Our “trifecta” is to identify companies with increasing returns, growing cash flows and an ability to reinvest profitably, which is what we see in natural resources today. The phenomenon of 300 million people moving to the middle class in China is going to have a dramatic impacton the commodity intensity of that economy and the world. I believe that’s the investing story of this decade and beyond.

Andrew Pilara, 4.30.07

我们的王牌就是鉴别出那些持续增加回报、增长的现金流和具再投资获利能力的公司，这就是我们今天在自然资源中看到的。在中国，3亿人口正在变为中产阶级的现象会对经济和世界的商品造成剧烈的冲击。我相信，这就是未来十年甚至以后的投资故事。

Another example [of a high barrier to entry business] would be the defense industry. It’s very hard to get a government contract, not because the government doesn’t entertain new entrants, but because the rules of bidding require assets in place in order to bid. If you wanted to compete with Boeing on the B-1 bomber, you’d have to build an entire facility and hire all the necessary engineers and production people to assure the government you could actually build a better B-1 bomber – all just to enter a bid that you may never win. That’s a positive situation for a company like Boeing.

Murray Stahl, 11.21.07

另一个例子是国防工业。得到政府的合同非常这难，不是因为政府不喜欢新来者，而是因为在招标规则中，投票者要有适当的资产。如果你与波音竞标B1轰炸机，你就必须建设整个的生产设施，雇佣所有需要的工程师和生产工人，以便能向政府保证你实际上能生产更好的B1轰炸机——这也仅仅只获得一个投票机会而你可能永远不会赢。对于像波音这样的公司来说，这是一件好事。（呵呵，护城河的一种！）

Murray Stahl

We’re focused on four sectors that have exhibited unvarying demand regardless of economic activity and that have key fundamental strengths that help explain why they’ve been around for hundreds of years. The inherent demand of people to smoke, drink and gamble and of nations to arm themselves is clearly strong and long-lasting.

Charles Norton, 4.30.08

不管经济活动怎样，有四个部门展示了永远不变的需求。这就是满足人类本能的吸烟、喝酒、赌博和武装国家的需求，强大而且持久。

Charles Norton

We don’t do a lot in technology. Successful technologies change something, creating an efficiency or demand that wasn’t there before. But the very fact that the change happens means that somebody else can come along and change it again. If, because of the threat of technological obsolescence, I’m uncertain about a company’s cash flows several years out, I’ll put a big discount on those cash flows and conclude they’re not worth much. Because Wall Street tends to put a large value on the future cash flows of technology companies, we rarely find one that we consider very attractive.

Ed Wachenheim, 2.29.08

对于技术股我们做得不多。成功的技术改变一些东西，创造了以前不曾有过的效率或需求。但事实上这种改变意味着其它一些人也可以来再次改变。由于技术落后，我对这一家公司几年以后的现金流无法确定，我会给予这些现金流大的折扣率，结论是它们价值不高。因为华尔街倾向于对技术公司的现金流高估，所以我几乎没发现我们认为具有吸引力的公司。

Ed Wachenheim

We’ve never been that fond of the hotel business because the tenants move out every night. That makes the business susceptible to economic swings in a way that office buildings with long-term leases to credit-worthy tenants aren’t. We prefer to see more predictable streams of cash flow than lodging companies typically have.

Michael Winer, 8.31.07

我们从来不喜欢酒店业务，因为客人每天来来去去。这就使这样的生意对于经济波动比较敏感，而对于租用写字楼的长期有信誉的租户却不存在这样的问题。我们喜欢易于预测的现金流，而酒店业务显然没有。

Michael Winer

Gold kind of scares me because very often the people involved with it seem to be slightly insane. My other problem is I don't know how to value it. Any kind of systemic economic turmoil is likely to drive gold prices higher.

James Montier, 10.31.08

黄金有点吓人，因为很多人参与其中都会些微疯狂。我另一个问题是，我不知如何对它估值。而且，任何一种的系统经济的动荡都会鸡翅金价上涨。

James Montier

I have always had an affinity for companies that actually make things. We favor companies with transparent businesses that we can understand fairly quickly and those that have large and recurring maintenance,repair and overhaul revenues from an installed base, such as elevator companies or aerospace-parts firms.

Alexander Roepers, 2.28.07

我们通常与那些生产实际东西的公司保持亲密联系。我们喜欢具有透明业务且很快就能理解的公司，还有那些安装以后产生重复维护、修理和检查费用的公司，例如电梯公司和飞机零件公司。

Alexander Roepers

We don’t like businesses that are completely reliant on human capital that can walk out the door. We have no rule against it, but you generally won’t find us investing in things like investment banks or consulting firms.

Donnell Noone, 4.30.08

我们不喜欢那些完全依赖人力资源的公司，我们并没有规定这样，但你通常发现我们不会在投资银行和咨询公司这样的公司上面投资。

Donnell Noone