Turkey Turbulence

This year — and every year — our thoughts go out to our community of like-minded investors. As we gather around the Thanksgiving table, we’re thankful for all of the wonderful moments we’ve shared over the last year and for the ideas and exploration that you’ve all encouraged all of us to pursue. We count many blessings and are grateful for all of you and your companionship on this journey.

Share. Share your optimism and dreams. We believe that we collectively have the requisite courage to create better worlds and days to come.

The current challenges will pass. And formidable challenges-yet-to-come will take their place. A few of you have noted the alarming recurrence of None when it comes to Materially Stronger companies in recent updates. (And the gut-wrenching extensive lists of Materially Weaker at the same time.)

I’m not sure whether (or how many) turkeys would follow lemmings off a financial cliff given the opportunity. But taxes are likely to increase. And the January Effect is probably well underway and something to consider. There are likely to be many small companies with attractive return forecasts between now and the end of the year and most likely, well into the first quarter of 2013. Shop prudently while keeping your portfolio centered on an adequate blend of faster-growing and slower-growing companies.

Jeremy Grantham’s latest quarterly message is pretty dire. (You can retrieve your own copy at http://www.gmo.com — but wait until after Thanksgiving Dinner and a suitable number of pie slivers before doing so.) We love Jeremy and his outlook. We’ll chalk this curmudgeonly tirade up to a grumpy spasm … realize and acknowledge that it is ALWAYS a good idea to heed and consider his words … and continue to seek opportunities as GMO and Jeremy always do — with an emphasis on QUALITY.

We’ll leave you with the words of Phillips Brooks:

Stand up, on this Thanksgiving Day. Stand upon your feet. Believe in man. Soberly and with clear eyes, believe in your own time and place. There is not, and there has never been, a better time, or a better place to live in.

Brooks is known as the man who wrote “O Little Town of Bethlehem”

And we’ll add one extra Thanksgiving wish this week … that being a profound hope that the launchers of Gaza either run out of rockets, or matches, SOON.