Monday 1 November 2010

Warren Buffett's Priceless Investment Advice

It is great when you can find high quality stocks offered at bargain prices.  However, most of the time, you will find that they are selling at fair prices. 

It is only during certain periods in the market when these high quality stocks are again offered at bargain prices.  These bargains are often not large, as those holding these stocks are often smart, long term investors who know the 'intrinsic' value of their shares.

Well, if you have to invest regularly, you can either wait for a 'right' time when stocks are offered at relative bargain prices.  Alternatively, you can actually acquire these stocks 'almost immediately' and 'regularly' as many are trading at their fair prices.

Here is a strategy you may wish to adopt profitably into your investing strategies.  

"It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price."

If investing in wonderful companies at fair prices is good enough for Warren Buffett -- arguably the finest investor on the planet -- it should be good enough for the rest of us.

The devil is in the details

Buying great companies at reasonable prices can deliver solid returns for long-term investors. The challenge, of course, is identifying great companies -- and determining what constitutes a reasonable price.

Buffett recommends that investors look for companies that deliver outstanding returns on capital and produce substantial cash profits. He also suggests that you look for companies with a huge economic moat to protect them from competitors. You can identify companies with moats by looking for strong brands that stand alongside consistent or improving profit margins and returns on capital.

How do you determine the right buy price for shares in such companies? Buffett advises that you wait patiently for opportunities to purchase stocks at a significant discount to their intrinsic values -- as calculated by taking the present value of all future cash flows. Ultimately, he believes that "value will in time always be reflected in market price." When the market finally recognizes the true worth of your undervalued shares, you begin to earn solid returns.

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