Paul Johnson: Why "Value Investing" Was Never the Right Name. Fundamental Investing — Not Value vs. Growth Is the Real Divide in Markets

<p>My guest today is Professor Paul Johnson, a veteran value investor, long-time Columbia and Fordham professor, and co-author of <em>The Enduring Value of Roger Murray</em>, <em>Pitch the Perfect Investment</em>, and <em>The Gorilla Game</em>. He&#39;s taught in the same value investing tradition that runs from Benjamin Graham through Roger Murray, and he brings both a practitioner&#39;s and a historian&#39;s eye to our conversation today.</p><p><strong>02:10</strong> – Origin story: a teenage bet on a gold penny stock turned $250 into $2,500 and hooked Paul on markets with &quot;no physical labor.&quot;<br><strong>08:46</strong> – Debut theory: the &#39;73–&#39;74 crash plus the rise of <em>relative</em> performance permanently reshaped investing after Graham.<br><strong>10:54</strong> – Buffett&#39;s 1991 letter: value and growth investing are &quot;basically the same thing&quot; — the label &quot;value investing&quot; is redundant.<br><strong>24:54</strong> – Correction for the record: David Dodd, not Murray, taught Security Analysis until 1961.<br><strong>27:04</strong> – Murray&#39;s core contribution: rigor and discipline — illustrated by the Leon Cooperman &quot;400-number table&quot; story.<br><strong>33:26</strong> – The magnet metaphor: intrinsic value pulls price toward it over time, though price can overshoot or undershoot.<br><strong>42:28</strong> – Paul pushes back on his own construct: ignoring the future still means betting value stays stable.<br><strong>47:39</strong> – Bruce Greenwald&#39;s addition: sustainable competitive advantage, and the 1997 &quot;Competitive Advantage Period&quot; paper with Mauboussin.<br><strong>51:53</strong> – Why growth concentrates in mega-caps: scale, internet infrastructure, and the &quot;optionality&quot; to acquire threats early.<br><strong>58:45</strong> – Framing device: &quot;What if AI is just a normal disruptive technology?&quot; — like electricity or the internal combustion engine.<br><strong>01:16:14</strong> – &quot;I say the key to investment&quot; — a superior value estimate plus the ability to hold through volatility.<br><strong>01:17:33</strong> – A Buffett-adjacent friend rode $10K to $1B because he &quot;didn&#39;t want to disappoint Warren.&quot;</p><p></p><p><strong>Podcast Program – Disclosure Statement</strong></p><p>Blue Infinitas Capital, LLC is a registered investment adviser and the opinions expressed by the Firm’s employees and podcast guests on this show are their own and do not