05 – ONCE A DARLING, NOW AN EVIL

Posted on May 10, 2020 by Jimit Zaveri under Once a darling, now an evil

The fifth part of Series “Once a darling, now an evil”. This series is based on the companies which were once upon a time darling of the market and now, it has wiped out the majority of all those gains. I am trying to put some of the number-crunching facts by which we have identified ongoing issues in the companies and have saved our wealth.

I am starting this part with one of the manufacturing, processing & trading of yarns, fabrics, ready-made garments and towels company which has an all-time high price of ~Rs.582 in 2008 and now last traded price at Rs.0.35.

SEL01

On the first instance this company having huge sales and profit growth. This creates the temptation to buy with missing out of the opportunity.

But when we go for deepen….

SEL02 SEL04 SEL03

Now, let’s look at the above data then though the company has good growth in sales and profit but not able to generate CFO. This will require to bring external funding in terms of equity and borrowing, and both have increased rapidly. Look at the receivable and inventory as a % of sales than 73%, 69%, 70% in FY08,09,10 respectively. Also, if we look at the debtor days and inventory days both are increasing rapidly.

SEL05

If we look at the taxation then as per the Cash flow tax rate then it is substantially lower this creates a doubt that why to pay less tax than actual payment.

Also, when we look at the investment than the majority of the investment made in subsidiaries.

Disclosure – Companies mentioned in the article are just for an example & educational purpose. It is not a buy/sell/ hold recommendation.

LIMITS ON COPING – 15 – MASTERING THE MARKET CYCLE

Posted on May 3, 2020 by Jimit Zaveri under Bibliophile: Mastering The Market Cycle

We have seen superior results with superior insights. But for getting these skills, we also need to know the limitations and how difficult it is to acquire them.

MMC15 01-min

If we are going to identify what will be going to happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow or next week, next month then we are not going to get success in identifying cycle. Identifying cycle is never easy, it requires a greater effort to capture a cycle in a better way which provides us with an advantage.

MMC15 02-min

Disclosure – Companies mentioned in the article are just for an example & educational purpose. It is not a buy/sell/ hold recommendation.

Read for more detail: Mastering The Market Cycle: Getting the odds on your side by Mr.Howard Marks

04 – ONCE A DARLING, NOW AN EVIL

Posted on April 26, 2020 by Jimit Zaveri under Once a darling, now an evil

The fourth part of Series “Once a darling, now an evil”. This series is based on the companies which were once upon a time darling of the market and now, it has wiped out the majority of all those gains. I am trying to put some of the number-crunching facts by which we have identified ongoing issues in the companies and have saved our wealth.

I am starting this part with one of the network service company which has an all-time high price of ~Rs.3500 and now last traded price at Rs.1.25. and high of Rs.464 in the year 2010.

GTLL01

On the first instance, this company looks having not a huge problem except debt rising but for understanding it in a better way, we need to go deeper.

GTLL02

If we look at the tax paid in cash flow then that tax outflow is higher than what the company has posted in P&L statement. If we look at the actual PAT and reported PAT then both have a good diversion. This shows that the company has boosted PAT by ~40%+ on an average basis.

GTLL03

Now, if we look at the sales to the related party then that was ~44% and 43% in the FY08 & FY09 respectively. In FY09, ~44% payable was from the related party out of total payables. Company has made ~80%+ investment in its subsidiaries out of investment shown on the balance sheet. In addition, the company has 25+ subsidiaries and few were at Mauritius.

Also, during when the price was traded near too high in the year 2010, the promoter has started putting their stake in a pledge.

Disclosure – Companies mentioned in the article are just for an example & educational purpose. It is not a buy/sell/ hold recommendation.

This series contains learning from books –Financial Shenanigans Quality of Earnings The Financial Numbers Game Creative Cash Flow Reporting

CYCLE POSITIONING – 14 – MASTERING THE MARKET CYCLE

Posted on April 19, 2020 by Jimit Zaveri under Bibliophile: Mastering The Market Cycle

It is always important to be defensive and aggressive over a different period of time. We cannot be defensive for every time or aggressive all the time. The most important is when we should become defensive and when we should become aggressive, it matters a lot. If we become defensive at the bottom of the cycle and aggressive at the top of the cycle then it will be dangerous for our wealth.

We require aggressiveness, timing and skills for achieving success. Aggressiveness at the right time creates a fortune.

For getting success, we have to focus on key elements mentioned by Mr Marks.

Risk in our portfolio in the cycle, which assets we are holding in the portfolio and among those which are overweight or underweight.
Aggressiveness such as holding second-grade assets, leverage, macro dependent investment, putting more capital at risk. Defensive investment such as holding cash than securities, safer assets, avoid leverage. Selection from above both depends on where we stand at the cycle and what can be a future market development.
The skill requires to make a balanced decision. Luck required when randomness has more effects on the events. Skills help us to make a decision in the portfolio but luck can fail our right decision or proven to succeed in our wrong decision in the short run. Skills win the battle in the long run.

When we found that we are positioned in the cycle where pessimism at lowest, the economy has better development, etc. and we have become aggressive towards portfolio positioning then it will reward us with greater profits while the market does well as per our assumption. And also incur losses if the market does not work as per our assumption.

MMC14 01-min

Being right is not into the control of anyone due to the involvement of randomness and luck factors.

When we found that the economy started being optimistic, the psychology of investors started optimistic, good news started flowing then we need to cut position in our portfolio which we feel overpriced. This effort helps us to reduce risk when slowdown or recession occurs. But this decision requires a skill set otherwise we will underperform the market at whole.

MMC14 02-min

We always have to keep in mind that when the market is low in the cycle then the probability of losses is low and the probability of making profits is higher. Reversely, when the market is high in the cycle then the probability of incurring losses is higher and the probability of making profits is lower. We cannot predict the outcome but we can take advantage of the cycle by making an assumption of it.

After identifying the market cycle, we need to make a selection of the assets. If the price of the asset is lower compared to its intrinsic value then it will do better than other assets. And if the price of the assets is higher compared to its intrinsic value then it will not do much better than other assets. We also should focus that whether the intrinsic value of the assets has scope for further growth or not.

Theoretically, it quoted that the market is efficient and all the information is available with everyone so that no one can make profits from it. But reality shows something different. It shows that few people can think differently from the crowd and get above average than all. This is called second-level thinking where we need to think wise and differently from the crowd. Those who use second-level thinking they can do above average than consensus. This is key to assets selection.

Winners have a tendency to fall less than the market and during the rising market, they meet the market. And those who do not have a skill, they fall more than the market and does not have a higher return when market raises.

Aggressive investors with superior insights, fall slightly more than market in falling time but raise more than market in good time. Whereas defensive investors with superior insights, outperform in the worst time and underperformed the market in good time. We need to keep a balance between both. The person who can make a balance between both aggressive and defensive with superior insights, that investors outperform the market at the worst time as well as in the good time also.

MMC14 03-min