Shreekkanth Viswanathan – Qualitative Strengths of a Company Matter Too

<p><strong>BIO: </strong>Shreekkanth (“Shree”) Viswanathan is the founder and portfolio manager of SVN Capital, a Chicago-based, concentrated, long-only, global equity-focused fund.</p><p><strong>STORY:</strong> Shree’s biggest mistake is an error of omission. That is, after studying a particular business, he decided not to invest in it for various reasons. The stock turned out to be a multi-bagger a couple of years later.</p><p><strong>LEARNING:</strong> The qualitative strengths of a company are not always readily apparent in the financials. Get out and work in business; it will make you a better analyst and investor.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><blockquote class="ql-align-center"><strong>“If you don’t know who you are, the market is an expensive place to find out.”</strong></blockquote><blockquote class="ql-align-center">Shreekkanth Viswanathan</blockquote><p>&nbsp;</p><h2>Guest profile</h2><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/shreekkanth-viswanathan-ab5300/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Shreekkanth (“Shree”) Viswanathan</strong></a> is the founder and portfolio manager of <a href="https://www.svncapital.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">SVN Capital</a>, a Chicago-based, concentrated, long-only, global equity-focused fund.</p><p>After graduating from the University of Chicago, Shree worked as an investment banker for a few years before moving over to the buy side. Shree describes his investment style as Value investing with a Quality overlay.</p><h2>Worst investment ever</h2><p>Back in 2009, Shree was working as an analyst in Chicago. As the economy struggled to come out of the real estate-centered malaise, Shree studied a company called Copart Inc. Copart is the largest salvage yard company in the US. Its business model is pretty simple. When a vehicle on the road gets into an accident, it’s hauled to a salvage yard. The insurance company covering that vehicle will quickly decide if they will pay the policyholder for repairs or total the vehicle and send it to the salvage yard. For v