Prakash Hariharan Fairfax Financial FFH-T PAST TOP PICK Aug 24, 2018

Doing everything right. Combined ratios are improving. P&C insurer, big exposure to reinsurance, global & NA. Serial acquirer. Great management team. Advantaged by rising property values. Extreme weather means the risk goes up, and so do the premiums. Earns a lot of investment income on its growing float. Undemanding multiple.

Good operational management long term. Stock's more than doubled in the last year and a half, and he'd have to dig to find out why. Value, instead of growth, has been in favour for the last 6 months or so. Its counterpart, BRK.B, has also done well (but not doubled).

If he finds an answer, he'll be sure to post it on social media.

Has done well, and will probably continue to do so. Well positioned in its space. Also does well in an environment of higher long-term yields, whereas many companies (especially those with elevated debt) flounder. A name like this will insulate you from that.

Great job growing book value, and with organic growth and underwriting. EPS profile has really improved. The share price looks "expensive", but it trades at only 7.7x PE for 2026, and growing at 18%. More upside.

Darling in the 1990s, then struggled forever. Great comeback.

Everyone was shorting it in the 2000s, and now it's one of the most favoured stocks on the TSX. Up 13% YTD. He owns it in TFSAs. Helped by global acquisitions. Combined ratio ~94%. Underwriting has improved, costs kept in line. Almost every operation it has is showing profitability.

Estimated PE for this year is about 10x, normal for insurance industry. Has hit a high, but it's one you want to own for the long term. He continues to buy for clients.

A bit of a black box. Stock price has done very well the last few years, after having gone nowhere before that. Insurance at the core, and Prem Watsa's done a great job allocating those premiums. Higher rates favours insurers, lower rates the opposite, and he has no control over what the future holds.

If you own it, hold. You may want to investigate succession plans.

Wonderful company, his favourite in the group. Has owned in past, but not now due to valuation. Near record highs. P&C insurance is very defensive, so it draws crowds when people get panicky in the market and the price gets bid up. Wait for a better valuation.

Very successful. P&C is a bit easier to understand than life insurance, which tends to be rate-sensitive and has investment risk.

He's been in and out of this one and probably should have just stayed in. Really good company. Trend is good. If you own, definitely hold. Has probably arced off the trendline a bit, so it'll probably pull back a bit and you can buy more.