📖Julian Robertson
Business Moat Assessment
Identify sustainable competitive moats before investing.
Before investing, identify the moat — the sustainable competitive advantage that protects the business from competitors. No moat means no long-term edge.
🏠 Everyday Analogy
📖 Core Interpretation
Julian Robertson emphasizes durable business quality over short-term noise. A strong model, real competitive edge, and disciplined capital allocation matter more than quarterly excitement.
💎 Key Insight:Moats protect earnings from competitive erosion.
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❓ Why It Matters
Without business-quality filters, investors drift toward stories rather than economics. Durable cash generation is what supports long-term valuation.
🎯 How to Practice
Use a checklist covering moat, management, unit economics, and capital allocation; track long-term cash generation instead of quarter-to-quarter noise.
⚠️ Common Pitfalls
Buying narratives instead of cash-generating economics
Overreacting to short-term operating noise
Ignoring management quality and capital allocation
📚 Case Studies
1
Black Monday Portfolio Resilience (1987)
During the October 1987 crash, Robertson’s Tiger Management was positioned defensively with selective shorts and quality longs, limiting losses versus the S&P 500.
✨ Outcome:Outperformed broad indices on a risk-adjusted basis, reinforcing discipline around downside protection and volatility management.
2
Tech Bubble Avoidance (1999)
Robertson avoided overvalued dot-com stocks, shorting some high-flyers and owning fundamentally strong, cash-generative businesses instead.
✨ Outcome:Underperformed during the late-stage bubble but delivered superior risk-adjusted returns after the 2000–2002 tech crash as speculative names collapsed.
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