Q: Would you invest in Markel as a long term hold?
How does it compare to Fairfax?
How does it compare to Fairfax?
5i Research Answer:
MKL continues to buy back a lot of stock. It is reasonably priced, and strong earnings growth is expected in the next two years. The balance sheet is quite strong, and the Q3 was nicely ahead of all estimates. We would be comfortable buyers. FFH is much larger, doing better, with a lower valuation, and a 1.01% dividend (vs none for MKL). MKL has a higher expected short term growth rate, but FFH has a lot of hidden assets and potential from its investing holdings. Of the two, we would side with FFH.