What if you had copied Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb?
Sequoia Fund team
The verdict
Copying Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb's 13F filings from Feb 2020 would have turned $10,000 into $22,806, less than the S&P 500 did.
The S&P 500 turned the same $10,000 into $24,639 over the same days. The copy returned +13.0% a year against +14.4% for the S&P 500, 1.3 points a year behind. Its worst fall was 37.2%, from Feb 20, 2020 to Mar 23, 2020. The S&P 500's worst fall over the test was 33.7%.
Copied Feb 18, 2020 to Nov 9, 2026 · SEC 13F filings and daily closes
What $10,000 became
- Copying Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb$22,806
- S&P 500$24,639
- Bought their first portfolio and never traded$24,836
If you had bought their first portfolio and never traded, you would have ended at $24,836, so following every move cost $2,030.
- $10,000 copied
- $22,806
- +128.1%, +13.0% a year
- In the S&P 500
- $24,639
- +146.4%, +14.4% a year
- No trading
- $24,836
- Bought their first portfolio and never traded
- Worst fall
- −37.2%
- Feb 20, 2020 to Mar 23, 2020
- Trades
- 141
- 94 buys, 47 sales over 27 filings; about 38% of the copy traded a year
The moves that made the most
- TSMTaiwan Semiconductor+$2,329
Held since Feb 2020, the stock up 686%
- GOOGLAlphabet+$1,621
Held since Feb 2020, the stock up 283%
- GOOGAlphabet+$1,316
Held since Feb 2020, the stock up 281%
- SCHWSchwab (charles)+$1,130
Held since Feb 2020, the stock up 117%
- ICEIntercontinental Exchange+$1,031
Held since Nov 2020, the stock up 88%
- METAMeta Platforms+$891
Held since Feb 2020, the stock up 197%
The moves that cost the most
Held since Aug 2024, the stock down 66%
- KMXCarmax−$193
Held from Feb 2020 to Feb 2026, the stock down 57%
- DISWalt Disney−$106
Held from Aug 2020 to Aug 2022, the stock down 3%
Held from Nov 2020 to Nov 2021, the stock down 21%
Held since May 2021
- BKNGBooking−$52
Held from Feb 2020 to Aug 2020, the stock down 11%
Year by year
| Year | Copy | S&P 500 | Gap, pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020from Feb 2020 | +21.3% | +13.1% | +8.2 |
| 2021 | +33.5% | +28.7% | +4.8 |
| 2022 | −30.3% | −18.2% | −12.1 |
| 2023 | +27.1% | +26.2% | +0.9 |
| 2024 | +22.4% | +24.9% | −2.5 |
| 2025 | +17.4% | +17.7% | −0.3 |
| 2026to Nov 2026 | +10.6% | +11.5% | −0.9 |
A historical test on paper, before costs and taxes. It trades at the close of the first trading day after each filing comes out, up to 45 days after the quarter, and skips delisted companies, which flatters it.