Change Alley Suggesting that Scrooge’s drive and self-discipline was something we should aspire to didn’t go down well with my millennial children. I rationalised the barrage of criticism as the product of low rates, plentiful debt and cheap money making the concept of being economical unpopular. Scrooge’s world was one of narrow dark alleyways -similar […]
Month: December 2019
The Wright brothers were not capitalists
Warren Buffett is famous to have said “If a capitalist had been present at Kitty Hawk back in the early 1900s, he should have shot Orville Wright”. This is because the airline industry is deemed to have sucked huge amounts of money and destroyed shareholder value more than any other sector. But is that fair? […]
Alpha FX speaks my language
In response to a reader’s suggestion, Richard investigates Alpha FX. It is exactly the kind of people-first business that could be building a long-term competitive advantage and consequently grow inexorably. As I was considering what to write about for my last article before the Christmas break, a present from a reader arrived in my inbox. […]
Weekly Commentary: 23/12/19 – Lessons for 2020
Lessons for 2020 It has been rather enjoyable as the year draws to a close. The Boris Bounce was a pleasant experience for investors. Excitingly for some it was a rally in the value stocks. Top of the leader board was the FTSE Small cap rising 5.6% closely followed by those high yield stocks while […]
Screening For My Next Long-Term Winner: Mears
This article has not turned out as I had expected. I searched on SharePad for magnificent dividend histories, and thought I would be evaluating a business with glorious financials and tip-top management. I have instead ended up with accounting alarm bells and a dissident shareholder trying to oust the boardroom. The screen I applied in […]
Weekly Commentary: 16/12/19 – The Golden Era of Small Caps
The Golden Era of Small Caps The fear was palpable last Thursday as I sat in a broking office. The millennials queuing at the voting booths put the fear of God into those traders worrying about a labour government. The traders’ buy to let property portfolios that they had constructed in the image of the […]
The ultimate competitive advantage
Business schools identify the sources of competitive advantage that tie customers to companies and what they produce. Fundamentally though, there is only one true competitive advantage: people. If I could recommend one book for long-term investors, it would be “Intelligent Fanatics Project” by Sean Iddings and Ian Cassell, which is subtitled “How great leaders build […]
Weekly Commentary: 09/12/19 – The Volatility Reduction Trade
The Volatility Reduction Trade The gating of M&G’s property fund caused the press to become excitable last week. The Questor column in The Telegraph advised investors they were “crazy” to have money in open ended property funds as Aberdeen Property fund redemptions accelerated. Brexit crisis and retail gloom also featured as news wires sensed a […]
Cups and bowls
Cups and handles, and bowls, have been very popular with trend traders. These patterns can be powerful as they show sentiment of the stock gradually changing and buyers slowly overpowering suppliers of the stock. This is a classic cup and handle pattern. The cup is the deeper bowl, along with a handle which is the […]
Weekly Commentary: 02/12/19 – Shrinking Markets
Shrinking Markets The liquidation of Nautilus Minerals caught my eye last week. This was a company which was to be one of the first underwater miners aiming to recover gold, silver and copper from deep water off the coast of Papua New Guinea. Such escapades are not new. In the 1680’s the government “found” some […]