Episode 8: Macro outlook, Microcap investing & Scorecard review

One of the most appealing things about investing, at least in principle, is that instead of working for your money, your money is working for you. But don’t fool yourself; if you’re going to be a stock-picker you’ve got to be prepared to put in the hard yards. Sifting through hundreds (if not thousands) of individual companies, identifying the best candidates, […]

Most analysis starts with the financials. Earnings, margins, returns, and all that jazz. They’re important, sure, but they come after the fact. They’re downstream of what really matters. Before the numbers, before the model, you need to start with the business itself and the value it’s trying to create for its customers. If it can’t deliver real value, any financial […]

Ian Cassel absolutely nails it with this tweet On the ASX alone there are over 2,000 individual stocks. There’s something like 10,000 across all US equity markets. It’s impossible to have a thorough understanding of every single one. The good news is, you don’t need to. In fact, you shouldn’t even try. Having a take on every company doesn’t make […]

Strawman member Edgescape kicked off a good conversion on Friday, suggesting Occam’s Razor — the idea that we should favour simplicity over unnecessary complexity — was very much relevant to the field of investing. And clearly, other members agreed. It reminded me of a book by Ben Carlson: A Wealth of Common Sense: Why Simplicity Trumps Complexity in Any Investment […]

Are shares a buy?

What should you consider before buying shares in a company?

What’s behind the latest move?

There are really only three levers a business can pull to juice its profits: price, cost, or volume. That’s it. As an investor, your job is to figure out which of these levers matters most for any given company — and how management plans to yank it. Because if you don’t know what’s driving growth, you’re essentially investing on hope. […]