Buy and hold, hopefully forever…
Terry Smith is a man who uses words like a sniper uses bullets and, if you want to read something worthwhile, then his latest report is worth investigating. Of course, nothing beats the original and so any (fortunate) Fundsmith investors (or prospective investors) should obviously go straight here and look for the “Short Form Report For Period Ended […]
Paul Polman must be an ambitious man; not content with the mundane business of attempting to nudge Unilever’s earnings higher, he wants to reduce global poverty and address climate change into the bargain. In addition, according to this piece in the Telegraph, he also takes other business leaders to task for blindly chasing profits – […]
I have a soft spot for GSK; it was the first serious investment I made after I set up my ISA. It seemed to offer everything I was looking for: relatively cheap starting valuation, steady, predictable growth, a juicy dividend (paid quarterly, which is even better), global operations, and long track record of shareholder friendliness. We are […]
With Neil Woodford announcing earlier this week that he has sold out of Reckitt due to its rich price and now Hugh Yarrow at Evenlode Income reducing his position, I thought that I should take a quick look to see whether I can see what all the fuss is about. Reckitt Benckiser, for anyone who doesn’t know, makes cleaning and […]
There was an unusually stark difference of opinion between two great investors about Tesco early in 2012. Just at about the time Buffett was filling up his trolley with the retailer, Neil Woodford was… checking out [groan]. Neither investor tends to deal in bite-sized portions and so, sure enough, the positioning was significant–Woodford took Tesco from about […]
There is a lot of talk about various markets being at or near their all-time highs, but I do not believe that it necessarily follows that all shares are over-priced as a result. With that belief (and hope) in mind, I added a few more JP Morgan shares at a shade over $60 last week. […]
Diageo, by any metrics, is a high quality company that keeps a lot of people happy. With its consistently high return on capital employed (never below 30% in the last five years) and solid dividend record (16 years of increasing dividends, currently yielding 3%) it has plenty to offer investors; but with its stable of market-leading brands, […]
I timed my post of two days ago perfectly: no sooner than I had finished trumpeting the sagacity and confidence shown by the AstraZeneca directors in buying shares in their charge, than it promptly deflated by 5% The reason given was that stricter rules on tax inversion in the US may scupper future deals. And […]
Shortly after the AstraZeneca board’s indecently hasty rejection of Pfizer’s (a.k.a. the praying mantis) “final” bid a few months ago, I said on Twitter that it would be nice to see some of them put their money where their cigars were. Granted, I was mildly piqued by the speed with which the Pfizer bid was […]
While tobacco may not be a pleasant business to be in, not many people would dispute how lucrative it has been. Lorillard shareholders, in particular, will probably have been breaking out the bubbly recently as they digested the details of their company’s $27.4 billion acquisition by Reynolds American. However, I can’t help wondering how Lorillard’s former owners–the hotels to insurance conglomerate Loews–will be […]