The Possibility of Reinvesting More Capital in companies with High Returns on Capital

Bear in mind that the potential for companies with high returns on capital to reinvest a lot of capital are limited, since they tend not be be very capital intensive (e.g. Nestle Malaysia and Dutch Lady).

Furthermore, the market will probably be correctly pricing such gems which are capable of obtaining high returns over time, meaning we must wait for the right moment to acquire them at a reasonable price, because they are rarely gong to come cheap.

If some of these companies with high returns on capital in attractive sectors also offer a certain amount of growth, facilitating reinvestment of capital, then we are looking at a gem, with the added benefit of being coherent with our long term investment philosophy.

If a company can reinvest with a 20% return on investment over the next 20 years and we are able to buy the stock at a reasonable price, then the return on our investment will be close to this annual 20% over 20 years.

Return on Shareholders' Equity

SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY/BOOK VALUE

Balance Sheet/Shareholders' Equity
($ in millions)
Total Liabilities	$21,525
Preferred Stock	0
Common Stock	880
Additional Paid in Capital	7,378
Retained Earnings	36,235
Treasury Stock--Common	-23,375
Other Equity	626
Total Shareholders' Equity	21,744
Total Liabilities + Shareholders' Equity	$43,269

When you subtract all your liabilities from all your assets you get your net worth. If you take a company's total assets and subtract its total liabilities you get the net worth of the company, which is also known as the shareholders' equity or book value of the business. This is the amount of money that the company's owners/shareholders have initially put in and have left in the business to keep it running. Shareholders' Equity is accounted for under the headings of Capital Stock, which includes Preferred and Common Stock; Paid in Capital, and Retained Earnings. Add together Total Liabilities and Total Shareholders' Equity and you get a sum that should equal Total Assets, which is why it is called a balance sheet---both sides balance.

Why Shareholders' Equity is an important number to us is that it allows us to calculate the return on shareholders' equity, which is one of the ways we determine whether or not the company in question has a long-term competitive advantage working in its favor.

Let's check it out.

RETURN ON SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY: PART ONE

Balance Sheet/Shareholders' Equity
($ in millions)
Preferred Stock	0
Common Stock	880
Additional Paid in Capital	7,378
Retained Earnings	36,235
Treasury Stock--Common	-23,375
Other Equity	626
Total Shareholders' Equity	21,744

Shareholders' equity is equal to the company's total assets minus its total liabilities. That happens to equal the total sums of preferred and common stock, plus paid in capital, plus retained earnings, less treasury stock.

Shareholders' equity has three sources. 

• One is the capital that was originally raised selling preferred and common stockto the public. 
• The second is any later sales of preferred and common stock to the public after the company is up and running. 
• The third, and most important to us, is the accumulation of retained earnings.

Since all equity belongs to the company, and since the company belongs to the common shareholders, the equity really belongs to the common shareholders, which is why it is called shareholders' equity.

Now if we are shareholders in a company, we would be very interested in how good a job management does at allocating our money, so we can earn even more. If they are bad at it we won't be very happy and might even sell our shares and put our money elsewhere. But if they are really good at it we might even buy more of the company, along with everyone else who is impressed with management's ability to profitably put shareholders' equity to good use. To this end, financial analysts developed the return on shareholders' equity equation to test management's efficiency in allocating the shareholders' money. This is an equation that Warren puts great stock in, in his search for the company with a durable competitive advantage, and it is the topic of our next chapter.

RETURN ON SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY: PART Two

Calculation: Net Earnings divided by Shareholders' Equity equals Return on Shareholders' Equity.

What Warren discovered is that companies that benefit from a durable or long-term competitive advantage show higher-than-average returns on shareholders' equity. Warren's favorite, Coca-Cola, shows a return on shareholders' equity of 30%; Wrigley comes in at 24%; Hershey's earns a delicious 33%; and Pepsi measures in at 34%.

Shift over to a highly competitive business like the airlines, where no one company has a sustainable competitive advantage, and return on equity sinks dramatically. United Airlines, in a year that it makes money, comes in at 15 %, and American Airlines earns 4%. Delta Air Lines and Northwest don't earn anything because they don't earn any money.

High returns on equity mean that the company is making good use of the earnings that it is retaining. As time goes by, these high returns on equity will add up and increase the underlying value of the business, which, over time, will eventually be recognized by the stock market through an increasing price for the company's stock.

Please note: Some companies are so profitable that they don't need to retain any earnings, so they pay them all out to the shareholders. In these cases we will sometimes see a negative number for shareholders' equity. The danger here is that insolvent companies will also show a negative number for shareholders' equity. If the company shows a long history of strong net earnings, but shows a negative shareholders' equity, it is probably a company with a durable competitive advantage. If the company shows both negative shareholders' equity and a history of negative net earnings, we are probably dealing with a mediocre business that is getting beaten up by the competition.

So here is the rule: High returns on shareholders' equity means "come play." Low returns on shareholders' equity mean "stay away."

Got it? Okay, let's move on.

Accounting Return on Equity

Return on Equity (ROE) measures the rate of return earned by a company on its equity capital.

It indicates how efficient a firm is in generating profits from every dollar of net assets.


The ROE is computed as net income available to ordinary shareholders (after preference dividends have been paid) divided by the average total book value of equity.

ROE
= Net Income / Average Book Value of Equity
= Net Income /[ (Book Value of Equity FY1 + Book Value of Equity FY2)/2]


An increase in ROE might not always be a positive sign for the company.

• The increase in ROE may be the result of net income decreasing at a slower rate than shareholders' equity.  A declining net income is a source of concern for investors.
• The increase in ROE may be the result of debt issuance proceeds being used to repurchase shares.  This would increase the company's financial leverage (risk).

The importance of high ROE when selecting your stocks for the long term (Warren Buffett)

In his newsletter to Berkshire Hathaway's shareholders in 1987, Warren Buffett wrote a brilliant piece on his focus on return of equity in his selection of his companies.  Here are some of his notes.


1.   Only 6 out of 1000 had ROE > 30% during previous decade

In its 1988 Investor's Guide issue, Fortune reported that among the 500 largest industrial companies and 500 largest service companies, only six had averaged a return on equity of over 30% during the previous decade.  The best performer among the 1000 was Commerce Clearing House at 40.2%.

(Comment:  6 in 1000 is 0.6%)


2.  Only 25 of 1,000 companies had average ROE > 20% and no year with ROE < 15%, in last 10 years.

This Fortune study also mentioned that only 25 of the 1,000 companies met two tests of economic excellence -

• an average return on equity of over 20% in the ten years, 1977 through 1986, and 
• no year worse than 15%.

These business superstars were also stock market superstars:  During the decade, 24 of the 25 outperformed the S&P 500.

(Comment:  25 in 1000 is 2.5%)

3.  Companies with durable competitive advantage

These companies have two features.

• First, most use very little leverage compared to their interest-paying capacity.  Really good businesses usually don't need to borrow.
• Second, except for one company that is "high-tech" and several others that manufacture ethical drugs, the companies are in businesses that, on balance, seen rather mundane.  Most sell non-sexy products or services in much the same manner as they did ten years ago (though in larger quantities now, or at higher prices, or both). 

The record of these 25 companies confirms that making the most of an already strong business franchise, or concentrating on a single winning business theme, is what usually produces exceptional economics.  

(Comment:  About 20 of 1,000 companies in KLSE, that is, 2%, are investable for the long term.)

4.  Quoting Buffett from his 1987 letter to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway:

"There's not a lot new to report about these businesses - and that's good, not bad.  Severe change and exceptional returns usually don't mix.  Most investors, of course, behave as if just the opposite were true.  That is, they usually confer the highest price-earnings ratios on exotic-sounding businesses that hold out the promise of feverish change.  That prospect lets investors fantasise about future profitability rather than face today's business realities.  For such investor-dreamers, any blind date is preferable to one with the girl next door, no matter how desirable she may be."

Reference:

http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/1987.html

ROE as a proxy for Competitive Advantage

The DuPont formula

ROE= (Net Profit/ Sales) X (Sales/ Assets) X (Assets/ Equity)

And we are left with:   

ROE = Net Profit/ Equity

The DuPont breakdown goes on to show why ROE is such a critical ratio for analysts and investors alike. 

It basically is combination of three ratios that reflect overall profitability and efficiency of a company. 

This breakdown also shows the bearing of six factors on ROE instead of the usual two that we assume are the beginning and end of it.

ROE as a proxy for Competitive Advantage:

Consistently High RoE figures do indicate that the company has a moat. 

As seen above in the Dupont breakdown of RoE, a company can have a high RoE 

• either because it is able to sell its goods/services at a high margin 
• or because  increase its returns by either selling its products at a high rate. 

Only the third option is undesirable i.e having a high leverage which would mean high indebtedness . 

Remember, we said a consistently high levels of RoE to be construed as an evidence of a moat. 

This is because the denominator of this ratio includes shareholders equity which in turn consists of   share capital plus retained earnings (also called reserves and surplus)

Share holder's equity= Share capital + Retained earnings

Now as the company generates higher returns on equity, the profits are added to the retained earnings. 

So the denominator of ROE keeps increasing and so either the company has to

•  keep showing growth in its profits or 
• find ways to reduce the denominator. 

The company can do that by 

• either paying higher dividends 
• or buying back shares

- both strategies lead to gains for shareholders. 

http://www.investorwhiz.com/concepts/return-on-equity-roe

The best type of business to own

Businesses with Good Fundamentals - the best type of business to own


The best type of business to own is "one that over an extended period can employ large amounts of incremental capital at very high rates of return."  (Buffett)

In practice, most high-return businesses need relatively little capital.  (Buffett)

While the highest return attainable as a criterion is understandable, how capital intensive is a business is a very important consideration.

Buffett opines that between two "wonderful" busineesss one should choose the least capital intensive.  He admits that it took Charlie Munger and him 25 years to figure this out.  (Buffett).

Investment in Giant Enterprises. But how successful are they from the standpoint of the investor?

Let us take a look at the top listed companies in the stock market with either the highest assets or highest sales.  All of these enterprises have achieved enormous size, and by that token they have presumably made a great success.

But how successful are they from the standpoint of the investor?

What do you mean by success in this context?

 "A successful listed company is one which earns sufficient to justify an average valuation of its shares in excess of the invested capital behind them."

This means that to be really successful (or prosperous) the company must have an earning-power value which exceeds the amount invested by and for the stockholder.


$$$$$$


It is evident from an analysis that the biggest companies are not the best companies to invest in, based on the percentage earned on invested capital.

It is equally true that small-sized companies are not suited to the needs of the average investor, although there may be remarkable opportunities in individual concerns in this field.

There is some basis here for suggesting that defensive investors show preference to companies in the asset range between $50 million and $250 million, although we have no idea of propounding this as a hard-and-fast rule.


Benjamin Graham
The Intelligent Investor

Return on Equity (ROE) - the financial metric that investors should use to judge a company's annual performance

Buffett considers earning per share a smoke screen.

Most companies will retain a portion of their previous year's earnings as a way to increase their equity base.

Warren Buffett believes there is nothing spectacular about a company that increases earning per share by 10% if, at the same time, the company is growing its equity base by 10%.

He says this is no different than putting money in a savings account and letting the interest accumulate and compound.

Buffett prefers return on equity to earnings per share when analyzing a company.

He will make appropriate adjustments to the reported earnings to give a clear picture of how returns were generated as a return on business operations.

Buffett believes a business should achieve good return on equity while employing little or no debt.

Most investors judge annual performance by focusing on earnings per share.

According to Buffett, the proper way to judge a company's performance is though focusing on return on equity.

Return on equity is a better measure of annual performance because it takes into consideration a company's growing capital base.

Buffett uses ROE as his preferred financial metric to judge a company's annual performance; investors should do likewise.

Evaluating a Company - 10 Simple Rules

Having identified the company of interest and assembled the financial information, do the following analysis.

1.  Does the company have any identifiable consumer monopolies or brand-name products, or do they sell a commodity-type product?

2.  Do you understand how the company works?  Do you have intimate knowledge of, and experience with using the product or services of the company?

3.  Is the company conservatively financed?

4.  Are the earnings of the company strong and do they show an upward trend?

5.  Does the company allocate capital only to those businesses within its realm of expertise?

6.  Does the company buy back its own shares?  This is a sign that management utilizes capital to increase shareholder value when it is possible.

7.  Does the management spent the retained earnings of the company to increase the per share earnings, and, therefore, shareholders' value? That is, the management generates a good return on retained equities.

8.  Is the company's return on equity (ROE) above average?

9.  Is the company free to adjust prices to inflation?  The ability to adjust its prices to inflation without running the risk of losing sales, indicates pricing power.

10.  Do operations require large capital expenditures to constantly update the company's plant and equipment?   The company with low capital expenditures means that when it makes money, it doesn't have to go out and spend it on research and development or major costs for upgrading plant and equipment.


Once you have identified a company as one of the kinds of businesses you wish to be in, you still have to calculate if the market price for the stock will allow you a return equal to or better than your target return or your other options.  Let the market price determine the buy decision.  

Excellent businesses that can consistently earn high ROE are often bargain buys even at seemingly very high P/E ratios.

The secret that Warren has figured out is that excellent businesses that benefit from a consumer monopoly, that can consistently earn high rates of return on shareholders’ equity, are often bargain buys even at what seem to be very high price-to-earnings ratios.

Differing amounts of debt financing cause changes in EPS and thus a company's stock price.

Effect of Changes in Sales or Earnings on EBIT 

Differing amounts of debt financing cause changes in EPS and thus a company's stock price. The calculations for EBIT and EPS are as follows:

Formula 11.16

EBIT = sales - variable costs - fixed costs EPS = [(EBIT - interest)*(1-tax rate)] / shares outstanding

This LOS is best explained by the use of an example. 

Example:The following is Newco's cost of debt at various capital structures. Newco has $1 million in total assets and a tax rate of 40%. Assume that, at a debt level of zero, Newco has 20,000 shares outstanding.

Figure 11.10: Newco's cost of debt at various capital structures

In addition, Newco has annual sales of $5 million, variable costs are 40% of sales and fixed costs are equal to $2.4 million. At each level of debt, determine Newco's EPS.

Answer:At debt level 0%:
Shares outstanding are 20,000 and interest costs are 0.
EPS = [($5,000,000 - 2,000,000 - 2,400,000-0)*(1-0.4)]/20,000
EPS = $18 per share

At debt level 20%:
Shares outstanding are 16,000 [20,000*(1-20%)] and interest costs are 8,000 (200,000*0.04).
EPS = [($5,000,000 - 2,000,000 - 2,400,000-8,000)*(1-0.4)]/16,000
EPS = $22.20 per share

At debt level 40%:
Shares outstanding are 12,000 [20,000*(1-40%)] and interest costs are 24,000 (400,000*0.06).
EPS = [($5,000,000 - 2,000,000 - 2,400,000-24,000)*(1-0.4)]/12,000
EPS = $28.80 per share

At debt level 60%:
Shares outstanding are 8,000 [20,000*(1-60%)] and interest costs are 48,000 (600,000*0.08).
EPS = [($5,000,000 - 2,000,000 - 2,400,000-48,000)* (1-0.4)]/8,000
EPS= $41.40 per share

At debt level 80%:
Shares outstanding are 4,000 [20,000*(1-80%)] and interest costs are 80,000 (800,000*0.10).
EPS = [($5,000,000 - 2,000,000 - 2,400,000-80,000)* (1-0.4)]/4,000
EPS = $78.00 per share

With each increase in debt level (accompanied with the decrease in shares outstanding), Newco's earnings per share increases.

Read more: http://www.investopedia.com/exam-guide/cfa-level-1/corporate-finance/business-financial-risk.asp#ixzz1yey1qp1O

BUFFETT'S TENETS

Roger Lowenstein, in his excellent book on Buffett, suggests that Buffett’s success can be traced to his adherence to the basic notion that when you buy a stock, you are buying an underlying business.

Business Tenets:

The business the company is in should be simple and understandable. In fact, one of the few critiques of Buffett was his refusal to buy technology companies, whose business he said was difficult to understand.

The firm should have a consistent operating history, manifested in operating earnings that are stable and predictable.

The firm should be in a business with favorable long-term prospects.

Management Tenets:

The managers of the company should be candid. As evidenced by the way he treated his own stockholders, Buffett put a premium on managers he trusted. Part of the reason he made an investment in The Washington Post was the high regard that he had for Katherine Graham, who inherited the paper from her husband.


The managers of the company should be leaders and not followers. In practical terms, Buffett was looking for companies that mapped out their own long-term strategies rather than imitating other firms.

Financial Tenets:

The company should have a high return on equity, but rather than base the return on equity on accounting net income, Buffett used a modified version of what he called owner earnings:


Owner Earnings Net income Depreciation and Amortization – Capital Expenditures

This concept is very close to a free cash flow to equity.

The company should have high and stable profit margins and a history of creating value for its stockholders.

Market Tenets:

In determining value, much has been made of Buffett’s use of a risk-free rate to discount cash flows. Because he is known to use conservative estimates of earnings and because the firms he invests in tend to be stable firms, it looks to us like he makes his risk adjustment in the cash flows rather than the discount rate.

In keeping with Buffett’s views of Mr. Market as capricious and moody, even valuable companies can be bought at attractive prices when investors turn away from them.


http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/32/04713450/0471345032.pdf

Warren Buffett favours companies that increase their ROE or which have consistent levels of ROE.

INVESTMENT DANGERS

There can be dangers in averaging returns over a long period. A company might start with high rates which then fall away, but still have a healthy average. Conversely, a company might be going in the opposite direction. 

As Warren Buffett looks for predictability in a company’s earnings, one would imagine that he would favour companies who increase their ROE or which have consistent levels.

COMPANY ANNUAL RATES OF RETURN

Compare the annual rates of return on equity of the following companies, using summary figures provided by Value Line.

Year	Coca Cola	Gap Inc	Wal-Mart Stores
1993	47.7	22.9	21.7
1994	48.8	23.3	21.1
1995	55.4	21.6	18.6
1996	56.7	27.4	17.8
1997	56.5	33.7	19.1
1998	42	52.4	21
1999	34	50.5	22.1
2000	39.4	30	20.1
2001	35	4.3	19.1
2002	35	13.1	20.4

Buffett likes companies with high and increasing returns on equity (ROE)

HIGH RETURNS ON EQUITY

Buffett is interested in companies that have rights rates of earnings on equity and likes them even more where the return rates are increasing. He reasons that, with a company like this, he is better off if the company pays no or little dividends and retains the money to earn even more for its owners.

• In addition, where no dividend is received, there is no income tax payable by the shareholder. 
• Instead, the investor gets the value of the increase in value in the shares which will, eventually, rise to reflect the enhanced earnings. 
• The shareholder can then retain the shares, sell them at a time that best suits them, if they wish, and take advantage of the capital gains taxation regime.

It is why potential investors should calculate the company’s history of returns on equity and management of retained earnings.

Warren Buffett's secret - THE COMPOUNDING FACTOR

EXPLANATION

This may be old hat to some readers but it is worth remembering how compounding is one of the keys to Warren Buffett’s investment success.

The compounding factor is easy to understand. Compound interest (or compounding of earnings) is simply the ability of interest (or investment return) earned on a sum of money to earn additional interest (or investment return), thereby increasing the return to the owner of the money or investor. It works like this and we will use interest as the exemplar:

You deposit a sum of money, say $1,000, in a bank or other financial institution that earns interest at the rate of 5 per cent, payable annually. At the end of the first year, you have earned $50 and have the right to get your $1,000 back.

Suppose however that you want to invest the money long-term, for say 10 years. You now have two options.

OPTION A: TAKE INTEREST PAYMENTS

You can have the interest paid to each year, in which case you will receive $50 each year to spend or use as you wish. At the end of the 10-year period, you will get your final interest payment and your $1,000 back.

OPTION B: RE-INVEST INTEREST

You can choose to re-invest your interest and earn interest each year on the accumulated interest payments as well as on the original investment. This means that you do not get annual payments but, at the end of the 10-year period, you will get a lump sum payment of $1625. This is compound interest.

Why this much larger amount? Because your interest earns interest each year like this (calculations rounded to nearest 50 cents). 

Year	Principal sum	Interest earned	New principal sum
1	1000	50	1050
2	1050	52.50	1102.50
3	1102.50	55.00	1157.50
4	1157.50	58	1215.50
5	1212.50	61	1273.50
6	1273.50	64	1337.50
7	1337.50	67	1404.50
8	1404.50	70	1474.50
9	1474.50	74	1548.50
10	1548.50	77	1625

The higher the interest, the bigger the capital gain. At 10 per cent, the sum would increase to $2594.00; at 15 per cent, to $4055.00.

Warren Buffet is said to look at the compounding factor when deciding on investments, requiring a stock investment to show a high probability of compound growth in earnings of at least 10 per cent before making an investment decision.

COMPOUNDING AND RETAINED EARNINGS

Warren Buffett has on several occasions referred to the use by a company of its retained earnings as a test of company management. He tells us that, if a company can earn more money on retained earnings than the shareholder can, the shareholder is better off (taxation aside) if the company retains profits and does not pay them out in dividends. If the shareholder can achieve a higher rate of return than the company, the shareholder would be better off if the company paid out all its profits in dividends (taxation situation again excluded) so that they could use the money themselves.

Put simply, if a company can retain earnings to grow shareholder wealth at better than the market rates available to shareholders, it should do so. If it can’t, it should pay the earnings to shareholders and let them do with them what they wish.

 HIGH RETURNS ON EQUITY

This is why Buffett is interested in companies that have rights rates of earnings on equity and likes them even more where the return rates are increasing. He reasons that, with a company like this, he is better off if the company pays no or little dividends and retains the money to earn even more for its owners.

In addition, where no dividend is received, there is no income tax payable by the shareholder. Instead, the investor gets the value of the increase in value in the shares which will, eventually, rise to reflect the enhanced earnings. The shareholder can then retain the shares, sell them at a time that best suits them, if they wish, and take advantage of the capital gains taxation regime.

It is why potential investors should calculate the company’s history of returns on equity and management of retained earnings.

BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY AND RETAINED EARNINGS

Berkshire Hathaway does not, following Buffett’s mantra, pay dividends to its shareholders and this is one reason why its compound return over the years of Buffett-Munger management has been so high.

The downside of course is that shareholders have not received dividends, meaning, that if they were dependent on money coming in at a given time, their only recourse, in relation to their shareholding, would be to sell the shares or borrow against them.

Having regard to the huge price of a single share over the past few years, this meant that investors may have had to either keep all their shareholding or dispose of it, not always the choice they wanted. Berkshire Hathaway partly catered for this dilemma by introducing B shares, which are in essence a fractional unit of the normal shares.

A POWERFUL FORCE

When asked to nominate the most powerful force on earth, Albert Einstein is reputed to have answered ‘compound interest’. Buffett might well agree.

http://www.buffettsecrets.com/compound-interest.htm

7 Important Stock Investing Advice from Warren Buffett!

Summarized Overview

In this article, you’ll find information on the stock investing ideas that Warren Buffet wants all stock investors to know, strategy he uses to maximize return, price of stocks that he willing to pay, key financial ratio that is so important to him, type of managers he loves, and kind of management he trusts.

7 Stock Investing Advices for Beginners

This stock market investing advice will help you on how to pick stocks Warren Buffet way.

Stock Investing Advices #1: Simple Business Model

You must understand the business itself or at least like and use it. Warren Buffett likes to patronize/use Nike, Coke and Gillette products and he is a believer of his investments. Have time to read and study the business model and the financial reports that takes only 2-3 hours per day. Invest as if you will buy the business.

Do you know why this is so important?

When come to investing, predicting what will happen tomorrow is something that you can’t live without. Forecasting what the future will be is the only way you can estimate how much return you’ll be getting later on. So, if you really understand the business inside out, you can project how the company performs 30 years down the road; take into consideration the national economy, competition from others and change in customers’ lifestyle.

Most companies here in Philippines have investor relation’s page in their websites where you can browse their financial reports.

Stock Investing Advices #2: Wide Economic Moat

In simple terms, it must dominate its market and can somehow dictate its product’s prices. Warren Buffet himself avoids regulated industries, commodity businesses as well as capital intensive industries. Look out Nike, it has its own market around the world and it can dictate its own product prices regardless of its competition because people buy Nike for its brand. Further, company should finance its capital from operating cash flow and not depending on borrowings. That is why, Warren Buffet love ‘franchise’, for example, Furniture Mart (the lowest cost in the industry), The Washington Post (market dominance and leader), Coke (strong brand name) and Candies (premium priced and high quality products that serve niche market).

How about Jollibee or Meralco here in our country?

Stock Investing Advices #3: Sustainable Growth

Serving the existing niche market is not enough. Instead, Warren Buffet wants the company to grow continuously and exponentially. Therefore, he looks for managements that have the ability to widen their economic moat consistently over the past years. Their businesses must be positioned where the demand able to grow continuously; Gillette is his best example. In the same time, always be ready for any possible trouble to the business, and most importantly back up your investment plan!

Have you heard of the recent plans of San Miguel Corporation and Metro Pacific Investment Corporation?

Stock Investing Advices #4: Excellent Capital Management

The Management should utilize the available resources for the highest return to the company and to its shareholders. Shareholders should be benefited for their investments thru dividends. Management carries the trust of the shareholders, thus, they should act and think as owners too. Moreover, it is better if the management holds a huge number of stocks too, since they will act as true owners and will not think short term but instead, will make sure that the company earns in the next 20 years or more!

Stock Investing Advices #5: Effective Management Team

Invest in company that has honest and capable managers. They should be so capable that Warren Buffet himself admires the way the managers do things. In Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting year 2000, he once said, “we want managers who tell the truth and tell themselves the truth, which is more important”. He loves cost conscious and frugal type of managers who are honest and integrity as well.

Stock Investing Advices #6: Superior ROE

The general rule that it is above 15! Why ROE, and not the other financial ratios? Well,return on equity indicates how effective the management team converts the reinvested money into cash. The higher the return, the more profitably the company can reinvest its earnings. The faster the company able to turn the reinvested earnings into profits, the faster its value increases from one year to another. And mind you, it is a big challenge to the management to consistently create value for every penny they spend. To prove this, not many stocks that has 15 per cent ROE consistently for the past 20 or 30 years, worldwide.

Stock Investing Advices #7: Buy at Discount Price

After the process of selection, now is the time to buy them! But of course make sure it is below the intrinsic value and you must have the margin safety of 80% discount from the calculated intrinsic value. Warren Buffet has to make sure he buys the stock at the lowest price possible. Have you heard the recent investment of Mr. Buffett on IBM and in these times of Euro and US Debt Crisis? In the same time, he has to be real that not to set very low price till he misses the golden opportunity. Even if the stocks are so profitable but the price is too high, he will just passes the opportunity to somebody else.

If you want to be as successful as Warren Buffet in stock investing, study each point thoroughly. Ignoring either one advice is enough to make you broke in stock market; simply because, in stock investing, due diligence counts.

Intentionally not following the advice proves that you are not ready for investing;perhaps you are just looking for fast cash.



http://www.investorluranski.com/2011/11/7-important-stock-investing-advices.html#more

3 Investing Traps -- And How To Avoid Them

These tips should help you sidestep some common accounting pitfalls.

Alcoholics have 12 steps. Grievers have five stages. Investors have their phases, too, with the biggest leap coming when a fledgling shareholder begins tossing accounting ratios around. I've calculated ratios for years myself, both as a hedge-fund analyst and in making share recommendations for The Motley Fool, and I'll say this: ratios are both powerful and open to misuse by novices. I'd like to share a few tricks with you to help you avoid some common pitfalls.

Trap 1: Focusing too much on return on equity (ROE)

The much-vaunted ROE seems pure: take net profits, divide by shareholders' equity, and you see how efficient a business is with investors' money. ROE is Warren Buffet's favourite ratio, and executive pay is sometimes tied to it.

When it's a trap: When it's enhanced by debt. Borrowing funds to make more money for shareholders isn't necessarily evil, and is sometimes beneficial. But investors strictly watching ROE will miss the additional risk taken by a management team 'gearing up' to meet performance targets.

Protect yourself: Add return on invested capital (ROIC) to your arsenal. Using the same principle as ROE, ROIC essentially compares after-tax operating profits to both debt and equity capital, and thus provides a better measure of operational success that can't be inflated by a financing decision. Moreover, research by American equity strategist Michael Mauboussin of Legg Mason shows that companies whose ROICs either rise or remain consistently high tend to outperform others. Search online to find the precise formula, or drop me a comment in the box below.

Using Standard & Poor's Capital IQ database, I screened for companies with returns on capital (a near-identical cousin of ROIC) above 20% that have seen an improvement in return on capital during the past five years. These shares are not recommendations, but rather screen results that may be of interest given the discussion.

Company	Market cap (£m)	Return on capital
		Last fiscal year	Five years ago
Croda International (LSE: CRDA)	2,638	26.3%	22.8%
Renishaw (LSE: RSW)	1,053	25.1%	16.9%
Burberry (LSE: BRBY)	6,172	24.4%	20.0%

Trap 2: Taking turnover growth at face value

A sale is a sale, right? Wrong. Turnover is a prime line for accounts manipulation.

When it's a trap: Intricate shenanigans with turnover figures can be tough to uncover, but a simple rule of thumb is to become suspicious if growth in trade receivables (for instance, the amounts customers owe) meaningfully exceeds growth in revenues. This could indicate 'channel stuffing', whereby a company extends overly generous terms to customers simply to gain a short-term turnover boost.

Protect yourself: Using a screening tool or your own sums, compute the relative growth of both sales and trade receivables, particularly for companies whose growing turnover forms a major part of your investing thesis.

Again using Capital IQ, I noticed retailer Dunelm (LSE: DNLM) reported attractive 9% growth in sales last year (especially in this consumer market) -- albeit accompanied by a troubling 22% increase in trade receivables. While not a red flag outright, it's something to investigate further.

Trap 3: Using accounting profits to compute dividend cover

I've done this myself, and feel it's probably acceptable with stable companies clearly able to pay shareholders.

When it's a trap: The first thing a budding investor learns is that for accounting reasons, profits don't always match cash flow -- from which dividends are paid. Though cash flows and profits should theoretically match over time, profits are skewed by 'accrual' calculations, such as spreading the cost of equipment purchases over the life of the equipment, versus charging the costs in the year they occurred.

Protect yourself: Experienced analysts use free cash flow instead of reported earnings to produce a more reliable measure of dividend safety. Read this old-school Fool article for a moredetailed discussion on free cash flow. Swapping cash flow for accounting profits in your dividend cover calculation should increase its reliability.

Capital IQ turned up these companies as having cash flows materially exceeding accounting profits.

Company	Net profits (£m)	Free cash flow (£m)
Marks & Spencer (LSE: MKS)	603	701
Sage Group (LSE: SGE)	189	283
Rexam (LSE: REX)	154	265

There you have it. You're now three traps wiser, which is a step ahead of most investors. Indeed, while spotting numerical chicanery may be best for sidestepping share-price stinkers, avoiding losers is more than half the battle to building a winning portfolio.

http://www.fool.co.uk/news/investing/2012/02/02/3-investing-traps-and-how-to-avoid-them.aspx?source=ufwflwlnk0000001