Market Insight & Tools
2017 - 2018 Articles
- When dull businesses come good 16th October 2018 - Stroll into a WH Smith and you might wonder why a shop that sells Sellotape, colouring books and slime (really!) exists today, but the company ...more
- Screening For My Next Long-Term Winner: Character 8th October 2018 - My SharePad screening for buying opportunities has short-listed Character (LSE: CCT) as a possible longer-term investment. The attraction here is a quite extraordinary story about ...more
- Filtering new issues 28th September 2018 - New issues have a reputation for delivering poor investment returns. In this article we filter SharePad for companies that may be more seasoned than they ...more
- Screening For My Next Long-Term Winner: CMC Markets 11th September 2018 - In this article I continue my hunt for shares that could deliver market-beating returns… …and this time my SharePad system has identified CMC Markets (LSE: ...more
- The old ones are the good ones 11th September 2018 - Exciting news: Aston Martin is readying itself to float on the stock market. Investors should think twice though, before buying the shares. Typically, it is ...more
- Screening for my next long-term winner: Ramsdens 31st August 2018 - I am always hunting for great shares that could power ahead of the market during the years to come… …and just few days ago, my ...more
- Building a base filter 30th August 2018 - To demonstrate how to filter in SharePad, we’ll build a base filter that filters out the shares we are least likely to be interested in. ...more
- The perils of filtering stocks 20th August 2018 - This is the second article in the series “From ideas to investments” in which I look at the process of finding and evaluating investment ideas. ...more
- How the stock market actually works 27th July 2018 - Today's article is the first in a new series called ‘From ideas to investments’ which takes an in-depth look at how to generate investment ideas ...more
- Motorpoint: A car dealer that stands out from the crowd 19th July 2018 - Financial statistics from SharePad and non-financial data from the company itself all indicate Motorpoint is no ordinary car dealer. If you’ve bought a vehicle from ...more
- Next – A closer look at its online business 19th July 2018 - For many years Next has been a very profitable retailer of clothes and homewares. Like most of its peers it has had to face up ...more
- Stock Watch – Portmeirion 11th July 2018 - Portmeirion Group is based in Stoke on Trent and is a leading maker of homeware products such as tableware, cookware, placemats, candles and fragrances. It ...more
- Hunting in a sea of pessimism 3rd July 2018 - Buying shares that are out of favour is a favourite strategy amongst contrarian value investors. However, in recent times it is not one that has ...more
- When bad companies become good: IG Design 2nd July 2018 - IG Design, formerly International Greetings, is one of my biggest investment mistakes—even though I made a few quid on it. Since I sold my shares ...more
- Stock Watch: Morrisons – Is a bad business turning itself into a reasonable one? 26th June 2018 - Ten years ago, Morrisons was doing reasonably well. Under the leadership of Dutchman Marc Bolland it was wooing customers with a very simple and powerful ...more
- Electrocomponents: Becoming First Choice 20th June 2018 - You don’t have to look far to discover Electrocomponents’ ambition. “BECOMING FIRST CHOICE” is the title of its annual report this year. But that strapline ...more
- Avoiding bad shares is just as important as picking good ones 13th June 2018 - If you've been investing in individual shares for a while then you've probably gone through the experience of losing some money on one or more ...more
- Stock Watch: Hill & Smith Holdings 5th June 2018 - Shares in Hill & Smith Holdings (LSE:HILS) have been a very solid investment in recent years. The company's strategy of focusing on niche infrastructure markets ...more
- Face-off: Tenpin versus Hollywood Bowl 5th June 2018 - Tenpin bowling chains are like London buses. You wait around for years and then two of them list almost at the same time. Phil Oakley ...more
- Stock Watch: Superdry 22nd May 2018 - Superdry wants to create a global lifestyle brand by selling premium, high quality and affordable clothing to people. Its brand may not be as recognisable ...more
- First steps to an inheritance tax-exempt portfolio 21st May 2018 - Investing in AIM-listed shares can help you reduce inheritance tax but you have to be picky. Not all shares qualify, and they must be good ...more
- Buying quality on its own is no guarantee of success 15th May 2018 - There are many different ways to make money from the stock market. Over the last few years, one of the most popular and discussed strategies ...more
- Stock Watch: InterContinental Hotels 9th May 2018 - Disclosure: At the time of writing I own shares in InterContinental Hotels. InterContinental Hotels (IHG) can trace its roots back to the Bass brewing company. ...more
- A new issue that is already a winner 8th May 2018 - Looking through the prisms of profitability, debt, cash flow, strategy and valuation, Strix may be an exception to the rule that new issues make bad ...more
- Dark days for regulated utility shares 24th April 2018 - Since they were privatised in the mid 1980s and early 1990s, the shares of regulated utility companies have found a place in many private investors' ...more
- Key questions to ask company management 23rd April 2018 - If you are attending any events which enable you to meet company management face-to-face, take along Phil's handy crib sheet - a list of key ...more
- AGMs – If in doubt, ask 23rd April 2018 - Most companies will answer questions from shareholders and potential shareholders. At Annual General Meetings shareholders have a right to ask questions and get answers. A ...more
- Stock Watch: Cranswick 17th April 2018 - Cranswick is a UK-based food producer. It specialises in the production and selling of pork and poultry products. The sales mix of its business is ...more
- Should investors avoid low margin companies? 10th April 2018 - Highly profitable companies can make outstanding long-term investments. Arguably, the best way to measure a company's profitability is to compare its profits with the amount ...more
- Putting performance in perspective 9th April 2018 - To get a grip on where a company is going you have to understand where it has come from. Fortunately, that doesn’t mean reading every ...more
- Stock Watch: Domino’s Pizza 27th March 2018 - Domino's Pizza is a very good business. It has exploited the trend of the growth in take-away pizza superbly and now has a 46% share ...more
- Working out what could go wrong with a share 26th March 2018 - Investors pin their hopes on what could go right. The great product. The winning strategy. The growing market. The new technology. These may be good ...more
- Checking out a company’s cash conversion 21st March 2018 - A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the issues investors faced in working out a company’s true profits. In many cases, the ways in ...more
- Decrypting a company’s business model and strategy 13th March 2018 - While it’s comforting to know a business has enjoyed success, long-term investors must also form an opinion on its prospects if we’re to hold the ...more
- Stock Watch: Hollywood Bowl 13th March 2018 - Hollywood Bowl is the UK’s largest operator of tenpin bowling centres. It currently has 58 centres across the UK with 43 trading under the Hollywood ...more
- Can you trust a company’s profits? 7th March 2018 - This article is more suited to experienced investors. Profits are all important when it comes to investing in companies. To make money over the long ...more
- Stock Watch: Galliford Try 28th February 2018 - Shares in building and construction company Galliford Try have been hammered since it announced its half year results a couple of weeks ago. The results ...more
- How to read an annual report 27th February 2018 - Rule number one in long-term investing is to understand how the businesses you expect to profit from will make money - otherwise, how can you ...more
- A smarter way to use analysts’ EPS forecasts 21st February 2018 - Should investors pay much attention to analysts’ profit forecasts? There is a school of thought that suggests that they should not. Detractors say that forecasts ...more
- Stock Watch: City Pub Group 14th February 2018 - (LSE:CPC 196p, Mkt Cap £96.3m, EMS 1500, Analysts 2) City Pub Group listed on AIM back in November. The company currently owns 38 managed pubs ...more
- The Terry Smith algorithm 14th February 2018 - In this article I’ve attempted to find Fundsmith-like companies using SharePad. The results are mixed but there’s a lot to be learned from the experiment. ...more
- A checklist for busy investors 7th February 2018 - There are many full time private investors out there but for others investing is a hobby or something that they fit around their day to ...more
- Using SharePad’s “Live” tables in your own spreadsheets 30th January 2018 - Maybe you already download tables of data from SharePad by clicking on the sharing button in SharePad's blue Table view, but this data is dead. ...more
- Stockwatch: Avon Rubber
30th January 2018 - Avon Rubber is a good example of a company that fits into the category of a profitable niche business. It started off as a cloth ...more - A better way to track changes in company performance 23rd January 2018 - It doesn't take too much time to get a feel for how well a company is doing. Most people do this by looking at percentage ...more
- Stock Watch: Nichols 16th January 2018 - Soft drinks company Nichols (AIM:NICL) has been a good share to own over the last few years. It has many of the hallmarks of a ...more
- Buy and build 15th January 2018 - If you take a look at Diploma through the lens of SharePad's summary page (under the green 'Financials' tab), you will find it shares many ...more
- Magic Formula stocks for 2018 10th January 2018 - For those of you who like the idea of a buy and forget investing strategy then Joel Greenblatt's Magic Formula of buying good companies at ...more
- Settings for the big picture 3rd January 2018 - Happy New Year! I've started mine by tidying up my many desktops: my physical desk, my laptop's desktop, and SharePad. I did so much experimenting ...more
- Simple is best – Magic Formula Investing in 2017 19th December 2017 - If you were to ask me to recommend just one book on investing then I would struggle to think of anything better than Joel Greenblatt's ...more
- Stock Watch: Henry Boot (LSE:Boot) 6th December 2017 - Henry Boot is a Sheffield-based company which makes money from property and construction activities. It has four main sources of income: Buying land, getting planning ...more
- Two charts to unlock a company’s finances 6th December 2017 - By way of introducing two charts I'm routinely using to suss out how companies are financed - the twin pillars of debt and equity - ...more
- Searching for companies paying out more of their profits 29th November 2017 - One of the main considerations for people investing in shares these days is the dividend income they will get from owning them. With a world ...more
- Stock Watch: Fenner 22nd November 2017 - Over a decade ago when I was a smaller companies analyst in the City, UK engineering company Fenner was part of the portfolio of stocks ...more
- Is the current ratio an outdated measure of company safety? 15th November 2017 - One of the most commonly cited measures of a company's financial strength is something known as the current ratio. It is a measure of liquidity ...more
- The elusive hire firms you can buy and hold 14th November 2017 - Last week I introduced the listed plant and tool hire companies and mentioned in passing the industry has a bit of a boom bust reputation. Perhaps I ...more
- Income Opportunities From Dividends 10th November 2017 - In the last of his Investors Chronicle articles, Phil looks at companies reinstating dividends or starting to pay them for the 1st time. Read pdf ...more
- Homing in on hire firms 7th November 2017 - Homing in on hire firms When business is sluggish at construction sites and factories, tools and equipment are returned and hire companies make less profit. ...more
- How to steer clear of dividend traps 3rd November 2017 - First published in Investors Chronicle, Phil explains how to avoid the shares that might let you down. Read pdf article
- Finding safe high-yielding shares 27th October 2017 - First published in Investors Chronicle, Phil explains how to identify which high-yielding shares are most likely to maintain or grow their dividends. Read pdf article
- Stock Watch: Abcam – is lower profitability worth paying for? 23rd October 2017 - Abcam shares are more popular than ever. Perhaps they're worth it. Nailed on growth stock There's no doubt Abcam has grown. In performance terms it's ...more
- When valuations don’t matter and when they do 11th October 2017 - Lots of people will tell you that the price you pay for a share really matters. This is because it has a big say on ...more
- Stock Watch: Elegant Hotels Group 4th October 2017 - Elegant Hotels is the owner and operator of a number of upmarket hotels on the Caribbean island of Barbados. The company has been in business ...more
- Finding companies that speak your language 4th October 2017 - Finding companies that speak your language It's a commonly held view that the only bits of financial reports worth paying attention to are the numbers ...more
- How much is a company worth? A look at different ways to value shares 27th September 2017 - Two weeks ago I wrote about how to try and value companies that aren't making a profit. This week I'm going back to basics for ...more
- Tech recruiter is statistically attractive, but is it special? 26th September 2017 - There are two questions I ask of all companies I might invest in. Do the statistics indicate the business is highly profitable and, if they ...more
- 13th September 2017 - How to value loss-making companies One of the questions I am frequently asked is: "How do I value loss-making companies?". The short answer is that ...more
- How I choose my next share using filters and charts 13th September 2017 - After many years of investment I still feel a sense of anticipation when I examine lists of shares looking for new opportunities. It's like opening ...more
- Stock Watch: Redrow 13th September 2017 - The state of the housing market - and the direction of house prices in particular - is a key driver of Britain's economy. When house ...more
- Stock Watch: Scapa Group 5th September 2017 - Scapa Group has transformed itself over the last few years by following a strategy of offering more value to its customers. It has worked well ...more
- A blueprint for better long term investing 31st August 2017 - Holidays are great for switching off from the stresses and strains of the daily grind and concentrating on what's really important in life. I've just ...more
- Shares to hold to the grave, and beyond… 31st August 2017 - For my debut SharePad article, I've been invited to introduce my stockpicking strategy. It's a daunting prospect because strategy is everything. Without a strategy, luck ...more
- Stock Watch: Ashtead Group 10th August 2017 - Ashtead makes its money by renting out equipment to construction and industrial companies - things like aerial platforms, forklift trucks, tools, diggers, cranes, power generators ...more
- Stock Watch: Castings 25th July 2017 - Castings plc is a foundry business. Foundries are factories which produce metal castings. Castings has two in the UK - in the West Midlands and ...more
- Hunting in the minefield of cheap shares 18th July 2017 - Most people like a bargain. Bargain hunting on the stock market has long been a popular pastime or even a full time occupation for investors. ...more
- The case for dividend investing in dangerous markets 4th July 2017 - I am finding investing more than just a little bit frustrating these days. The reason for this is that I am struggling to find shares ...more
- Stock Watch: RPC 4th July 2017 - RPC (rigid plastic containers) designs and manufacturers plastic products for packaging markets. The company makes thousands of different products such as plastic bottles, food containers, ...more
- Stock Watch: James Halstead 27th June 2017 - James Halstead has been in business since 1915. It started out dyeing, finishing, waterproofing and rubberising textiles that were used in rainwear and outdoor clothing. ...more
- Making sense of highly priced shares 21st June 2017 - In my 20 years of investing I am finding the current stock market conditions the most challenging I have ever encountered. My investing career started ...more
- Stock Watch: Watkins Jones 14th June 2017 - Stock Watch: Watkins Jones Watkins Jones is a property developer, best known for building private student accommodation. It floated on AIM in March 2016. The ...more
- The case for enterprise valuations 6th June 2017 - A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the subject of PE ratios (click here to read the article) and the ins and outs of ...more
- Stock Watch: Howden Joinery Group (Howdens) 31st May 2017 - Howden Joinery Group is the parent company for Howdens. Howdens was established in 1995 with 14 depots by its current chief executive Matthew Ingle when ...more
- PE ratios and how to use them 23rd May 2017 - PE ratios and how to use them Price to earnings (PE) ratios are the most commonly used method of weighing up the value of a ...more
- Stock Watch: Smart Metering Systems (AIM:SMS) 16th May 2017 - I recently wrote about Smart Metering Systems in my exclusive weekly newsletter for SharePad and ShareScope customers. It's an interesting company so I have decided ...more
- Stock Watch: FW Thorpe 9th May 2017 - FW Thorpe was founded in 1936 and has been listed on the stock exchange since 1965. The company designs and manufactures professional lighting systems for ...more
- Looking beyond free cash flow 9th May 2017 - Ask me about the kind of financial characteristics I like to see in a potential investment and the first two I will usually cite are ...more
- Stock Watch: FW Thorpe 24th April 2017 - FW Thorpe was founded in 1936 and has been listed on the stock exchange since 1965. The company designs and manufactures professional lighting systems for ...more
- Analysing the stocks in a filter 19th April 2017 - Running filters or screens is a popular way of finding shares to invest in. Whilst screening can be very powerful it is important to recognise ...more
- UK Dividend aristocrats 30th March 2017 - Phil's Investors Chronicle article on how to be a successful dividend investor. Read the article
- Why depreciation matters and EBITDA doesn’t 30th March 2017 - When it comes to weighing up asset-intensive sectors, depreciation matters. It is a real cost. This does not stop people ignoring it and touting the ...more
- The end of “hidden debts” 28th March 2017 - Accounting is a dry subject but a very important one. I perfectly understand why private investors' eyes glaze over at the mere mention of the ...more
- Stock Watch: XP Power 15th March 2017 - XP Power is based is headquartered in Singapore and has manufacturing sites in Vietnam and China. The company makes power control systems which convert power ...more
- How to avoid value traps 10th March 2017 - In this instalment, Phil explains how to spot value traps and finds some cheap shares that might bounce back. Read the article
- Free cash flow: what it is and how to use it 3rd March 2017 - In this week's Investors Chronicle, Phil explains how to use free cash flow to your advantage. Read the article
- Stock Watch: Treatt plc (LSE:TET) 1st March 2017 - Treatt plc has been in business since 1886. Based in Bury St Edmunds, the company specialises in making and selling products based on essential oils. ...more
- Kraft-Heinz’s bid for Unilever 22nd February 2017 - Disclosure: Phil Oakley owns shares in Unilever Last week's bid by US food company Kraft-Heinz for Unilever caught many investors by surprise. But in retrospect ...more
- Weighing up investment trusts 15th February 2017 - Many private investors like to build a portfolio of individual shares in order to grow the value of their savings as well as trying to ...more
- Riding a retail roll out 8th February 2017 - Note: This in an advanced article best suited to more experienced and confident investors. One of the most profitable investing strategies can be to buy ...more
- Does Tesco buying Booker make sense? 2nd February 2017 - Mergers and takeovers are part and parcel of the investing world. However, I think it's fair to say that last week's (27th January 2017) announcement ...more
- Value investing today 26th January 2017 - One of the great things about investing is that there are lots of different ways for people to try and make money. This means that ...more
- If you want to beat the stock market own fewer shares not more 18th January 2017 - As a private investor managing your own share portfolio you have to achieve two things over the long haul to consider your efforts a success. ...more
- Sector Watch: Beverages 18th January 2017 - Companies which make and sell branded drinks have long been popular with investors. One of the main reasons for this is that as businesses they ...more
- Sector Watch: FTSE 100 and AIM 100 Miners 13th January 2017 - Mining companies are very difficult to analyse. Their profits and cash flows are very closely related to trends in commodity prices and sentiment towards the ...more
- Paying up for quality shares – how much is too much? 10th January 2017 - "It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price." - Warren Buffett "The desirability of a ...more
- A great year for modified magic formula investing 4th January 2017 - A year ago I started a trial of three model portfolios based on Joel Greenblatt's magic formula approach (click here to read more about this). I wanted ...more
- What is investing? 10th November 2015 - Why do people invest their money rather than just save? It's not just about growing your savings so that you will have more money in ...more
- A brief guide to tax-efficient saving 9th November 2015 - Tax-efficient savings accounts (ISAs) and self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs) are the best option for most savers and investors. Here's what you need to know. Savings ...more
- Choosing your first investments 8th November 2015 - For some people the thought of picking their own shares can be a little bit daunting. Rest assured, it doesn't have to be. Whilst it ...more
- Investing in funds, investment trusts and ETFs 7th November 2015 - Many investors like to build a portfolio of individual shares and even bonds but for some investors, investment funds can be a useful alternative. For ...more
- Investing your portfolio for retirement income 6th November 2015 - From what I can see we are still firmly in a bull market in shares. Momentum remains a strategy that is paying off handsomely with ...more
- Chapter 1: Introduction 14th October 2015 - If you are reading this, the chances are that you've decided to take control of your investments. You may have been investing for some time ...more
- Chapter 2: Balance sheets 13th October 2015 - SharePad is packed full of useful financial data. This data holds the key to understanding the financial health and value of any company you are ...more
- Chapter 3: Analysing balance sheets 12th October 2015 - In the previous chapter we looked at how a balance sheet was put together and the numbers that go into it. In this chapter, we are going ...more
- Chapter 4: Income statements 11th October 2015 - Hopefully, you will now understand balance sheets and how important and useful they are. Let's move on to a set a numbers which most people think are ...more
- Chapter 5: Analysing income statements 10th October 2015 - Now that we've dealt with the basic format of an income statement it's time to move on and show you how SharePad turns those numbers into really ...more
- Chapter 6: The cash flow statement 9th October 2015 - The last four chapters have been spent looking at the balance sheet and income statement and how to use them. In this chapter, we will ...more
- Chapter 7: Analysing cash flow statements 8th October 2015 - We did a little bit of cash flow analysis in the last chapter. In this one, we look at the cash flow ratios that SharePad calculates ...more
- Chapter 8: Is this a good business? 7th October 2015 - How to measure company returns In the previous chapter, we learnt that profits and cash received (cash flow) are rarely the same value. We looked ...more
- Chapter 9: Share valuations 6th October 2015 - How to tell when shares are cheap or expensive In the previous chapter we looked at how to find out if a company was any good or ...more
- Chapter 10: Value investing 5th October 2015 - The previous chapters have hopefully shown you how useful SharePad can be when you are sifting through the finances of a company. Information that might ...more
- Chapter 11: Dividend investing 4th October 2015 - If you are watching or listening to the news at the end of the day you will usually be told what happened to the stock ...more
- Chapter 12: Growth investing 3rd October 2015 - The last couple of chapters have focused on two particular styles of investing - dividend investing and value investing. Both these approaches to owning shares ...more
- Chapter 13: Investing in bonds 2nd October 2015 - Despite their names, ShareScope and SharePad are not just all about shares. They can help you with other investments as well. In this article I'm ...more
- Appendix A: Putting it all together 1st October 2015 - In this chapter, I use the data and tools in SharePad to show you how I analyse shares but it also applies to ShareScope. Even ...more
- When dull businesses come good 16th October 2018 - Stroll into a WH Smith and you might wonder why a shop that sells Sellotape, colouring books and slime (really!) exists today, but the company ...more
- Screening For My Next Long-Term Winner: Character 8th October 2018 - My SharePad screening for buying opportunities has short-listed Character (LSE: CCT) as a possible longer-term investment. The attraction here is a quite extraordinary story about ...more
- Screening For My Next Long-Term Winner: CMC Markets 11th September 2018 - In this article I continue my hunt for shares that could deliver market-beating returns… …and this time my SharePad system has identified CMC Markets (LSE: ...more
- Screening for my next long-term winner: Ramsdens 31st August 2018 - I am always hunting for great shares that could power ahead of the market during the years to come… …and just few days ago, my ...more
- Motorpoint: A car dealer that stands out from the crowd 19th July 2018 - Financial statistics from SharePad and non-financial data from the company itself all indicate Motorpoint is no ordinary car dealer. If you’ve bought a vehicle from ...more
- Stock Watch – Portmeirion 11th July 2018 - Portmeirion Group is based in Stoke on Trent and is a leading maker of homeware products such as tableware, cookware, placemats, candles and fragrances. It ...more
- Stock Watch: Hill & Smith Holdings 5th June 2018 - Shares in Hill & Smith Holdings (LSE:HILS) have been a very solid investment in recent years. The company's strategy of focusing on niche infrastructure markets ...more
- Face-off: Tenpin versus Hollywood Bowl 5th June 2018 - Tenpin bowling chains are like London buses. You wait around for years and then two of them list almost at the same time. Phil Oakley ...more
- Stock Watch: Superdry 22nd May 2018 - Superdry wants to create a global lifestyle brand by selling premium, high quality and affordable clothing to people. Its brand may not be as recognisable ...more
- Stock Watch: InterContinental Hotels 9th May 2018 - Disclosure: At the time of writing I own shares in InterContinental Hotels. InterContinental Hotels (IHG) can trace its roots back to the Bass brewing company. ...more
- Stock Watch: Cranswick 17th April 2018 - Cranswick is a UK-based food producer. It specialises in the production and selling of pork and poultry products. The sales mix of its business is ...more
- Stock Watch: Domino’s Pizza 27th March 2018 - Domino's Pizza is a very good business. It has exploited the trend of the growth in take-away pizza superbly and now has a 46% share ...more
- Stock Watch: Hollywood Bowl 13th March 2018 - Hollywood Bowl is the UK’s largest operator of tenpin bowling centres. It currently has 58 centres across the UK with 43 trading under the Hollywood ...more
- Stock Watch: Galliford Try 28th February 2018 - Shares in building and construction company Galliford Try have been hammered since it announced its half year results a couple of weeks ago. The results ...more
- Stock Watch: City Pub Group 14th February 2018 - (LSE:CPC 196p, Mkt Cap £96.3m, EMS 1500, Analysts 2) City Pub Group listed on AIM back in November. The company currently owns 38 managed pubs ...more
- Stockwatch: Avon Rubber
30th January 2018 - Avon Rubber is a good example of a company that fits into the category of a profitable niche business. It started off as a cloth ...more - Stock Watch: Nichols 16th January 2018 - Soft drinks company Nichols (AIM:NICL) has been a good share to own over the last few years. It has many of the hallmarks of a ...more
- Stock Watch: Henry Boot (LSE:Boot) 6th December 2017 - Henry Boot is a Sheffield-based company which makes money from property and construction activities. It has four main sources of income: Buying land, getting planning ...more
- Searching for companies paying out more of their profits 29th November 2017 - One of the main considerations for people investing in shares these days is the dividend income they will get from owning them. With a world ...more
- Stock Watch: Fenner 22nd November 2017 - Over a decade ago when I was a smaller companies analyst in the City, UK engineering company Fenner was part of the portfolio of stocks ...more
- Stock Watch: Abcam – is lower profitability worth paying for? 23rd October 2017 - Abcam shares are more popular than ever. Perhaps they're worth it. Nailed on growth stock There's no doubt Abcam has grown. In performance terms it's ...more
- Stock Watch: Elegant Hotels Group 4th October 2017 - Elegant Hotels is the owner and operator of a number of upmarket hotels on the Caribbean island of Barbados. The company has been in business ...more
- Tech recruiter is statistically attractive, but is it special? 26th September 2017 - There are two questions I ask of all companies I might invest in. Do the statistics indicate the business is highly profitable and, if they ...more
- Stock Watch: Redrow 13th September 2017 - The state of the housing market - and the direction of house prices in particular - is a key driver of Britain's economy. When house ...more
- Stock Watch: Scapa Group 5th September 2017 - Scapa Group has transformed itself over the last few years by following a strategy of offering more value to its customers. It has worked well ...more
- Stock Watch: Ashtead Group 10th August 2017 - Ashtead makes its money by renting out equipment to construction and industrial companies - things like aerial platforms, forklift trucks, tools, diggers, cranes, power generators ...more
- Stock Watch: Castings 25th July 2017 - Castings plc is a foundry business. Foundries are factories which produce metal castings. Castings has two in the UK - in the West Midlands and ...more
- Stock Watch: RPC 4th July 2017 - RPC (rigid plastic containers) designs and manufacturers plastic products for packaging markets. The company makes thousands of different products such as plastic bottles, food containers, ...more
- Stock Watch: James Halstead 27th June 2017 - James Halstead has been in business since 1915. It started out dyeing, finishing, waterproofing and rubberising textiles that were used in rainwear and outdoor clothing. ...more
- Stock Watch: Watkins Jones 14th June 2017 - Stock Watch: Watkins Jones Watkins Jones is a property developer, best known for building private student accommodation. It floated on AIM in March 2016. The ...more
- Stock Watch: Howden Joinery Group (Howdens) 31st May 2017 - Howden Joinery Group is the parent company for Howdens. Howdens was established in 1995 with 14 depots by its current chief executive Matthew Ingle when ...more
- Stock Watch: Smart Metering Systems (AIM:SMS) 16th May 2017 - I recently wrote about Smart Metering Systems in my exclusive weekly newsletter for SharePad and ShareScope customers. It's an interesting company so I have decided ...more
- Stock Watch: FW Thorpe 9th May 2017 - FW Thorpe was founded in 1936 and has been listed on the stock exchange since 1965. The company designs and manufactures professional lighting systems for ...more
- Stock Watch: FW Thorpe 24th April 2017 - FW Thorpe was founded in 1936 and has been listed on the stock exchange since 1965. The company designs and manufactures professional lighting systems for ...more
- Stock Watch: XP Power 15th March 2017 - XP Power is based is headquartered in Singapore and has manufacturing sites in Vietnam and China. The company makes power control systems which convert power ...more
- Stock Watch: Treatt plc (LSE:TET) 1st March 2017 - Treatt plc has been in business since 1886. Based in Bury St Edmunds, the company specialises in making and selling products based on essential oils. ...more
- Kraft-Heinz’s bid for Unilever 22nd February 2017 - Disclosure: Phil Oakley owns shares in Unilever Last week's bid by US food company Kraft-Heinz for Unilever caught many investors by surprise. But in retrospect ...more
- Does Tesco buying Booker make sense? 2nd February 2017 - Mergers and takeovers are part and parcel of the investing world. However, I think it's fair to say that last week's (27th January 2017) announcement ...more
- Dark days for regulated utility shares 24th April 2018 - Since they were privatised in the mid 1980s and early 1990s, the shares of regulated utility companies have found a place in many private investors' ...more
- The elusive hire firms you can buy and hold 14th November 2017 - Last week I introduced the listed plant and tool hire companies and mentioned in passing the industry has a bit of a boom bust reputation. Perhaps I ...more
- Homing in on hire firms 7th November 2017 - Homing in on hire firms When business is sluggish at construction sites and factories, tools and equipment are returned and hire companies make less profit. ...more
- Sector Watch: Beverages 18th January 2017 - Companies which make and sell branded drinks have long been popular with investors. One of the main reasons for this is that as businesses they ...more
- Sector Watch: FTSE 100 and AIM 100 Miners 13th January 2017 - Mining companies are very difficult to analyse. Their profits and cash flows are very closely related to trends in commodity prices and sentiment towards the ...more
- A great year for modified magic formula investing 4th January 2017 - A year ago I started a trial of three model portfolios based on Joel Greenblatt's magic formula approach (click here to read more about this). I wanted ...more
- Key questions to ask company management 23rd April 2018 - If you are attending any events which enable you to meet company management face-to-face, take along Phil's handy crib sheet - a list of key ...more
- Magic Formula stocks for 2018 10th January 2018 - For those of you who like the idea of a buy and forget investing strategy then Joel Greenblatt's Magic Formula of buying good companies at ...more
- Simple is best – Magic Formula Investing in 2017 19th December 2017 - If you were to ask me to recommend just one book on investing then I would struggle to think of anything better than Joel Greenblatt's ...more
- A blueprint for better long term investing 31st August 2017 - Holidays are great for switching off from the stresses and strains of the daily grind and concentrating on what's really important in life. I've just ...more
- Shares to hold to the grave, and beyond… 31st August 2017 - For my debut SharePad article, I've been invited to introduce my stockpicking strategy. It's a daunting prospect because strategy is everything. Without a strategy, luck ...more
- UK Dividend aristocrats 30th March 2017 - Phil's Investors Chronicle article on how to be a successful dividend investor. Read the article
- Value investing today 26th January 2017 - One of the great things about investing is that there are lots of different ways for people to try and make money. This means that ...more
- Filtering new issues 28th September 2018 - New issues have a reputation for delivering poor investment returns. In this article we filter SharePad for companies that may be more seasoned than they ...more
- The old ones are the good ones 11th September 2018 - Exciting news: Aston Martin is readying itself to float on the stock market. Investors should think twice though, before buying the shares. Typically, it is ...more
- Building a base filter 30th August 2018 - To demonstrate how to filter in SharePad, we’ll build a base filter that filters out the shares we are least likely to be interested in. ...more
- The perils of filtering stocks 20th August 2018 - This is the second article in the series “From ideas to investments” in which I look at the process of finding and evaluating investment ideas. ...more
- How the stock market actually works 27th July 2018 - Today's article is the first in a new series called ‘From ideas to investments’ which takes an in-depth look at how to generate investment ideas ...more
- Avoiding bad shares is just as important as picking good ones 13th June 2018 - If you've been investing in individual shares for a while then you've probably gone through the experience of losing some money on one or more ...more
- First steps to an inheritance tax-exempt portfolio 21st May 2018 - Investing in AIM-listed shares can help you reduce inheritance tax but you have to be picky. Not all shares qualify, and they must be good ...more
- Buying quality on its own is no guarantee of success 15th May 2018 - There are many different ways to make money from the stock market. Over the last few years, one of the most popular and discussed strategies ...more
- A new issue that is already a winner 8th May 2018 - Looking through the prisms of profitability, debt, cash flow, strategy and valuation, Strix may be an exception to the rule that new issues make bad ...more
- AGMs – If in doubt, ask 23rd April 2018 - Most companies will answer questions from shareholders and potential shareholders. At Annual General Meetings shareholders have a right to ask questions and get answers. A ...more
- Should investors avoid low margin companies? 10th April 2018 - Highly profitable companies can make outstanding long-term investments. Arguably, the best way to measure a company's profitability is to compare its profits with the amount ...more
- Putting performance in perspective 9th April 2018 - To get a grip on where a company is going you have to understand where it has come from. Fortunately, that doesn’t mean reading every ...more
- Working out what could go wrong with a share 26th March 2018 - Investors pin their hopes on what could go right. The great product. The winning strategy. The growing market. The new technology. These may be good ...more
- Checking out a company’s cash conversion 21st March 2018 - A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the issues investors faced in working out a company’s true profits. In many cases, the ways in ...more
- Decrypting a company’s business model and strategy 13th March 2018 - While it’s comforting to know a business has enjoyed success, long-term investors must also form an opinion on its prospects if we’re to hold the ...more
- Can you trust a company’s profits? 7th March 2018 - This article is more suited to experienced investors. Profits are all important when it comes to investing in companies. To make money over the long ...more
- How to read an annual report 27th February 2018 - Rule number one in long-term investing is to understand how the businesses you expect to profit from will make money - otherwise, how can you ...more
- A smarter way to use analysts’ EPS forecasts 21st February 2018 - Should investors pay much attention to analysts’ profit forecasts? There is a school of thought that suggests that they should not. Detractors say that forecasts ...more
- The Terry Smith algorithm 14th February 2018 - In this article I’ve attempted to find Fundsmith-like companies using SharePad. The results are mixed but there’s a lot to be learned from the experiment. ...more
- A checklist for busy investors 7th February 2018 - There are many full time private investors out there but for others investing is a hobby or something that they fit around their day to ...more
- Using SharePad’s “Live” tables in your own spreadsheets 30th January 2018 - Maybe you already download tables of data from SharePad by clicking on the sharing button in SharePad's blue Table view, but this data is dead. ...more
- A better way to track changes in company performance 23rd January 2018 - It doesn't take too much time to get a feel for how well a company is doing. Most people do this by looking at percentage ...more
- Buy and build 15th January 2018 - If you take a look at Diploma through the lens of SharePad's summary page (under the green 'Financials' tab), you will find it shares many ...more
- Settings for the big picture 3rd January 2018 - Happy New Year! I've started mine by tidying up my many desktops: my physical desk, my laptop's desktop, and SharePad. I did so much experimenting ...more
- Two charts to unlock a company’s finances 6th December 2017 - By way of introducing two charts I'm routinely using to suss out how companies are financed - the twin pillars of debt and equity - ...more
- Is the current ratio an outdated measure of company safety? 15th November 2017 - One of the most commonly cited measures of a company's financial strength is something known as the current ratio. It is a measure of liquidity ...more
- Income Opportunities From Dividends 10th November 2017 - In the last of his Investors Chronicle articles, Phil looks at companies reinstating dividends or starting to pay them for the 1st time. Read pdf ...more
- How to steer clear of dividend traps 3rd November 2017 - First published in Investors Chronicle, Phil explains how to avoid the shares that might let you down. Read pdf article
- Finding safe high-yielding shares 27th October 2017 - First published in Investors Chronicle, Phil explains how to identify which high-yielding shares are most likely to maintain or grow their dividends. Read pdf article
- Finding companies that speak your language 4th October 2017 - Finding companies that speak your language It's a commonly held view that the only bits of financial reports worth paying attention to are the numbers ...more
- How much is a company worth? A look at different ways to value shares 27th September 2017 - Two weeks ago I wrote about how to try and value companies that aren't making a profit. This week I'm going back to basics for ...more
- 13th September 2017 - How to value loss-making companies One of the questions I am frequently asked is: "How do I value loss-making companies?". The short answer is that ...more
- How I choose my next share using filters and charts 13th September 2017 - After many years of investment I still feel a sense of anticipation when I examine lists of shares looking for new opportunities. It's like opening ...more
- Hunting in the minefield of cheap shares 18th July 2017 - Most people like a bargain. Bargain hunting on the stock market has long been a popular pastime or even a full time occupation for investors. ...more
- The case for dividend investing in dangerous markets 4th July 2017 - I am finding investing more than just a little bit frustrating these days. The reason for this is that I am struggling to find shares ...more
- Making sense of highly priced shares 21st June 2017 - In my 20 years of investing I am finding the current stock market conditions the most challenging I have ever encountered. My investing career started ...more
- The case for enterprise valuations 6th June 2017 - A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the subject of PE ratios (click here to read the article) and the ins and outs of ...more
- PE ratios and how to use them 23rd May 2017 - PE ratios and how to use them Price to earnings (PE) ratios are the most commonly used method of weighing up the value of a ...more
- Looking beyond free cash flow 9th May 2017 - Ask me about the kind of financial characteristics I like to see in a potential investment and the first two I will usually cite are ...more
- Analysing the stocks in a filter 19th April 2017 - Running filters or screens is a popular way of finding shares to invest in. Whilst screening can be very powerful it is important to recognise ...more
- Why depreciation matters and EBITDA doesn’t 30th March 2017 - When it comes to weighing up asset-intensive sectors, depreciation matters. It is a real cost. This does not stop people ignoring it and touting the ...more
- The end of “hidden debts” 28th March 2017 - Accounting is a dry subject but a very important one. I perfectly understand why private investors' eyes glaze over at the mere mention of the ...more
- How to avoid value traps 10th March 2017 - In this instalment, Phil explains how to spot value traps and finds some cheap shares that might bounce back. Read the article
- Free cash flow: what it is and how to use it 3rd March 2017 - In this week's Investors Chronicle, Phil explains how to use free cash flow to your advantage. Read the article
- Weighing up investment trusts 15th February 2017 - Many private investors like to build a portfolio of individual shares in order to grow the value of their savings as well as trying to ...more
- Riding a retail roll out 8th February 2017 - Note: This in an advanced article best suited to more experienced and confident investors. One of the most profitable investing strategies can be to buy ...more
- Paying up for quality shares – how much is too much? 10th January 2017 - "It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price." - Warren Buffett "The desirability of a ...more
