In writing this post, I am assuming that readers understand what holding companies mean. If not, then you may read a simple primer on holding companies (link to another blog). I do not have any particular bias against or for holding companies. As I have said on many in past, investing should be based on your objectives. These objectives should take into consideration your risk profile and time horizon. This blog is about long term sustainable wealth creation. Does holding companies fit into it? How?
I try to keep things simple and focused. Style and panacea does not give you sustainable returns. Your sustainable returns comes from substance behind those stocks. All holding companies are not created equal, and hence all cannot be grouped together as good or bad. As an individual investor, you need to separate holding companies that have substance and fits your portfolio objectives. Continue reading rest of this article…
Do you know how many people investing and/or trading in equity markets truly succeed over long term? Success here means increase in wealth over their investing lifetimes. This group of people includes individual retail folks and professionals. I am sure many of us would have no clue. I do not have any hard core reference to share; however, I can recall reading various percentages that range from 1% to 7%. Without going in specific data points, my observation has been every time this is less than 10% of investing population. More than 90% of the folks will lose money in equity markets over their investing lifetime. Quite startling but this is very true.
Blue Star Limited (BLUESTARCO) is India’s largest central air conditioning company with an annual turnover of Rs 2574 crores, a network of 29 offices, 5 modern manufacturing facilities, 700 dealers and around 2600 employees. Blue Star primarily focuses on the corporate and commercial markets. These include institutional, industrial and government organizations as well as commercial establishments such as showrooms, restaurants, banks, hospitals, theatres, shopping malls and boutiques. It also has leadership in the field of commercial refrigeration equipment ranging from water coolers to cold storages.
Voltamp Transformers Limited (VOLTAMP) is one of the leading player in customized transformers for industrial applications. It has a niche in 132kV market segment and now looking to expand upto 220kV market segment. The key aspect that I like about Voltamp Transformers is its focus on niche market. It has created a space for itself in industrial segments, has zero debt, and focus of controlled growth.
I take a considerable amount of time to perform a thorough quantitative and qualitative evaluation for any stock or the company. I believe it is necessary since I am investing for long haul. How does a one month or two month matter when I am attempting to visualize for next 10 years or more. Yes, I agree delaying couple of months will make me miss the window of opportunity or as the stock investing lingo says, missing the multi-bagger.
Media pundits and business experts are again beating the drums of bonus shares from Reliance. And we all individuals, without giving the thought, start beating the drum of the bonhomie, and are rejoicing that we are getting something for free. Because it is termed as “Bonus”, it is free and we all should be happy for it. Happy that company management is thinking about shareholders and giving them “Bonus Shares”. Coming from school of “value thinking” I believe this is fools paradise. We have lost our ability to think rationally and then make a judgment call. Let us discuss little bit more….
Three Pillar of Berkshire’s Intrinsic Value – What do we Learn?
I am not a hardcore follower of Buffett’s investing philosophy. It is not because I do not agree with Buffett’s/Graham’s investing philosophy, but primarily because, my situation is different. The environment which influences my investing decisions is quite different than in which Buffett makes his decisions. Having said that, I like to understand his thought process to see if there is anything that I can use. I may not be able to use them on ‘as is’ basis, but at least the notion behind them can be applied. For example, I like Buffett’s practice of asking its holding companies to share a significant portion of earnings in the form of dividends. He believes he is in a better position to use this capital than company management.
Buffett’s letter to shareholders is released as a part of Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRK) annual reports. In almost all cases, I completely ignore CEOs/MDs letters in annual report. They are pure garbage in a sense they do not tell you anything. That is not a case with Buffett’s letters. Each and every year, his letters provide an insight in his thought process. This year was no different. Continue reading rest of this article…