SpecOps

It really depends. There are lots of companies that operate at current ratios well below 1, so current assets dont always have to cover current liabilities depending on how they are managing it.

Simple really, CEOs are incentivized to maximise earnings to get their bonuses. So increasing profits through accounting is an easy way to do it. You will find rare cases, like Microsoft, where they minimize profits to reduce the tax bill, but it only takes one CEO to change it and then all the ones after him/her are never going to go back. On dividends, I just think they are more popular among the average investor, so usually can support the stock price and allow a CEO to make more money cashing in his options. Its far more obvious that a share is low-priced if it has a large dividend yield than one that just buys back shares.

I've invested in 3 retailers in the last few years. 2 of those retailers are ones that I personally like and shop at. They also offered something unique that I couldn't get elsewhere and I paid a premium for their clothes. 1 of the retailers is one I shopped at but didn't really like it and soon switched to a competitor due to better service. I about doubled my money on two of them and lost money on one. No prizes for guessing which one lost me money :)

I live in London and heard of Hailo way before Uber. They aren't the only game in town and international expansion isnt a given when there already incumbents in those markets.

Interesting Ill look into EWP. How do you use support levels? I could never figure out whether it was good to buy just above a support, or bad, because if it drops below you get the 'breakout'.

I wanted to start a discussion on Technical Analysis and if/how people on here use it to supplement their investing. Personally I know little about it beyond spotting resistance levels, and I like to try and buy when there is a strong resistance level 'supporting up' my buy price. I know some proper technical traders (that claim to make money consistently) and they usually call me crazy for buying where I do :p So what do other people do with TA, ignore it or use it?

Great website, will definitely be using. Thanks

Here is a second go, hopefully looks less cluttered. Think its an improvement? http://investingsidekick.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Example2.pdf

Thanks a lot for the feedback so far. I can see what you mean by there being a lot going on. I have tried to get as much information onto one page as I can (as you can probably tell!) but I'll try and redesign it so the eye is attracted to the most important bits, which are probably the trading range graphs and fair values. I had thought about putting price and history on but as its just a pdf it would become instantly out of date when the price changed so thought it best to avoid that and just put fundamental data on that users could then compare with a live stock quote.

Hi all I was looking for a bit of feedback on the layout of an Equity Summary I'm designing to fit on 1-2 pages. The data itself isn't accurate, I'm just more interested in whether you think the content is useful or if there's anything missing. It is aimed at the value investor and to give them a quick look at a company in 30 seconds so they can get an idea of whether the company is interesting to research further or not. Thanks. http://investingsidekick.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Example.pdf Second attempt based on feedback: http://investingsidekick.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Example2.pdf

I subscribed once but tbh wasn't that impressed. I was most interested in the company financials and history which I felt didn't really go back enough. Im actually working on my own product which gives 20 year historical financials and more flexibility for using the data in your own models.

I actually had a look at what the results for an equally weighted portfolio would be rather than an index, only rebalanced every 6 months. The results are impressive, equal weighting beats indexes http://investingsidekick.com/investors-easily-beat-market/

I have considered it a few times. But then I look at the biggest weightings in the index and think - I dont want to own these companies. TBH I would rather just own BRK or a selection of holding companies. I think I will seriously consider indexes when I want to stop spending any time at all investing and have so much money that the dividends can sustain my way of life.

I agree, as Buffett says, its great to own companies so good that a moron could run them. The real jewels are these kind of businesses, but that ALSO have the great capital allocator. Then you have a buy and hold forever type investment.

banks have had a very rough 5 years so been great to buy back shares. Unfortunately in a time of ever increasing regulation and liquidity requirements most banks haven't been able to take advantage of share buybacks but the ones that have are likely the ones that were in the best shape to weather the crisis.

http://reminiscencesofastockblogger.com/ is my favourite blog that covers a lot of Canadian small caps. I like a lot of other blogs too, check out the blogroll on my blog below.

How does the business work? is it a recurring revenue stream or one off sales? If the former you could scale and increase commissions on repeat business compared to new business, which encourages good relationships while sticking to the commission model which encourages sales. Or part of their pay could also be based on customer satisfaction which would need to be measured some way

It's a bit of a mystery to me. One of my best performing holdings is a fashion retailer that sells sporty fashion clothes and has been doing unbelievably well, LfL sales are increasing at 5-6% a year and its not even a niche, its a pretty big chain store with the same online competition as everyone else. I'd like to say the difference is superb management but they also own some non-sports fashion stores that are down in LfL sales and losing money so it isn't the case. The more experience I get investing, the more I think there is a lot of luck in retailing basically!

What happened? I've had an account for just over a year and never really had problems, though I only do basic things with them like buy/sell shares a few times a month at most.

It is not necessarily hard if you look in the smaller cap space. For example a company can have a great 10 year record of growth and capital allocation and still have a great deal of potential for further growth. Think about if you'd investing in BRK after 5 years, and Buffett already had a great 10 year investing record. It still wasn't too late to let him turn your money into a fortune. I think it's always important to look at track record because there are so many people that make all the right statements and noises yet their actions just do not deliver the results.

I think it also depends on whether it is a cigar butt type business where you want to exit quickly when full value is realised, or if its a buy and hold forever. The latter obviously means you don't need as much liquidity because not being able to exit the investment at a specific time isn't the end of the world.

Very interesting that he uses historical prices when judging buying. Not very Buffett like but something I'm sure most do - when a stock has traded lower in the last 12 months it means you could have a better opportunity in the future.

Not at all, I mean you hardly ever see shares above £10 (and over £100 is just unheard of I think), but penny stocks have the same negative connotations here in the UK as in the US. yada I use a bank called Halifax but Im based in the UK so don't know if they allow international accounts. I also use Saxobank which has a much bigger international footprint (in Europe anyway) but they don't allow electronic dealing (telephone only - with higher fees) in AIM listed shares, only main market LSE.

I've written a few, it's only really worth it moneywise if your article gets selected as 'Alpha Rich' which pays a flat $500. I've had an article accepted as 'Small cap insight' which is designed for small cap stocks that dont get much views, and that paid a flat $150. Most of the time I just submit articles I have written for my blog anyway, if it doesn't get accepted for a flat payment then I just post it on my blog.

To me shorting goes against the very principle of value investing - protecting your downside and not losing money. I can understand why other people do it but its not for me. I posted a thread on a Tilson presentation on shorting that I found interesting but didn't really get much interest http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/general-discussion/whitney-tilson-on-shorting/ If I was to ever bet against a company it would have to be where a limited time frame is in sight - e.g. a court case about to be ruled, and I would always do it via options and never shorting the stock, that way you know exactly your max downside and wont get forced out of your position at inopportune moments.