"When we are researching a new idea or reviewing an old one, we adhere to one very simple rule of thumb, we would rather be generally right, than precisely wrong.  We aren’t fortune tellers.  We can’t predict the earnings of all companies in the S&P 500 with any certainty.  And, we certainly don’t know what multiple the market will place on earnings at a specific date in the future.  What we can do, is assess past performance of a business and make reasonable assumptions about where the business might be headed in the future, and then stress test those assumptions.  We commit capital (both our own and our clients) only when we feel there is a margin of safety built in to the investment.  As long as many on Wall Street are spending their time on market and macroeconomic predictions instead of bottom up fundamental stock picking, we should continue to have opportunities to find the types of companies we look for selling at attractive prices."

-Excerpt from ACM Q4'12 Quarterly Letter