DISTINGUISHED BY PRINCIPLES Discover our investment approach and results driven philosophy Starvine Capital Corporation
DISCOVER THE STARVINE STRATEGY DISTINGUISHED BY PRINCIPLES Discipline. Growth. Value. Starvine Capital
BUILD YOUR WEALTH HERE Starvine Capital
FOCUS.GROWTH. COMPOUNDING.LONG TERM. BOTTOM UP.TRANSPARENCY. CONTROL.

Starvine Capital Corporation is a boutique investment manager that specializes in the practice of value investing.
Starvine serves as a portfolio management firm for individuals who have a relatively long time horizon and prefer a research-driven investment process focused on absolute results.

ASSET SAFETY
Boutique service combined with big bank safety
Invest with confidence knowing that National Bank Independent Network (NBIN), a division of National Bank of Canada, ensures the safe custody of all assets and performs our back-office services.
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INDEPENDENT THINKING
Be a contrarian
Starvine’s process focuses on objectivity. Decisions are based on a bottom-up framework of qualifying investments rather than technical or market forecasts.
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COMPOUNDING
The eigth wonder of the world.
Starvine strives to grow clients’ money by identifying companies that (1) have a runway to reinvest earnings at a respectable rate of return, and/or (2) trade significantly below fair value.
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Our Client-Focused Approach

Understanding the Client
In-depth assessment

The portfolio manager will first work to gain an understanding of the client’s situation. What are the client’s needs, objectives, risk tolerance, and investment knowledge? Based on the aforementioned information, the portfolio manager will assess the type of solution required for the client.

Forming a Solution
Implementation

At this stage, the portfolio manager has taken account of unique needs shared by the client and devised a solution. Although Starvine’s research resources are mainly devoted to equity selection, any client’s asset mix can be diversified to include passive ETFs depending on the situation.

Modern investments
Rebalancing and Monitoring
A continuous process

The Separately Managed Account(s) are rebalanced as often as is necessary to stay within risk controls. Through a third party online portal, clients have unlimited, real-time transparency into the ongoings of their portfolios if desired. Direct communication with the portfolio manager is an option for all clients.

Continuous Improvement
The Starvine Way

As time passes, a client’s objectives, risk tolerances, and life situation can evolve; this may trigger a re-evaluation of the investment solution that best fits the client. From a portfolio management perspective, the research towards improving the risk-return dynamic of the strategies is never-ending.

Steven Ko Portfolio Manager of Starvine Capital portrait

Message from the
Founder / Portfolio Manager

Objectives

Starvine Capital was incepted to help individuals reach their long range financial objectives. In a world with boundless choices for your investment dollars, Starvine’s style falls under the category of value investing. If you are unfamiliar with investing, how should you discern between all the choices? Do your homework, ask plenty of questions, and never rush decisions.

Value

Value investing is a philosophy that applies to far more than just stock selection. Popularized by Warren Buffett and his former professor, Ben Graham, successful value investing requires an objective process to determine what a company is worth, and buying only when a price can be obtained that is significantly below that estimate. In doing so, the investor gains confidence that a margin of safety has been secured. By paying a low price, he has left a margin for his assumptions to have a degree of error and still have a positive outcome.

Discipline

To me, value investing is a discipline of looking through the market’s emotions surrounding a stock and focusing on the truth behind each company. If we are able to gather the critical facts, we can come to a calm determination of what constitutes a compelling price for each individual investment candidate. In the mind of a value investor, true risk is not governed by how unpopular a company is at the moment, but rather by an objective assessment of the sturdiness of the underlying business.

True value investors welcome price volatility as an opportunity, not a threat. At times, market psychology can detach prices from fair values. This will create opportunities once in a while to profit.  However much value investing seems to make sense for the casual onlooker, it is not easy. All investors make mistakes of judgement, some more so and some less so than average. Value investors must have faith in their analysis and be comfortable acting against conventional wisdom for extended periods of time. Nonconsensus returns usually are not available on decisions based on consensus views.

Goals

Ultimately, any investor with long term goals should strive to benefit from compounding, which equates to exponential growth over the long run. The fluctuations in markets and prices in the short term, however, can render progress difficult to assess to the naked eye. In our journey to achieve compounding, the key is continous improvement. Is the investment process rational and conducive to consistent decision making? Are the risk controls restrictive enough to preclude excessive exposure to outsized positions while allowing adequate room for investors to benefit from truly outstanding ideas? Process is everything.

The Starvine strategies are able to accomodate RRSP, TFSA, and taxable accounts.

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Starvine Capital