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	Mr. Market and ASM International In 2008 Applied Materials was prepared to pay up to $800m for a business that "Mr. Market" is currently giving away for free. This article analyses this business to try to determine whether Applie ... Read more \| Investment Strategy \| 6 Comments \| Thu 03 May 2012

	Rethinking 'equities for the long run' One of the bedrocks of investing is that equities (riskier assets) outperform bonds (safer assets) over the long run – certainly history has borne this out. However, as we know, accepting investm ... Read more \| Investment Strategy \| 17 Comments \| Sat 24 Mar 2012

	Drugs, and the Importance of Asset Life Value investors typically seek-out low valuation multiples but are occasionally ensnared in the dreaded "value-trap". One reason this can occur is that the company's assets cease producing income ... Read more \| Investment Strategy \| 0 Comments \| Mon 27 Feb 2012

	Financial Serendipity Forecasting is essential to modern life. And it is big business. There is scant evidence however, that those we laud as financial soothsayers are anything other than lucky. This paper researches ... Read more \| Investment Strategy \| 0 Comments \| Mon 30 Jan 2012

	Central Banks - Maestro Puppeteers or Kids in the Audience? We are in an era of low interest rates and bond yields. The barking of bond vigilantes, the distracting wrangling of politicians, and the token warnings of rating agencies are all irrelevant. Inve ... Read more \| Investment Strategy \| 0 Comments \| Fri 23 Dec 2011

	A Case Study in Franchise Analysis: Linear Technology The existence of a franchise is often cited as the rationale for buying a stock. But true franchises are not common place and are difficult to identify ex ante. This article will take a look at t ... Read more \| Investment Strategy \| 4 Comments \| Thu 10 Nov 2011

	Market Efficiency - You Ask the Wrong Question Analysing arguments from some of the leading practitioners in academia, economics and money management, many of whom traverse all disciplines, this article examines the question: Is the market ... Read more \| Investment Strategy \| 6 Comments \| Thu 29 Sep 2011

	The Fallacy of the Risk Free Rate To ask for nothing more than to preserve one's capital, risk free, sounds about as modest an aspiration an investor can have. Bank deposits and government bonds are often held up as real world ri ... Read more \| Investment Strategy \| 0 Comments \| Thu 22 Sep 2011

	A Lesson on Japanese Corporate Governance from Third Avenue To be able to learn a lesson without charge, from one of the greatest ever practitioners of their profession, is a chance none of us should pass up. Marty Whitman first bought Toyota Industries i ... Read more \| Investment Strategy \| 3 Comments \| Wed 21 Sep 2011

	Next Big Things Growth is not incompatible with Value; the two are intertwined. Nonetheless, conservative investors face a delicate task when considering the impact of growth on stock valuation. This article ... Read more \| Investment Strategy \| 0 Comments \| Wed 21 Sep 2011

	Portfolio Concentration - Sleep With One Eye Open Value investing can appear to be quite easy: thoroughly analyse a business and its risks and then ensure the price paid offers an adequate margin of safety. Many advocates postulate that because ... Read more \| Investment Strategy \| 3 Comments \| Fri 15 Apr 2011

	Banks expensive at any price "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness." Charles Dickens' opening to A Tale of Two Cities could well be a description of Wes ... Read more \| Investment Strategy \| 3 Comments \| Mon 21 Mar 2011

	The Trouble with P/E The humble price-to-earnings ratio (PE) has become the most widely referenced valuation metric amongst equity investment commentators. How useful is it as a valuation metric? Here we examine where ... Read more \| Investment Strategy \| 2 Comments \| Tue 22 Feb 2011

	What does ‘Economic Goodwill' mean for the Value Investor? When the father of value investing, Ben Graham, formalised his approach to value investing together with David Dodd in 1934, he made clear his goal of buying stocks at a discount to their net cu ... Read more \| Investment Strategy \| 0 Comments \| Tue 22 Feb 2011

	'Buffett-ites or Bluff-it-ites?' Someway through his investment career Warren Buffett broke from the ‘restrictive' Ben Graham value investing mould. Buffett is prepared to pay up for businesses that he believes have barriers to ... Read more \| Buffett \| 5 Comments \| Mon 03 Jan 2011

	Beware the Price of Fashion Good companies don't make good investments. Research using historic stock market returns indicates that not only do 'bad' companies outperform, but they do so with significantly lower risk. Read more \| Investment Strategy \| 0 Comments \| Mon 03 Jan 2011

	Is Japan a Value Trap? Many value investors are debating the merits and drawbacks of investing in Japan. On the positive side, Japanese stock valuations are a fraction of their Asian / Western peers – the result of a 2 ... Read more \| Investment Strategy \| 5 Comments \| Mon 03 Jan 2011

	Overvaluation and leverage, a toxic combination Healthcare company Boston Scientific purchased its peer, Guidant, in 2006 for the princely sum of $27 billion. At the time Guidant was viewed as a high return, high growth company. Boston made tw ... Read more \| Investment Strategy \| 0 Comments \| Mon 03 Jan 2011

Letter to Company CEOs from a Value Investor

Company chief executives have a difficult job and there is probably no end to the advice they are being offered. The average investor holds the stock for less time than it takes to implement a ma ...

Read more | Management | 3 Comments | Mon 03 Jan 2011


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Mr. Market and ASM International

In 2008 Applied Materials was prepared to pay up to $800m for a business that "Mr. Market" is currently giving away for free. This article analyse ...