📖Seth Klarman

Sell When Value Is Realized

🌿 Intermediate★★★★★

Sell at intrinsic value, don't wait for more.

💬

Sell when the price reaches your estimate of intrinsic value. Don't get greedy and hold for more — discipline in selling is crucial.

— Margin of Safety,1991

🏠 Everyday Analogy

Valuation is like buying a house: the asking price reflects mood, but true value comes from structure, location, and long-term utility. Good assets still need sensible prices.

📖 Core Interpretation

In Sell When Value Is Realized, Seth Klarman focuses on the gap between price and value. Returns come from paying less than what a business is worth, not from guessing short-term market moves.
💎 Key Insight:Disciplined selling locks in gains.

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❓ Why It Matters

Ignoring valuation turns even good companies into poor investments. Overpaying compresses future returns and leaves little margin when assumptions are wrong.

🎯 How to Practice

Estimate intrinsic value with conservative assumptions, set clear buy ranges, and act only when price offers a meaningful discount with acceptable downside.

⚠️ Common Pitfalls

Confusing a low price with true cheapness
Using one metric without business context
Overly optimistic assumptions that erase margin of safety

📚 Case Studies

1
Post-Crash Value Screening (1987)
After the 1987 crash, Klarman’s team performed bottom-up analysis on dozens of bombed-out equities, focusing on balance sheets, asset coverage, and downside protection rather than macro forecasts.
✨ Outcome:Accumulated deeply discounted securities; several doubled or more over the next few years as valuations normalized.
2
Distressed Telecom Bonds (2001)
Following the dot-com bust, many telecom firms’ debt traded at distressed levels. Klarman’s bottom-up work emphasized liquidation values, spectrum assets, and priority in the capital structure instead of industry growth projections.
✨ Outcome:Selected a few issues with strong asset backing; earned high-risk-adjusted returns as credits restructured and prices rebounded.

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