Christine Song — Research Analyst
My mother taught me, from a young age, the concept of intrinsic value versus market price, though she called it something else: “things going on sale.” Ever the skeptic, I protested: “I can’t wait, I need it now, they’ll be sold out.” However, she always waited and sure enough, things inevitably went on sale. From early youth, I was wired to be a value buyer.
But it wasn’t until years later, while at Morgan Stanley, that I discovered my life’s work — one that would marry my innate curiosity with my value bent. I was working on one of Morgan Stanley’s real estate funds, and although real estate varies widely by local markets, the business models are basically the same. In that highly specialized job, my intellectual curiosity was constrained, so in search of diversity, I transitioned into equity research (with a pit stop at Cornell University, my alma mater, to get an MBA) and focused on small-cap investing. I was drawn to small-cap investing because my father was a small business owner, and I saw firsthand how small decisions have a big impact on operations. Through hard work, research and analysis, I knew I could find stocks that were changing for the better.
As an equity analyst at Parnassus Investments and Chartwell Investment Partners, the many business models I was exposed to fascinated me, and I was thrilled by the challenge of figuring out how things work — and more important, how they will work. By seeing how the impact of great stock ideas could be diluted in an overly diversified portfolio, I learned the value of a concentrated strategy.
Small-cap investing, a generalist approach to research, a concentrated portfolio with a value tilt — if Daruma were a guy, I would have proposed on the first date. As an analyst at Daruma, I can use my quantitative skills while feeding my intellectual curiosity and passion for stockpicking. Everything I read, see or hear has implications for my job, and I can’t think of another profession that, on a daily basis, would be as challenging and fulfilling.