Carter Malloy – Valuation Is Not a Reason to Invest

<p><strong>BIO: </strong>AcreTrader’s CEO, Carter Malloy, grew up in an Arkansas farming family and has had a lifelong passion for agriculture and investing. Before founding AcreTrader, he spent five years as part of the founding team of a successful global equity investment firm.</p><p><strong>STORY:</strong> Carter was super impressed by a healthcare software company whose stock was really expensive, and the valuation was crazy high. Carter decided to invest in the company. However, he lost most of the principal because the stock almost halved.</p><p><strong>LEARNING:</strong> Valuation is not a reason to invest. Don’t bet against really good management teams.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><blockquote class="ql-align-center"><strong>“Valuation should inform your position size. However, look at it across a large spectrum of metrics and measurements to help you determine whether you have a thesis or not.”</strong></blockquote><blockquote class="ql-align-center">Carter Malloy</blockquote><p>&nbsp;</p><h2>Guest profile</h2><p>AcreTrader’s CEO, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/carter-malloy/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Carter Malloy</strong></a>, grew up in an Arkansas farming family and has had a lifelong passion for agriculture and investing. Before founding <a href="https://acretrader.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">AcreTrader</a>, he spent five years as part of the founding team of a successful global equity investment firm.</p><p>Before joining in 2013, Carter was a Managing Director with Stephens Inc., a large private investment bank, where he was an equity research analyst.</p><p>At AcreTrader, Carter has successfully raised over $60 million in Series B funding and grown from 20 employees to 120 employees across the company’s two business divisions, which include AcreTrader, the farmland investing platform, and Acres, a land research platform.</p><h2>Worst investment ever</h2><p>As an equity investor, Carter would generally chase okay businesses valued as great ones. One particula