Value Investing Setup

This guide is a worked example: configuring a Driven Agent end to end for a value investing strategy. It ties together the Playbook, screening, research, and scheduled tasks into one coherent setup you can adapt to your own approach. For other styles, see Growth investing setup and Macro trading setup.

Step 1: Create a dedicated Agent

Value investing has its own assumptions and time horizon, so give it its own Agent:

Create an agent named "Value Research" for a long-term value investing strategy.

Step 2: Build the Playbook

The Playbook is what makes the Agent think like a value investor:

Add to this portfolio's Playbook:

Philosophy: Long-term value investing. Buy quality businesses trading below intrinsic value and hold for years.

Universe: US and Hong Kong listed companies. Profitable, established businesses.

What I look for: durable competitive advantages, consistent free cash flow, strong balance sheets, capable management, and a margin of safety between price and intrinsic value.

What I avoid: unprofitable companies, high leverage, businesses I can't understand, and hype-driven valuations.

Risk and sizing: maximum 10% per position, concentrated portfolio of high-conviction names, long holding periods.

Research style: prioritize business quality, moat durability, free cash flow, balance sheet strength, and valuation versus intrinsic value. Always state the bear case and what would break the thesis.

Step 3: Set up value screening

Screen for US and Hong Kong companies with consistent free cash flow, low debt, returns on capital above their cost of capital, and valuations below their historical average and below peers. Rank by margin of safety.

This becomes a repeatable source of candidates. See Screen stocks by fundamentals.

Step 4: Research candidates the value way

For each candidate, run analysis focused on what matters to a value investor:

Analyze [TICKER] as a value investment. Cover the durability of the business, the moat, free cash flow generation, balance sheet strength, management quality, intrinsic value versus current price, and the bear case.

Then value it properly with Valuation Matrix:

Run a Valuation Matrix on [TICKER]. Estimate intrinsic value with appropriate methods, cross-check against peers, and tell me the margin of safety at the current price.

Step 5: Set up monitoring

Value investing is patient, so the monitoring is about theses, not daily moves:

Each month, review my value holdings. For each, check whether the business quality and thesis still hold, and flag any where the fundamentals have deteriorated. Ignore short-term price moves unless they create a new opportunity.

Step 6: Build a watchlist of “wait for the price”

Value investors often find great businesses at the wrong price. Track them:

Add to my watchlist quality businesses I'd want to own at the right price, and alert me if any falls to an attractive valuation.

Common mistakes

Confusing cheap with value. A low multiple can signal a value trap. The Playbook emphasizes quality first, then price.
Impatience. Value setups reward waiting. The monitoring is deliberately tuned to ignore noise.
Skipping the bear case. Every value thesis should be stress-tested against what would make it wrong.

Build your Playbook — the Playbook fundamentals
Valuation Matrix — estimating intrinsic value
Screen stocks by fundamentals — finding candidates
Multi-agent strategies — run value alongside other strategies

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Value Investing Setup

Step 1: Create a dedicated Agent

Step 2: Build the Playbook

Step 3: Set up value screening

Step 4: Research candidates the value way

Step 5: Set up monitoring

Step 6: Build a watchlist of “wait for the price”

Common mistakes

​Step 1: Create a dedicated Agent

​Step 2: Build the Playbook

​Step 3: Set up value screening

​Step 4: Research candidates the value way

​Step 5: Set up monitoring

​Step 6: Build a watchlist of “wait for the price”

​Common mistakes

​Related

Step 1: Create a dedicated Agent

Step 2: Build the Playbook

Step 3: Set up value screening

Step 4: Research candidates the value way

Step 5: Set up monitoring

Step 6: Build a watchlist of “wait for the price”

Common mistakes

Related