Back in 1995, Mark Travis co-founded Jacksonville Beach-based hedge fund Intrepid Capital Management. Mr. Travis has more than 30 years of experience in asset management and is the main portfolio manager of several of Intrepid Capital Management’s funds, such as Intrepid Endurance Fund, Intrepid Capital, L.P., and Intrepid Capital Fund, to name a few. Prior to co-founding Intrepid Capital Management, he was Vice President of the Consulting Group of Smith Barney and its predecessor firms for a decade. Until June 2016, Mark Travis was also an Executive Vice President of Intrepid Capital Corporation. He earned his BA in Economics from the University of Georgia, he serves on the Board of Directors of Jacksonville Clay Target Sports, and on the Board of Trustees of The Bolles School, while also being a member of the Ponte Vedra Rotary Club and YPO-WPO.
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Intrepid Capital Management’s investment strategy is centered around absolute returns, is long-term oriented, and employs methodical analysis. The fund looks for “underappreciated value” and aims to bring remarkable long-term results with under-the-market risk. Its philosophy says that it is not necessary to beat the market constantly in order to benefit in the long run. It appears that the fund’s investment approach is very wise, delivering some very good returns over the years.
For example, its Intrepid Capital L.P. had some great returns in recent years. Back in 2013, it delivered a return of 10.81%, in 2014 it returned 1.42%. 2015 was a down year for the fund, when it lost 6.07%. In 2016 it came back strong, returning 9.87%, and did even better in 2017 when it generated a return of 11.54%. Through October 2018, the fund had lost 4.89% this year. Intrepid Capital L.P’s total return amounted to 287.77% for a compound annual return of 6.26%. Its worst drawdown stood at 42.57.
2016 was a favorable year for the fund, as its Intrepid Balanced Portfolio gained 5.69% net-of-fees in the second quarter, compared to 3.79% for the Russell 2000 Index and 2.46% for the S&P 500 Index. In the same period its Intrepid Small Cap Portfolio increased 4.47% net-of-fees, versus 3.79% gained by the Russell 2000 Index. Lastly, its Intrepid Disciplined Value Portfolio brought back 3.83% net-of-fees compared to the Russell 3000 Index’s 2.63% and the S&P 500 Index’s return of 2.46%.
In a recent interview on Fox Business Network, Mark Travis discussed some of his fund’s favorite stock picks, which include Wyndham Destinations Inc (NYSE:WYND) and Madison Square Garden Co (NYSE:MSG). For Wyndham Destinations Inc, he said that it is a really stable reoccurring cash flow business, which also refinances people’s timeshare purchases. His fund owns both the equity and the company’s short duration debt. As for Madison Square Garden, Mark Travis pointed out that it is the third-most valuable sports franchise and he thinks that Forbes rated the New York Knicks too low at $3.6 billion. For more details about Mark Travis’ preferred stock picks take a look at the video below:
Intrepid Capital Management added three new stocks to its 13F portfolio and dumped one, leaving its equity portfolio valued at $260.57 million at the end of the third quarter. The biggest stake, occupying 6.37% of the fund’s portfolio value, was in Net 1 UEPS Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:UEPS), with the fund holding 2.08 million shares worth $16.61 million.
More about Intrepid Capital Management’s portfolio changes can be read on the next page.
Among Intrepid Capital Management’s biggest new additions was the aforementioned Madison Square Garden Co (NYSE:MSG), buying 3,220 shares during the third quarter to establish a position worth $1.02 million. Year-to-date, the company’s stock has gained 24%. At the end of the third quarter, there were 40 smart money investors tracked by Insider Monkey’s database long the company, which was down by two from the previous quarter.
Intrepid Capital Management significantly boosted its stakes in Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR) and Big Lots, Inc. (NYSE:BIG) during the quarter, by 113% to 8,195 shares, and by 93% to 15,360 shares, respectively. Dollar Tree, Inc. is a Fortune 150 company, that runs a chain of discount stores that sell a plethora of items for $1 or less; it was previously known under the name Only $1.00. The Chesapeake, Virginia company manages over 14,000 stores across 48 states and Canada. Over the past 12 months, the company’s stock has lost 17.68%. Dollar Tree, Inc. has been attracting more investors monitored by Insider Monkey’s database recently, with 53 of them long the stock at the end of the third quarter, up from 48 in the previous quarter. Big Lots, Inc. (NYSE:BIG) is a Columbus-based retail company that runs more than 1,400 stores across 47 states. Through November, Big Lots’ stock price had fallen by 26% in 2018. On September 30, there were 19 smart money investors long the stock, up by three from the previous quarter. In its 2017 annual report, the company disclosed net sales of $5.27 billion, up by 1.4% from 2016, and earnings per diluted share of $4.45, compared to EPS of $3.64 in 2016.
It appears that the fund is slowly losing interest in some of its other holdings, as it made serious reductions to several stakes. For example, it decreased its stake in DISCOVERY COMMUNICATIONS INC. Common Stock (NASDAQ:DISCA) by 63% to 222,206 shares worth $6.57 million. It also slashed its Telephone & Data Systems, Inc. (NYSE:TDS) holding by 72% to 17,034 shares valued at $518,000. The fund also lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) (one of the 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index) by 10%, to 17,053 shares worth $3.85 million.
Disclosure: None
