myinvestingnotes.blogspot.my (Bullbear Buffett Stock Investing Notes)

Keep INVESTING Simple and Safe (KISS) ****Investment Philosophy, Strategy and various Valuation Methods**** The same forces that bring risk into investing in the stock market also make possible the large gains many investors enjoy. It’s true that the fluctuations in the market make for losses as well as gains but if you have a proven strategy and stick with it over the long term you will be a winner!****Warren Buffett: Rule No. 1 - Never lose money. Rule No. 2 - Never forget Rule No. 1.

Thursday, 28 September 2023

MYEG

Growth in revenues and PBT was very fast in its early years. Growth in revenue has slowed, though PBT in 2022 was higher due to better profit margin. Its earnings dropped in 2020 and has since recovered, exceeding its previous high earnings.

The share price of MYEG has been essentially flat since 2021. With its better earnings, the company is now on offer at better value than before.

ZOOM VIDEO (zm)

This company benefitted during the pandemic lockdown. Its revenues zoomed upwards in 2020 to 2021 and are still growing, but at a slower rate. Its profit margins expanded hugely from 2020 to 2022. The profit margins has since dropped (normalise) to its pre-pandemic level.

Not a stock for the long term. Very competitive business. Economic moat is small, perhaps, non-existent. Many new players are offering similar services.

AMERICAN AIRLINE

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES

BOEING

Wednesday, 27 September 2023

MICRON

SHOPIFY

CITIGROUP

ESTEE LAUDER

PMCORP

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY)

Occidental Petroleum is a stock in the portfolio of Berkshire Hathaway.

Aeon Credit

Revenue, PBT and adj EPS grew over time.

Its PBT margins are well maintained.

Its ROE is consistently above 15%.

However, share price dropped over the same period.

At today's share price of RM 11.44 per share it is trading at PE of 6.65 and gives a DY of 4.98%.

Quality: Great / Good

Management: Great / Good

Valuation: Undemanding valuation

(Not a recommendation. Always do your own homework. Invest at own risk.)

YTL CORP

COSTCO

MASTERCARD

ALIBABA

Tuesday, 26 September 2023

ICAPITAL.BIZ BHD

The NAV of iCap grew from 3,05 per share in 2014 to 3,40 per share in 2023.

Its price traded at a discount to its NAV all these years, this is not unexpected for a closed end fund.

At times it traded at a huge discount to its NAV, for example, in 2021 the discount to NAV was 34% and in 2022, the discount to NAV was 39%.

SERBA DINAMIK

KIM LOONG

UNITED PLANTATION

JAYATIASA

YTL POWER

TOPGLOVE

INSAS

This company retained most of its earnings. It started distributing some dividends in recent years. Despite retaining most of its earnings, its profits remained unimpressive, showing no long term consistent growth.

LII HEN

2013 TO 2015: Profits increased due to increased in revenues and expanding profit before tax margins.

From 2015 to now: Revenues and profits remained flattish.

IFCA-MSC

Revenues, profits before tax and adj EPSs declined over the years. In 2022, the company reported a loss.

Quality: -

Management: -

Valuation: -

Hartalega

The revenues and adj EPS of Hartalega grew consistently for many years. Due to the pandemic, its revenues and EPSs shot up, due to higher volumes delivered and better profit margins. Now that the pandemic over, the world is faced with an oversupply of past inventories and falling demands for gloves. It will be another year or two before these inventories are depleted and demands for gloves at the normal level resumed. Gloves usage are still expected to grow over the years.

Due to the huge profit margin during the pandemic enjoyed by the glove manufacturers and the ease of entry into this industry, many new players were attracted and established production of gloves. Faced with new competitors, especially those from China, the preexisting glove manufacturers may not be as relaxed as in the past. They can expect their profit margins to be very tight, having to keep production costs down.

Finally, in this commodity market of gloves, it will be the ones with the lowest costs that will be the leaders in this revamped glove industry.

Petronas Dagangan

The fast growths in the 80s and 90s have petered out. It is now a big company with steady revenues and earnings, throwing up a lot of free cash flows. It distributes most of its earnings as dividends. Those in this stock are mainly enjoying its steady dividends.

COMCORP (COMINTEL)

My 18 points guide to Successfully compounding your money in Stocks

Be a good stock picker.
Think as a business owner.
Always look at value rather than the price. Do the homework.
Buy and hold is alright for selected stocks.
Compounding is your friend, get this to work its magic.
Mr. Market is there to be taken advantage of. Do not be the sucker instead. BFS;STS.
Always buy a lot when the price is low.
Never buy when the stock is overpriced.
It is alright to buy when the selected stock is at a fair price.
Phasing in or dollar cost averaging is safe for such stocks during a downtrend, unless the price is still obviously too high.
Do not time the market for such or any stocks.
By keeping to the above strategy, the returns will be delivered through the growth of the company's business.
So, when do you sell the stock? Almost never, as long as the fundamentals remain sound and the future prospects intact.
The downside risk is protected through only buying when the price is low or fairly priced.
Tactical dynamic asset allocation or rebalancing based on valuation can be employed but this sounds easier than is practical, except in extreme market situations.
Sell urgently when the company business fundamental has deteriorated irreversibly.
You may also wish to sell should the growth of the company has obviously slowed and you can reinvest into another company with greater growth potential of similar quality. However, unlike point 16, you can do so leisurely.
In conclusion, a critical key to successful investing is in your stock picking ability.

http://myinvestingnotes.blogspot.com/2012/07/my-18-points-guide-to-successfully.html

11 Lessons From Peter Lynch

Peter Lynch taught me:

1. Behind every stock is a company. Find out what it’s doing.
2. Never invest in any idea you can’t illustrate with a crayon.
3. Over the short term, there may be no correlation between the success of a company’s operations and the success of its stock. Over the long term, there’s a 100% correlation.
4. Buying stocks without studying the companies is the same as playing poker – and never looking at your cards.
5. Time is on your side when you own shares of superior companies.
6. Owning stock is like having children. Don’t get involved with more than you can handle.
7. When the insiders are buying, it’s a good sign.
8. Unless you’re a short seller, it never pays to be pessimistic.
9. A stock market decline is as predictable as a January blizzard in Colorado. If you’re prepared, it can’t hurt you.
10. Everyone has the brainpower to make money in stocks. Not everyone has the stomach.
11. Nobody can predict interest rates, the future direction of the economy, or the stock market. Dismiss all such forecasts and concentrate on what’s actually happening to the companies in which you’ve invested.

Lynch’s advice had a profound effect on my stock market approach. He taught me that investment success isn’t the result of developing the right macro-economic view or deciding when to jump in or out of the market. Success is about researching companies to identify those that are likely to report positive surprises.

Capital Expenditure

A great company with a Durable Competitive Advantage will have a ratio of Capital Expenditures to Net Income of less than 25%. Less is better.

Capital Expenditures are expenses on:
- fixed assets such as equipment, property, or industrial buildings
- fixing problems with an asset
- preparing an asset to be used in business
- restoring property
- starting new businesses

A good company will have a ratio of Capital Expenditures to Net Income of less than 50%.

A great company with a Durable Competitive Advantage will have a ratio of less than 25%.

Less is better.

Benjamin Graham's 113 Wise Words

The true investor scarcely ever is forced to sell his shares, and at all times he is free to disregard the current price quotation. He need pay attention to it and act upon it only to the extent that it suits his book, and no more. Thus the investor who permits himself to be stampeded or unduly worried by unjustified market declines in his holdings is perversely transforming his basic advantage into a basic disadvantage. That man would be better off if his stocks had no market quotation at all, for he would then be spared the mental anguish caused him by other persons' mistakes of judgement."

Philip Fisher's Wise Words

"The refusal to sell at a loss, while completely natural and normal, is probably one of the most dangerous in which we can indulge ourselves in the entire investment process.

More money has probably been lost by investors holding a stock they really did not want until they could 'at least come out even' than from any other single reason. If to these actual losses are added the profits that might have been made through the proper reinvestment of these funds if such reinvestment had been made when the mistake was first realized, the cost of self-indulgence becomes truly tremendous."

(Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits)

The Ultimate Hold-versus-Sell Test

Here is the overriding primary test, followed by observations on why it is so critically important:

Knowing all that you now know and expect about the company and its stock (not what you originally believed or hoped at time of purchase), and assuming that you had available capital, and assuming that it would not cause a portfolio imbalance to do so, would you buy this stock today, at today's price?

No equivocation. Yes or no?

Answers such as maybe or probably are not acceptable since they are ways of dodging the issue. No investor probably buys a stock; they either place an order or do not.

Here is the implication of your answer to that critical test: if you did not answer with a clear affirmative, you should sell; only if you said a strong yes, are you justified to hold.

Some thoughts on Analysing Stocks (KISS)

Ideally a stock you plan to purchase should have all of the following charateristics:

• A rising trend of earnings dividends and book value per share.
• A balance sheet with less debt than other companies in its particular industry.
• A P/E ratio no higher than average.
• A dividend yield that suits your particular needs.
• A below-average dividend pay-out ratio.
• A history of earnings and dividends not pockmarked by erratic ups and downs.
• Companies whose ROE is 15 or better.
• A ratio of price to cash flow (P/CF) that is not too high when compared to other stocks in the same industry.

Margin of Safety Concept: Stocks should be bought like groceries, not like perfume

The high CAGR in the early years of the investing period, due to buying at a discount, tended to decline and approach that of the intrinsic EPS GR of the companies over a longer investment time-frame.

Chapter 20 - “Margin of Safety” as the Central Concept of Investment

A single quote by Graham on page 516 struck me:

Observation over many years has taught us that the chief losses to investors come from the purchase of low-quality securities at times of favorable business conditions.

Basically, Graham is saying that most stock investors lose money because they invest in companies that seem good at a particular point in time, but are lacking the fundamentals of a long-lasting stable company.

This seems obvious on the surface, but it’s actually a great argument for thinking more carefully about your individual stock investments. If most of your losses come from buying companies that seem healthy but really aren’t, isn’t that a profound argument for carefully studying any company you might invest in?