A company's competitive position either grows stronger or weaker each day.
Widening the moat must always take precedence over short-term targets.
Buffett's letters taught me more about investing than any business school ever could.
Even after investing for 14 years, I uncover new insights every time I reread his letters.
Recently, I reread his letters from 1977 to 2020 for a third time.
Here are my key insights:
A company's competitive position either grows stronger or weaker each day.
Widening the moat must always take precedence over short-term targets.
A business without moat will have its returns competed away.
Regardless of improvement, your competitors will quickly copy your advantage away.
Where returns on capital is dismal, reinvestment will only destroy value.
Buffett was preaching about the flywheel effect before it became cool.
Back then, newspapers were similar to today's platform businesses like Amazon, Meta, and App Store.
More readers beget more advertisers beget more readers.
Companies with high fixed costs and low variable costs will see earnings rise faster than revenue.
However, it cuts both ways.
It becomes a disaster when revenue is declining.
Check out my article on how operating leverage works: https://t.co/Nv747oBAK0
•Know your circle of competence
•Focus on future cash flows
•Refrain from price speculation
•Ignore volatility
•Macro is a waste of time
Everyday Mr. Market will show up to name a price to buy or sell.
When optimistic, he sees only favorable factors and names a high price.
When pessimistic, he sees nothing but trouble and names a low price.
Mr. Market is here to serve you, not to guide you.
Risk does not come from price volatility.
Nor could it be managed away by simply diversifying.
Focus on whether after-tax proceeds generated by the investment provide at least as much purchasing power as the investor started with, plus a modest interest rate.
Thinking that stocks with low PE, PB or high dividend yield is a value stock is erroneous thinking.
Likewise, a high PE, PB or low dividend yield might be a value purchase.
Instead, focus on the return on capital vs the cost of capital.
Similar to Jeff Bezos, Buffett like to focus on what doesn't change for a business.
For Amazon's customers, it is low prices.
For Sees' candies, it is for the premium brand.
Technology changes, but motivations less so.
Between fast growth or a more certain growth, Buffett will always choose the latter.
Without durability, fast growth in the early years are less ideal investments.
Over the long-run, the returns of your investment will mirror the underlying business return on capital.
Even if a business is slightly overvalued, Buffett will rather hold on to it than to switch for a cheaper, lower-quality business.
Investing in ugly businesses simply because of its price is foolish.
Time is the friend of the wonderful business, the enemy of the mediocre.
Unless you are able to liquidate the company, you'll slowly see value evaporate.
Don't do it.
Don't expose yourself to the possibility of being wiped out.
In investing, a settled mind is crucial for making decisions.
Makes sense only when:
•The company has enough fund to maintain competitive position
•There's no where else to reinvest at attractive returns
•The company's stock is selling below intrinsic value
An asset heavy business that requires frequent reinvestment to maintain its competitive position doesn't have "real earnings".
Bulk of its returns will be set aside simply to maintain its competitive positioning and cannot be distributed.
When evaluating an acquisition, management often justify it with EPS accretion.
But near-term EPS is of no significance.
What really counts is whether a merger is dilutive or anti-dilutive in terms of intrinsic business value.
Asset-light companies that have pricing power will benefit from inflation.
On the other hand, companies that have to invest in machineries, plants and properties to stay relevant will suffer in periods of high inflation.
I hope you enjoyed it.
If you like this, follow me here @steadycompound
I write about investment concepts, business breakdowns and growth philosophies.
Every week.
https://t.co/96pjE7aGBm
Personally, I prefer reading from @CunninghamProf book The Essays of Warren Buffett because of its neat categorization.
Get it here: https://t.co/b8j6HjEQCS
Here is the article on operating leverage: https://t.co/hMOZ54iudU
More from Thomas Chua
Having a finance degree did not make me a better investor.
Rather, I learned 10x more about investing from Twitter University.
🧵 Here are 5 threads from world-class Fintwitters.
What you learn: Build an investing checklist.
From: @BrianFeroldi, writer at Motley
What you learn: Read 10Ks like a Hedge Fund
From: @FabiusMercurius
What you learn: Perform a DCF analysis.
From: @10kdiver
What you learn: When to sell your stocks
From: @borrowed_ideas, founder at
Rather, I learned 10x more about investing from Twitter University.
🧵 Here are 5 threads from world-class Fintwitters.
What you learn: Build an investing checklist.
From: @BrianFeroldi, writer at Motley
1/ How to create an investment checklist (thread)
— Brian Feroldi (@BrianFeroldi) December 8, 2020
Checklists are an amazing, FREE, underutilized investing tool
Here's the step-by-step process for how to create your own
\u2b07\ufe0f\u2b07\ufe0f\u2b07\ufe0f\u2b07\ufe0f\u2b07\ufe0f\u2b07\ufe0f\u2b07\ufe0f\u2b07\ufe0f\u2b07\ufe0f
What you learn: Read 10Ks like a Hedge Fund
From: @FabiusMercurius
\U0001f9d0How to Read 10Ks Like a Hedge Fund\U0001f9d0
— Ming Zhao (@FabiusMercurius) May 7, 2021
\u201cFundamentals don\u2019t matter anymore!\u201d I\u2019ve heard this a lot lately on Fintwit.\U0001f644
But, for those who\u2019ve diversify beyond $GME and $DOGE, here\u2019s a primer on what metrics fundamental buy-side PMs look at and why:
(real examples outlined)
\U0001f447 pic.twitter.com/tLlNRvpnDK
What you learn: Perform a DCF analysis.
From: @10kdiver
1/
— 10-K Diver (@10kdiver) August 8, 2020
Get a cup of coffee.
In this thread, I'll show you how to do a DCF analysis.
For those unfamiliar, DCF = Discounted Cash Flow.
What you learn: When to sell your stocks
From: @borrowed_ideas, founder at
More from Finance
Last week Hizbollah's finance institution Al Qard el Hasan was hacked by Spiderz. A group of people took that Data and tried to make sense out of it. Below are the findings
https://t.co/eGLqvb28o5
Loans are provided to borrowers for gold deposits or other guarantees, to the association's members and to unsecured applicants.
AQAH had a carried forward loan balance of $450 million as of December 31, 2019. This balance has been increasing at a yearly rate of 13.4%.
AQAH laundered around $475 million in 2019 in the form of disbursed loans paid to more than 20,000 borrower accounts; mostly to borrowers with gold deposits.
Deposits accounts have been offered to 307,000 members of the association, 83,000 contributors as well as to 600 companies. AQAH closed 2019 with an overall depositors accounts balance of around $500 million.
https://t.co/eGLqvb28o5
Loans are provided to borrowers for gold deposits or other guarantees, to the association's members and to unsecured applicants.
AQAH had a carried forward loan balance of $450 million as of December 31, 2019. This balance has been increasing at a yearly rate of 13.4%.
AQAH laundered around $475 million in 2019 in the form of disbursed loans paid to more than 20,000 borrower accounts; mostly to borrowers with gold deposits.
Deposits accounts have been offered to 307,000 members of the association, 83,000 contributors as well as to 600 companies. AQAH closed 2019 with an overall depositors accounts balance of around $500 million.
Here are all the threads posted by @AdityaTodmal and @niki_poojary in January: 🧵
• 8 powerful ways to use Twitter
• Power of Stocks
• 14 Trading Strategies
• Basics of Derivatives (3 parts)
• Technical Analysis for all sectors
• Tweets of the week
• Books on Futures
All the Top 10 tweets threads I have ever posted to date:
Basics of Derivatives Part 1:
8 powerful ways to use Twitter:
Basics of Derivatives Part 2:
• 8 powerful ways to use Twitter
• Power of Stocks
• 14 Trading Strategies
• Basics of Derivatives (3 parts)
• Technical Analysis for all sectors
• Tweets of the week
• Books on Futures
All the Top 10 tweets threads I have ever posted to date:
Every week, I post a thread with the top ten tweets.
— Aditya Todmal (@AdityaTodmal) January 7, 2022
People seem to enjoy these a lot.
\U0001f9f5 Here's a list of all of them in order of appearance: \U0001f9f5
Basics of Derivatives Part 1:
\U0001d401\U0001d41a\U0001d42c\U0001d422\U0001d41c\U0001d42c \U0001d428\U0001d41f \U0001d403\U0001d41e\U0001d42b\U0001d422\U0001d42f\U0001d41a\U0001d42d\U0001d422\U0001d42f\U0001d41e\U0001d42c
— Nikita Poojary (@niki_poojary) January 8, 2022
\u2022 What is a derivative
\u2022 Various derivative products
\u2022 Participants in derivatives market
\u2022 Uses of derivative instruments
\u2022 Beta & hedge ratio
\u2022 Option Greeks
Time for a Thread \U0001f9f5
Curated in collaboration with @AdityaTodmal pic.twitter.com/x6IHoQubOT
8 powerful ways to use Twitter:
Most of the Trading community doesn\u2019t know how to use Twitter effectively.
— Aditya Todmal (@AdityaTodmal) January 15, 2022
Here are 8 powerful ways to use Twitter: \U0001f9f5
Collaborated with @niki_poojary pic.twitter.com/TuZt72PIzd
Basics of Derivatives Part 2:
\U0001d401\U0001d41a\U0001d42c\U0001d422\U0001d41c\U0001d42c \U0001d428\U0001d41f \U0001d403\U0001d41e\U0001d42b\U0001d422\U0001d42f\U0001d41a\U0001d42d\U0001d422\U0001d42f\U0001d41e\U0001d42c - \U0001d40f\U0001d41a\U0001d42b\U0001d42d \U0001d408\U0001d408
— Nikita Poojary (@niki_poojary) January 15, 2022
\u2022 How options can be used
\u2022 How to trade in options & exit strategy- buyers
\u2022 Imp of theta decay
\u2022 How to trade in options & exit strategy -sellers
Time for a Thread\U0001f9f5
Curated in collaboration with@AdityaTodmal pic.twitter.com/Ebd99afDKB
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One of the most successful stock trader with special focus on cash stocks and who has a very creative mind to look out for opportunities in dark times
Covering one of the most unique set ups: Extended moves & Reversal plays
Time for a 🧵 to learn the above from @iManasArora
What qualifies for an extended move?
30-40% move in just 5-6 days is one example of extended move
How Manas used this info to book
Post that the plight of the
Example 2: Booking profits when the stock is extended from 10WMA
10WMA =
Another hack to identify extended move in a stock:
Too many green days!
Read
Covering one of the most unique set ups: Extended moves & Reversal plays
Time for a 🧵 to learn the above from @iManasArora
What qualifies for an extended move?
30-40% move in just 5-6 days is one example of extended move
How Manas used this info to book
The stock exploded & went up as much as 63% from my price.
— Manas Arora (@iManasArora) June 22, 2020
Closed my position entirely today!#BroTip pic.twitter.com/CRbQh3kvMM
Post that the plight of the
What an extended (away from averages) move looks like!!
— Manas Arora (@iManasArora) June 24, 2020
If you don't learn to sell into strength, be ready to give away the majority of your gains.#GLENMARK pic.twitter.com/5DsRTUaGO2
Example 2: Booking profits when the stock is extended from 10WMA
10WMA =
#HIKAL
— Manas Arora (@iManasArora) July 2, 2021
Closed remaining at 560
Reason: It is 40+% from 10wma. Super extended
Total revenue: 11R * 0.25 (size) = 2.75% on portfolio
Trade closed pic.twitter.com/YDDvhz8swT
Another hack to identify extended move in a stock:
Too many green days!
Read
When you see 15 green weeks in a row, that's the end of the move. *Extended*
— Manas Arora (@iManasArora) August 26, 2019
Simple price action analysis.#Seamecltd https://t.co/gR9xzgeb9K
