decade’s playbook

The old adage that “past performance is not an indicator of future returns” is possibly more relevant in today’s market than it’s ever been. 

When the market is driven by momentum, as it has been through the past decade, piling onto winners has paid off. And why wouldn’t it? Earnings have been easy to fuel when debt costs next to nothing, in a market where the shareholders reward the pursuit of market share – no matter how it’s achieved.

In today’s episode of The Rules of Investing, David Thornton sits down with Mark Landau – Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer at L1 Capital. 

Mark started L1 in 2007, alongside Raphael Lamm. Their flagship long-short strategy has returned a whopping 18.7% per annum since inception, and was ranked in an HSBC survey as the ‘Best Performing Hedge Fund Globally’ in 2015 and ‘Top 20 Hedge Fund Globally’ in 2016, 2017 and 2021. 

The episode covers an enormous amount of ground. We discuss everything from the uniqueness of today’s market, where L1 is deploying capital, what makes earnings sustainable, the importance of balance sheets. Mark also tells us why the investing playbook of the last decade should be put back on the shelf. 

Timestamps

  • 1:15 – Origins of L1 Capital
  • 3:20 – Lessons from the GFC
  • 5:30 – The problem with long-only investing
  • 6:00 – Quality value strategy
  • 8:10 – Today’s unprecedented market cycle
  • 10:00 – No quick fix for inflation
  • 19:55 – How macro informs a bottom-up approach
  • 22:30 – Where L1 is deploying capital
  • 24:30 – Expensive defensives 
  • 28:00 – Sustainable P/E ratios
  • 30:30 – Importance of under-geared balance sheets
  • 31:10 – Pricing power
  • 32:00 – Management teams on notice
  • 35:30 – What makes a good short
  • 42:50 – 3 favourite questions

Show More

Backward
Play
Forward
1x speed
  • 0.5
  • 1
  • 1.5
  • 2
Other episodes
The lead indicator for Dion Hershan’s best trades (and two high quality stocks for the ”slow grind” ahead)

The lead indicator for Dion Hershan’s best trades (and two high quality stocks for the ”slow grind” ahead)

Two years ago, on a trip to Perth, Yarra Capita’s Dion Hershan was pitched the case for lithium stocks by his Uber driver. Hershan says it was a cliche moment and a classic example of a ‘ringing the bell’ sign. On the flip side, there are moments whe...

205 downloads Rules of Investing Dec 20, 2023
41m
Ben Griffiths’ small cap playbook as animal spirits awaken

Ben Griffiths’ small cap playbook as animal spirits awaken

The penny has dropped and thanks to a three-letter word from the Federal Reserve's recent interest rate decision ("any"), small caps both in the US and in Australia have started to rocket out of a long slumber. For most of the last 18 months, small c...

210 downloads Rules of Investing Dec 14, 2023
44m
2 killer growth stocks (and why culture is key to successful small caps)

2 killer growth stocks (and why culture is key to successful small caps)

Culture is not something that immediately springs to mind when assessing a company and its prospects for the future.
More often than not, we investors are scouring profit and loss statements, comparing financial ratios and (if we have the time and sk...

464 downloads Rules of Investing Nov 17, 2023
36m
Trailer: Qiao Ma, Munro Partners

Trailer: Qiao Ma, Munro Partners

Qiao Ma has had an extensive career in funds management including stops in New York working for hedge fund Jericho Capital and more recently Cooper Investors in Melbourne.
 
Earlier this year, Qiao joined Munro Partners, where it was recen...

340 downloads Rules of Investing Nov 16, 2023
2m
We are in the midst of a social, economic, financial and political crisis

We are in the midst of a social, economic, financial and political crisis

From geopolitics to fiscal policy, commodities to equities, this week's featured guest on The Rules of Investing has some high-conviction views on a whole range of subjects. 
For more than 40 years, Donald Amstad traded his way through the highs and ...

302 downloads Rules of Investing Nov 10, 2023
31m
Invest in what you know, avoid what you don’t: Lessons from a Hall of Fame fund manager

Invest in what you know, avoid what you don’t: Lessons from a Hall of Fame fund manager

Despite all of his success, Morry Waked has remained relatively under the radar. He’s not one to boast of his achievements, and he’s very rarely fronted the media.
At Livewire, we dedicate ourselves to finding the best fund managers in Australia - an...

294 downloads Rules of Investing Oct 27, 2023
29m
Emma Fisher: Why it pays to be bullish (and the most outstanding idea on the ASX today)

Emma Fisher: Why it pays to be bullish (and the most outstanding idea on the ASX today)

The times when a company is dominating headlines (for all the wrong reasons) are the best time to buy. 
Take Medibank Private (ASX: MPL), for example, which you may remember, was embroiled in a data breach in October 2022. 
On the news, the stock's s...

485 downloads Rules of Investing Oct 05, 2023
48m
Matthew Kidman: Get ready to run with the bulls

Matthew Kidman: Get ready to run with the bulls

Matthew Kidman is a well-known entity to readers of Livewire, as host of Success and More Interesting Stuff, Buy Hold Sell, and most recently, Livewire Live.
Finally, we got him in the hot seat to run us through his own journey into funds management,...

488 downloads Rules of Investing Sep 28, 2023
1h 9m
Hedge fund managers never name their shorts. This one does…

Hedge fund managers never name their shorts. This one does…

Short sellers have had a tough time of it over the past decade. The era of free money lifted all boats, including companies that would perhaps otherwise be candidates for short selling. 
Today's market is radically different. Central banks have lifte...

312 downloads Rules of Investing Sep 22, 2023
46m
Suggested Stories

Who would have guessed laws required companies to request...

DisinterestedSep 25, 2022
0 mins read

The question of whether abortion should be legal has been...

DanielJun 26, 2022
4 mins read

Four-time major winner Brooks Koepka has also left the PG...

sportislife15Jun 26, 2022
0 mins read

The subsidisation of unreliable “renewable” power is why ...

DisinterestedJun 19, 2022
0 mins read

LIV Golf is off to a good start, whatever the PGA Tour an...

sportislife15Jun 11, 2022
4 mins read

All governments eventually lose power, but the Liberal Pa...

DanielMay 29, 2022
4 mins read