The idea behind this was to see if I could come up with a screen that included the characteristics of a great company and backtested well. So what are these characteristics? High returns on capital. High margins. Consistently generate free cash flow. Not too much debt. Stable revenues with either growth or at worse small declines (yes even the best companies … [Read more...]
Guy Spier
Considered one of the greatest investors of our times, Zurich-based fund manager Guy Spier is an example of the type of manager we would like to see more of in the asset management industry. While most known for bidding $650,100 with Mohnish Pabrai for a charity lunch with Warren Buffett, Guy's investment performance, attitude, and wisdom has placed him among the greats. … [Read more...]
Cyprus Value Investor Event Idea: Graftech
We just got done with the annual Value Investor Conference in Cyprus. You can see scenes from the event in this video. The event which this year had a 40 person cap was fully booked and participants enjoyed 25 presentations over the 2 days, as well as numerous activities including a private beer tasting, tour of the museum and a magic show. 22 investment ideas were … [Read more...]
The highest return on investment decision of the year!
Some days ago Tobias Carlisle posted on twitter a slide from a micro cap event which showed how well some of the companies presented did. A couple of replies played devil's advocate and wondered about the ones that didn't do so well. I couldn't help myself and pointed out that good events have good ideas. What I didn't mention is that participants don't even need to figure … [Read more...]
Long Western Digital (WDC)
Yes, you own a Western Digital product. For sure! The company generated $20.6 billion in sales of hard drives and solid-state drives (SSDs), as well as NAND based products. So essentially their storage products go into notebooks, desktops, mobile phones and data centers. There is fear in the market that prices are coming down and that demand for hard drives will weaken. … [Read more...]
