Letter To Investors

As a boy growing up in Detroit, Michigan, in the 1960s and ‘70s, I came to know the value of a buck. I saved the money I made from cutting grass and delivering the Detroit News — I got my first paper route in 7th grade and soon thereafter bought another route — and felt tremendous pride when I was able to buy a ten-speed Schwinn bicycle.

Today, our clients are also saving for something. For some, it’s a better retirement; for others, their children’s education or another worthwhile goal. We at Roumell Asset Management take seriously that we are often the bridge to realizing those goals.

As we invest, we follow certain instincts that took root for me in Detroit and remain alive to this day. One of those instincts is to buy at a discount. We invest in businesses when they go on sale. If a business (and its assets) are not available at what we think is a bargain price, we’re simply not interested.

Another instinct is to honor and recognize that people matter. Ideally, we want to invest in companies whose management teams are not only competent business people, but also recognize the moral imperative of managing their business in an honorable and trustworthy manner.

We wrote this to give the interested investor a clear understanding of what we do: how we go about discerning value and consequently deciding if a security is worth purchasing.

You will find that Roumell Asset Management values math. We enjoy “running the numbers” and viewing them in the context of the entire company’s operations. We believe sound arithmetic and diligent detective work can combine to make a potent investment strategy. Ours is a straightforward and sensible approach to investing.

James C. Roumell