Yes, because you guys buy smokestack industries, boring banks & yesterday’s growth Not true We simply want decent businesses at a sensible price with good odds of an attractive return And what smart person thinks that’s a bad idea (or smell)? Other than Jack D from Square who thinks paying $29bn for Afterpay’s $4m of … Read on
US$29bn No, no-one acquired Newcrest, one of the world’s largest gold miners at a 70% premium Square bought, “Buy now, pay later” company, Afterpay (AP) They must have some unique technology No, but they do have a great Vision “Fairness & Financial Freedom for all” and Visions aren’t cheap Well I do value Fairness & … Read on
As he disembarked, he was arrested at gunpoint, sent to a remote prison beyond reach of journalists, charged with tax evasion, & spent the next 10 yrs in a Siberian gulag He is Mikhail Khodorkovsky (MK), the CEO of Yukos, one of the world’s largest oil companies at the time But unfortunately for MK & … Read on
Compound growth of 19% for 21.5 years Wow, a tech company? No, a retailer on-line? No Well, then they must have opened lots of stores? At a rate of 4% per annum so 3x the store base, not 50x So they’ve increased sales in each store? Nope, barely changed +1.5% CAGR Ok, a massive increase … Read on
Unfortunately less relaxing than with Badedas Volumes grew 4% & prices rose 1.3% but turnover only increased 0.3% despite 1.4% from acquisitions EPS fell 2%, Free cash flow fell €500m to €2.4bn and they cut their underlying margin outlook But they’re on 20x forward earnings… What happened? Well, last year when we were stockpiling PotNoodle … Read on
No, not bungee jumping or parachuting, I read the transcript of the FOMC meeting Because I know what companies on the ground are saying about inflation But I wanted to see if the Fed still thinks it’s “transitory?” So what did “Chair Powell” say about inflation forecasts & forecasters? “There is no great forecaster of … Read on
Like with ETF construction The largest holding in the Russell 1000 & 1000 Growth indices is Apple The largest in the Russell 1000 Value index is Berkshire Hathaway Whose largest portfolio holding is… Apple $108bn of their $447bn equity value How does that make sense? “Russell style indexes are built using three highly representative growth … Read on
So I prefer facts to forecasts One of which is that US Producer Price Index (PPI) was 9.5% in April, a level last seen in June 1981 apart from 3 “transitory” months mid-2008 So spare a thought for the currently working, developed market economists, few of whom are likely to have worked during inflationary times … Read on
Sorry, “inflation is transitory” ESG is here to stay, right? But what if ESG is CAUSING inflation Is inflation still transitory? “Environmental” in ESG means moving from fossil fuels to renewables Which is happening IEEFA.org details 77 financial co’s that are restricting fossil fuel lending to oil & gas co’s, & 145 that have announced divestment … Read on
In 2007, the performance of the USA was well behind the Rest of the World over 1, 3, 5 7, & 10 years. No advisor looking at this performance table would have steered any clients in the USA’s direction. Unless they’d remembered performance tables are always history. ETF assets at the time – $0.8trn. Roll … Read on