Buy and hold, hopefully forever…
In an earlier post (Intrinsic value and a formula) I had a look at a formula proposed by Ben Graham to simplify the mathematical models that were popular at the time. Subsequently, however, after interest rates took off in the 1970s, he returned to this formula and attempted to factor these into the calculation. The […]
Hetty The Genius and Madness of American’s First Female Tycoon by Charles Slack (2004) If known for anything at all today, Hetty Green is most likely known only through her “World’s Greatest Miser” entry in the Guinness Book of World Records. Having read the above thoroughly enjoyable biography and given her the benefit of the doubt for as long […]
“We don’t comment on market speculation or rumors,” said Andrew Topen, a Pfizer spokesman. A sound policy but, fortunately, we have the Sunday Times to tell us that Pfizer in recent weeks made an informal approach to buy AstraZeneca for around 60 billion pounds. At a 27% premium to AstraZeneca’s current market value, that would provide […]
IBM IBM reported quarterly earnings that disappointed Wall Street again on Wednesday evening. Revenue weighed in at $22.48 billion against an expected $22.91 billion, containing a 23% drop in hardware revenue. Flat revenue, with a lot of the EPS growth coming from buybacks is an old story with IBM. Nevertheless, it ploughed on with its […]
Perhaps it is negative, but the first question I ask myself before purchasing a share is: Well, yes, but is it overvalued? It is very difficult for non-experts (like me) to find shares that clearly offer very good value, but it can be easier to identify the more egregiously overpriced shares. There is a range of rules-of-thumb that […]
Trying to determine which Premier League managers are doing well and which are not is an on-going debate that has kept publicans in business for generations. I have always admired the unfashionable managers like Big Sam (of the baggy suits), Tony Pulis (of the club shop), and David Moyes (in his steely Everton incarnation), because they consistently seem to get disparate groups of players […]
Scotch whisky drinkers tend to be a difficult demographic: armchair-based, routine-driven, stuffy on a good day while downright grumpy on a bad, and very exacting when it comes to deciding what goes into their crystal tumblers. Trying to market a new brand to this lot is like trying to sell fillet steak to a penny-pinching vegetarian. Diageo have neatly sidestepped that problem by developing —Haig […]
One of the many amusing market clichés you see on financial sites is dash to trash. Frustratingly for the painstakingly careful, discerning investor (me) in quality companies (low-cost producers that are not up to their eyes in debt), this dash does actually happen, especially in one of those phew, we’re still alive comebacks after a steep market fall–but why? Philip […]
Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits by Philip A. Fisher (1957) Hindsight must be the most useless and distracting tool in the investor’s armoury, but it does serve one purpose–it enables you to immediately identify and read the seminal works on the subject, rather than wasting your untethered-to-the-desk hours on drivel. If you do happen to peruse a best-of list, then it won’t take long to encounter a […]
A lot of light and noise has been generated by a new book–Flash Boys–that raises concerns about high-frequency trading (HFT) and enables journalists to use plenty of alarming phrases such as algorithmic terrorism, dark pools, and the little people getting fleeced. Michael Lewis, a man who, had he been born in a different era might well have been commissioned to […]