We invest in publicly traded equities, targeting superior returns without taking undue risk.  The existence of Marcus Asset Management rests on two premises.

Alignment of Interests

The first premise of Marcus Asset Management is that an alignment of interests between an investment management firm and its clients is essential to produce superior long-term performance. A chief expression of this alignment is that the Marcus family and the investment professionals of Marcus Asset Management invest alongside our clients.  This core, patient capital acts as a ballast that allows us to focus on long-term performance without succumbing to distressed capital calls or the pressure of short-term incentives, both psychological and financial.

We follow a simple adage: treat our clients like we would like to be treated ourselves.  Thus, we aim to keep costs low, and favor pay-for-performance in assessing fees.  We strive to communicate clearly, directly, and honestly.  We worry about risks that other investors may dismiss as improbable or unquantifiable, since our goal is not to shoot for the moon for the next one, three, or five years, but instead to thrive for many decades to come.  And rather than appeal to short-term investors or garner publicity, we try to spend as much time as possible on activities that will enhance long-term investment performance (i.e. research) and attract like-minded capital (i.e. we get to know our clients and they get to know us).

Private Market Mentality

The second premise of Marcus Asset Management is that by taking a private market mentality to public market investing, we can grow capital and outperform the indices over the long-term with less risk. By private market mentality, we mean that we view a stock not as a piece of paper, but as partial ownership of a business enterprise; thus our single-minded focus is investing in securities where we believe the purchase price is significantly less than the economic value received. To accomplish this, we perform extensive research into the fundamental economic drivers of the underlying company, while ignoring the incessant chatter of Wall Street, the composition of market indices, technical analysis of charts and trading data, and other factors not related to long-term value.

In taking a private market approach, we have a strategic advantage.  We leverage the Marcus family's experience and network to gain an operator's understanding of the companies in which we invest, and just as importantly, the companies which we avoid.  The inner workings of a company are crucial to its success, and cannot necessarily be evaluated by a reading of the reported financial statements.  As part of our research, we go out and speak to a company's employees, managers, customers, suppliers, competitors, and regulators to get a complete picture of what we are potentially buying.  If a company is not the kind of company we would want to own in full, it is unlikely to be the kind of company we would want to own in part.