The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday edition that guest columnist George Athanassakos has a question for value investors: If you had to choose between the two, which stock would you pick -- Fairfax Financial or Berkshire Hathaway? Both companies are in the insurance industry, led by celebrated investors Prem Watsa and Warren Buffett, respectively. Both companies subscribe to the value-investing philosophy. Berkshire is now the sixth-largest company in the United States by market cap, so it is hard to compound returns at the same rate as it did in the past, when it was smaller. Also, Berkshire is focused on North America which, as a region, is bound to have fewer growth opportunities than markets in other parts of the world, particularly emerging economies where Fairfax has been heavily investing in recent years. In addition, Mr. Buffett is at an advanced age and is no longer making Berkshire's investment decisions. Mr. Athanassakos says he has no doubt that Berkshire's recent investments in airlines and Apple were not called by Mr. Buffett. Finally, Fairfax invests in smaller, lesser-known companies than Berkshire which, by definition, have better opportunities to compound returns than Berkshire's targets.