THE FIRM

Kinsman Oak Capital Partners Inc. is an independent Toronto-based boutique investment firm that strives to generate superior long-term results over multiple market cycles, net of fees. The firm was founded in 2020 by Alexander Agostino and its sole focus is managing the Kinsman Oak Equity Fund. Kinsman Oak Capital Partners Inc. is registered with the Ontario Securities Commission as a Portfolio Manager, Investment Fund Manager and Exempt Market Dealer.

INVESTMENT PHILOSOPHY

Long-term outperformance is driven by adhering to a disciplined, consistent and repeatable investment process.
Our investment philosophy is to buy securities at a significant discount to intrinsic value. Markets are generally efficient but, in rare circumstances, attractive investment opportunities can present themselves . Market inefficiencies are uncommon, so we relentlessly hunt for them . Our time is spent searching for investment ideas and conducting research. Right person + right approach = outperformance.

We believe that if you focus on the process the track record takes care of itself. 
We strive to continuously optimize and improve our process, and trust that strong performance will follow. But the challenge is not creating a plan – it is being disciplined enough to stick to it. A rigorous process reduces style drift risk and performance chasing behaviour, both of which can lead to permanent loss of capital. Conviction is one of the most important attributes of successful investors. 

We believe prices can temporarily deviate from intrinsic value. 
These deviations do not last forever and can occur for a variety of reasons. Security specific reasons might include neglect, spin-offs, turnarounds, hidden segments, etc. Broader market reasons might include shifting industry structures, psychological sentiment, or market dynamics. These opportunities can appear across any sector or market capitalization, making a flexible and opportunistic approach ideal for exploiting intermittent inefficiencies. 

We believe concentration in best ideas fosters the best chance to outperform for bottom-up stock pickers. 
Focused, high conviction portfolios stand the best chance at outperforming the market over long periods of time. Further, mispricing events happen infrequently, and extensive research and in-depth fundamental analysis is required to evaluate potential risk-reward ratios. Diversifying, to a point, makes sense but not too much. 

Owning two stocks eliminate 46% of non-market risk of owning only one stock. Four stocks eliminate 72% of the risk. Eight stocks eliminate 81% of the risk. Sixteen stocks eliminate 93% of the risk. Thirty-two stocks eliminate 96% and five hundred eliminates 99% of the risk. 

We believe prospective returns are dictated by the relationship between price and value. 
A great company can become a poor investment if purchased for too high a price, and vice versa. The relationship between price and intrinsic value should be the starting point for all value-oriented investors. Shareholders should be adequately compensated for bearing the risk of potential negative future developments. Stocks priced for perfection can only surprise to the downside. There is no such thing as a good investment regardless of price. 

We believe that being different is the only way to outperform the market. 
Expecting to outperform the market with a portfolio that looks like the market is a recipe for disappointment. Conformity, while comforting, comes at the cost of generating superior returns. Investors that diverge from the herd with unconventional portfolios will likely experience unconventional return profiles – for better or worse. 

We believe that humility and intellectual honesty contribute to sustainable outperformance.
Generating superior risk-adjusted returns cannot be accomplished without discovering, examining, and evaluating a wide variety of truths. These activities can often come at the cost of an individual’s pride or ego. Arrogance and the like inhibit an individual’s ability to understand and interpret reality clearly. Nothing within any given decision-making process is more sacred than intellectual honesty.We cannot know everything, but we will always strive to know what we don’t know.

Our Fund is concentrated, and its results are likely to be more volatile than broad market indexes. 
Given the concentrated nature of the Fund’s holdings, its return profile will likely be more volatile than the market. We view risk as the probability of suffering a permanent loss of capital rather than short-term volatility or interim price fluctuations. That probability is largely determined by fundamental execution and price paid. 

The quality of a decision cannot be ascertained solely from its outcome. 
The outcome of any decision will be heavily influenced by unknowable information about the future and an element of luck or randomness. Thus, good decisions may fail and poor decisions may succeed. However, as the sample size increases over time, those with a better process and higher decision quality will increase their chances of producing good outcomes on average. Luck can drive short-term results but will even itself out long-term. 

We focus our limited time and resources on investment research rather than asset gathering. 
We have a small capital base and our team is lean. We feel strongly that our primary responsibly is to our existing limited partners. For that reason, we choose to focus our time trying to maximize potential investment returns.

We strive to be fully invested but are comfortable holding cash during market extremes. 
Investors can look back on any given period throughout history and find several reasons to remain fearfully uninvested. Generally, more gains are missed from risk intolerance and trying to time the market than losses avoided from bear markets. But, during market extremes, there is time to make money and a time to preserve capital. We are comfortable holding cash in rare instances of irrational exuberance, and we are prepared to deploy capital when prices reflect excessive pessimism. 

We treat our limited partners like true partners. 
We view our limited partners as true partners and intend to treat you the way we would like to be treated if the roles were reversed. We manage your money as if it were our own. We strive to be very accessible and will answer any pertinent questions in a transparent manner.