Value Investing is an investment system that comes from concepts that Ben Graham & David Dodd taught at Columbia Business School beginning in 1928. Later they refined their teachings and published them in their 1934 book Security Analysis. In general, value investing involves some form of fundamental analysis and buying securities at apparent bargain prices. This discount of the market price to the economic value (also intrinsic value or true business worth) is what Benjamin Graham called the "margin of safety."

Fenimore looks at a stock purchase as if we were going to buy the entire company. We believe that following a consistent process is vital before buying stock shares. When we look for outstanding companies, they must fit all four of these criteria:

1. Good businesses that we understand, have a competitive advantage and possess high profit margins.
2. Companies that have significant free cash flow and deploy capital wisely.
3. Enterprises with superior management teams; leaders who are honest, ethical, energetic and have a strong track record of increasing the economic value of their organizations.
4. Businesses we can buy at a discount to our estimate of economic value – this is our margin of safety.