[Latest update: 8/13/2019, please go to the bottom to see new additions]

Value Investors Club (VIC), founded by the legendary investor Joel Greenblatt, is an anonymous elite value investing club whose admission is said to be very selective. According to John Petry, the co-founder of the club, there’s “a lot of very well known money managers” and “very, very successful hedge fund managers” who all use the site. However, from traits left by these “anonymous” users, we may be able to tell these well known and successful investors. I firstly carried out some of these researches purely out of my curiosity, but later found identifying these great investors helps me focus on quality ideas and discussions. Sometime I cannot tell who exactly they are, but certainly can tell the ideas were from some greatest minds. By all means, these guys’ writings are great stuff to read regardless who’s behind.

To summarize, the traits I’m looking for are:

1. Long tenure, membership started the earlier the better. Remember back then there was 250 total members limit of the club. When the club was initially setup, you would expect Greenblatt to send out invites to his counterparts and friends (who are usually renowned investors) to form a sizable group.
2. “Privilege” of not following club rules. For example, if a user doesn’t post at least 2 ideas annually but still keeps its membership, it is highly likely some well established investors who don’t need to follow the rules to prove his/her qualifications. I call it a VIP account.
3. Big picture qualitative thesis. We all know investing is a numbers job, you have to crunch accounting numbers and discount cash flows. (I got that, that’s why CFA exam needs a calculator.) But to be a great investor, one needs much more than savvy with numbers. I found some of these qualitative thesis contains great deal of knowledge about the business, executive strategies and behavioral finance etc. Additionally, qualitative stuff can be more fun to read compared to hard and cold numbers and I found it’s a delight to read these users’ postings. After all, a great investor usually is a great writer and story teller.

Below are what I found thus far. It’s going to be a cumulative effort, as I come across and identify more good ones, I will come back to add them.

wrt233 – Whitney Tilson

member since 02/2001, but only had one idea (short of LUMBER LIQUIDATORS). This is a easy “guess” because he basically told you that. Obviously, Tilson wants more publicity because he wants more recognition for his short ideas.

user profile page below, and you can see his comment on the World Acceptance long idea with another link directly to his website.

http://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/member/wrt233/728

david101 – David Ellison?

Member since 09/2000 and has been active. This user had a strong a financial sector focus, with almost all ideas being financial stocks, specifically small banks. It fits pretty well to David Ellison who’s a veteran financial sector investor and his view about small regional banks.

http://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/member/david101/554

ahab931 – Unknown

Member since 06/2006 and had only 2 ideas. This member caught my eye recently because its recent call for Short VRX on July 2015 (great timing!) and also because his big picture writing style. You don’t see a bunch of numbers in this thesis, but the arguments are quite appealing.

http://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/member/ahab931/12277

torico780 – Unknown

Member since 07/2002, only posted 3 ideas since 2010, however still quite active on the message indicating it has active membership. Obviously, a VIP account. This user had a pretty wide asset classes spectrum, had ideas over distressed sovereign bonds, preferred stocks and did a great job following up on the ideas with updates and final outcomes.

http://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/member/torico780/1681

[Updated on 4/5/2016: this user’s Seeking Alpha profile here. Thanks for quoting my post, torico780, look forward to more of your ideas.]

hkup881 – Harris Kupperman

Member since 11/2002 and has been quite active, posting 2-3 ideas each year. This user’s ideas are usually short and qualitative, another indicating of a well established investor. Interesting, this user even submitted a options straddle strategy for FXCM INC and it got through… so obviously club rules are not applying to him/her.

* Updates on 12/11/2017: I tracked this user down recently based on his AIM.TO idea on VIC (https://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/idea/AIMIA_INC/140846) and on his personal blog (http://adventuresincapitalism.com/post/2017/08/13/Cheaper-Less-Risky.aspx). The user name looks like his first initial + first 3 letters of last name. Kupperman is also CEO of a Canada listed Mongolian company (Mongolia Growth Group), and guess who pitched a Mongolian mining company on VIC (https://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/idea/Mongolian_Mining_Corp/138955).

http://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/member/hkup881/1766

/******************** Added on 3/30/2016 *****************/

bowd57 – Unknown

Member since 09/2000, quite active. I came across its post on Nexpoint Residential initially and found this user fits well to the traits I’m looking for. This user even pitched close end funds for a few times and got through. Fun writing style. For example, see this opening lines:

Hi, guys —

No, no — please! Please, everyone! Stop! Please, people, sit down! There is no need to be so effusive in your applause for this low-conviction trade idea that I own in modest size in my personal account!

 https://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/member/bowd57/549

jm671 – Unknown

Member since 02/2002, didn’t post anything from 2007 to 2013, a VIP account. I came across it when read his post about AdCare Health Systems. It has big picture, qualitative thesis. It focuses on small and micro cap names and sometimes would disclose other position in its messages, which is a bonus for sourcing potential opportunities. Some short calls were quite right on, for example, see below for the Resonant (RESN) short called on Feb 2015.

https://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/member/jm671/1512

/************** Added on 4/1/2016 ***************/

Credits go to this post from Corner of Berkshire & Fairfax Message Board. Great reads from some legendary investors.

www.valueinvestorsclub.com/member/nish697/1388– Mohnish Pabrai

www.valueinvestorsclub.com/member/charlie479/1180– Norbert Lou [If you came here by searching charlie479, here is a bonus: rare interview with Lou by Santagel’s Review: pdf download]

www.valueinvestorsclub.com/member/michael99/1219– Michael Burry

/************** Added on 9/7/2016 ***************/

tomahawk990

Member since 08/2005, a very energy focused user. I came across it when trying to research on Silver Run Acquisition Corp [SRAQU]. It fits my rules of big picture, qualitative thesis. Its thesis also spends a lot of time talking about company’s history, executive/management’s background, operating strategy, etc. which indicates his/her investment style is very management quality driven.

https://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/member/tomahawk990/7026

/************** Added on 01/12/2017 ***************/

miser861 – Unknown

Member since 08/2003, I found this user from its recent two pitches of Alphabet [fka Google], which I really like. Very prolific user, with 4 weekly pick award thus far. Its analysis style fits what I was looking for, as mentioned before (qualitative, big picture, etc.). Additionally, the user is very responsive and active in discussion with fellow members. You can learn a lot more if you go through its ideas’ message page.

https://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/member/miser861/2076

/************** Added on 06/11/2017 ***************/

hawkeye901 – Anthony Bozza (Lakewood Capital)

Credit goes to a friend who suggested that hawkeye901 might be Anthony Bozza based on the timing of this user’s short post of OPKO Health (on 3/20/2013, link here) and Lakewood’s high profile Sohn Conference short pitch (on 11/21/2013).

What’s more interesting (or confusing) is that Lakewood actually had about 300k shares of long OPK according to its 13F filed for Q3 2013. Whitney Tilson gave a explanation why Lakewood had such perplexing position in a response to a Lakewood’s Seeking Alpha article (link here)

…Allow me to explain what I’m quite certain is really going on (though I have no direct knowledge of this particular situation). With heavily shorted stocks like OPK, it can be very difficult to get the borrow, so if your broker finds you some borrow, it makes sense to take more than you need and then buy the stock to offset this.So, for example, if you wanted to be short 100,000 shares of OPK, you’d get the borrow on 150,000 shares and short them — and also buy 50,000 shares. Then, if you later want to increase the size of your short position, you don’t need to get more borrow (which might be impossible to get at that time) — you simply sell some of the 50,000 shares you own. Easy!

Additionally, I was able to verify a couple long ideas of hawkeye901 (Ingram Micro, Primerica & Intelsat), which all overlapped with Lakewood’s 13F around the same period. Based on these observations, it looks quite possible it is him.

https://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/member/hawkeye901/17086

/************** Added on 08/22/2017 ***************/

mimval – Christopher Mittleman (Mittleman Investment Management)

A relative new account (started from April 2016), however didn’t seem to follow 2 ideas/year rule thus far. The first idea submitted on CKEC was a contest winner and both write-ups thus far are solid. The account name itself doesn’t seem to be trying to be anonymous, since “mim” is basically an acronym for Mittleman Investment Management. It also disclosed itself in its Revlon thesis message board by indicating “…Our firm owned 4.3% of the shares outstanding as of 3/31/17…”. Per public records, Mittleman held precisely 4.34% by Q1 2017. A very concentrated hitter if you look at their 13F.

https://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/member/mimval/69469

/************** Added on 09/05/2017 ***************/

CFL41 – Connor Leonard (Investors Management Corporation)

A relative new account (started from Nov 2013). The reason I’m sure this account’s identity is the similarity between this VIC post on Zooplus (link) and its pitch deck in public domain (one of John Huber’s post about “reinvestment moat”, link here). Leonard also laid out his investment philosophy in a pubic investor letter (Scribd link here). One of his key tenets called “Benefits All Stakeholders” highly resonates with my version of “Benefit to All Constituents in the Value Chain”.

https://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/member/CFL41/47550

/************** Added on 12/11/2017 ***************/

murman – Vitaliy Katsenelson (Investment Management Associates)

user from 2011. It caught my eye when I researching Gilead. His post (https://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/idea/GILEAD_SCIENCES_INC/139224) had a link to his personal blog Contrarian Edge (http://contrarianedge.com/2016/02/23/gilead-sciences-miracle-drug-combination/). The user name is probably his birth place, according to his intro “I was born and raised in Murmansk, Russia“. Katsenelson has many other interests (including Music & Arts), seems to have deeper awareness of the universe based on his idea thesis.

https://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/member/murman/36234

/************** Added on 9/4/2018 ***************/

sunny329 – Daniel Sundheim (Ex Viking, D1 Capital)

User from early age (active from 2002 to 2004), submitted 6 ideas and won 4 times contest. Quality and thorough write-ups on small/micro cap names, also a few international names (UK, Canada & India). He revealed himself in this Barron’s article [Link]. As “a little-known analyst at Bear Stearns”, he brought the Orthodontic Centers of America short write-up to interviews and later got hired by Viking Global. Sundheim recently launched his new fund D1 Capital Partners after 15 years at Viking. It would be someone worth to follow if they file 13F.

https://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/member/sunny329/1433

Some performance numbers according to this WSJ report, flat as of end of Nov 2018 with Oct alone suffered -8.4% drop:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-money-managers-to-watch-in-2019-11546354800

/************** Added on 1/9/2019 ***************/

lordbeaverbrook – Edgar (Ed) Wachenheim (Greenhaven Associates)

Credit goes to reader augifm, who pointed this one out.

loardbeaverbrook is a member since 2001. Its ideas overlap with Greenhaven’s 13F closely. For example, loardbeaverbrook pitched BHI & LUV around 2013, and Wachenheim’s Greenhaven held both back then. More recent ideas like GM, LEN, PX, TPH, DHI also match what Greenhaven holds. Furthermore, during an interview with CNBC [link: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/18/cnbc-exclusive-cnbcs-jim-cramer-interviews-edgar-wachenheim-iii-from.html], Wachenheim pitched GM & F as a truck company which is exactly the same GM thesis of loardbeaverbrook [link: https://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/idea/GENERAL_MOTORS_CO/5639572558].

https://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/member/lordbeaverbrook/702

/************** Added on 8/13/2019 ***************/

Two more findings contributed by twitter user @YungMoneyBlog

gary9 – Gary Claar (a founding partner of JANA Partners, managing his own family office Claar Advisors since 2013)

gary9 is a member since 2000. His ideas overlap with Claar Advisors’ 13F closely. For example, he pitched Kinder Morgan (KMI) in May 2019, and Claar Advisors held it as one of the largest positions. Additional historical overlapping positions includes Bank of NT Butterfield & Son (NTB) circa mid 2017; Timken (TKR) & SunEdison Semiconductor (SEMI) circa early 2014, & American Realty Capital Trust (ARCT) circa late 2012 (of JANA’s 13F).

https://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/member/gary9/511

nha855 – Nathaniel August (Mangrove Partners)

member since 2003. This user’s ideas are heavily themed around energy & financial (heavy asset businesses), which matches with Mangrove’s strategy (https://mangrovepartners.com/about/strategy) . I also was able to find many overlapping positions:

• ABRAXAS PETROLEUM CORP/NV (AXAS) in 2019
• ECHOSTAR CORP (SATS) in 2018
• Penn Virginia (PVA) in 2016
• HUDSON CITY BANCORP INC (HCBK) in 2015

https://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/member/nha855/1960