05 – 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….

SEL02SEL04SEL03

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. 

Once a darling, now an evil

I am going to start this new series with all your love and wishes. Series “Once a darling, now an evil” 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. This series is an extension of my previous series Numbers tells you everything, this series I have left in midway due to some technical issues with my database.

I am starting this series with one of the graphic company which has an all-time high price of Rs.2100+ and now traded at Rs.0.25. and high of Rs.13.47 in the year 2007. Due to unavailability of data prior to 2006 and unavailability of the annual report prior to 2010. I have to start showing number analysis from 2006 only.

PEM 01

Wow!!! What a strong cash flow from operating activities!!! From the above data, the company seems strong but….

When we look at the balance sheet with putting P&L with it then….

PEM 02

The company need Rs.193 cr of fixed assets to do a sale of only Rs.97 cr. Sales are just a ~10% of the entire balance sheet size. Debtors of the company were Rs.221 cr and inventory worth of Rs.79 cr compared to the sales of Rs.97 cr in FY06. Debtors were almost 2.28x of sales and inventory was 81% of sales. Look at the below data.

PEM 03

Few more interesting data…

PEM 04

Means when a company sell its services, the company gets payment after 828 days in FY06 and 826 days in FY07. In addition, the company takes 295 days to convert its inventory into the finished products in FY06 and that increase rapidly as COVID-19 has grown.

Now, the question is if a company has higher debtors and inventories then how CFO remains much stronger.

PEM 05

The answer is here. Working capital changes have contributed that boost into the CFO. If we look component of it then debtors have majorly reduced but still in FY07, debtors as a % sales remain as high as earlier due to a sharp fall in the sales.

If we have look at these basic number analyses and not deep crunching then also, we have avoided investment into such company and have saved our wealth. I have not talked about the company’s investment worth of ~Rs.130 cr in its subsidiaries in FY10 and both the subsidiaries are located at Mauritius. Also, ~Rs.134 cr of advances recoverable in FY10. There are many such points but without looking at all such points, we have avoided and saved our wealth.

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

The Intelligent Investor – 14 – Stock Selection for the Defensive Investor

For stock selection and for investing for defensive investors, Mr. Graham has mentioned a few criteria –

  • Adequate size of the enterprise

Mr. Graham has quoted that investment candidate companies should not be too small into the size. As per him, we should not invest in the company which does not have sales and assets less than $100 Mn (Rs.700 crore) and $50 Mn (Rs.350 crore) respectively.

  • A Sufficiently Strong Financial Condition

II C14 01

We should check the long-term debt to working capital also. Such strength provides a margin of safety to defensive investors.

  • Earning stability

Earning of the company does not get highly fluctuated during the past ten years. This indicates that a company has a stable business model. The stability of the business model provides safety to defensive investors.

  • Dividend record

Uninterrupted dividend for at least the last 20 years. Further, we can check that whether company paying dividend through cash earning or through debt, which I have already explained in – The Intelligent Investor 11

  • Earnings growth

Earning should be grown for the last ten year. We should decide the % of earnings growth, we seek from the business.

  • Moderate price/earnings ratio

As per Mr. Graham P/E ratio should not be higher than 15x for the past three years of average earnings. Reverse P/E ratio is near to the AAA bond rate, which means 1/15 = 6.67%.

  • The moderate ratio of price to assets

The price to book value should not be higher than 1.5x. and also, P/E * P/BV will not be higher than 22.5x (15x * 1.5x). it can be possible that P/E can be 20x and P/BV can be 1.12x or vice-versa.

We should not invest in the companies where earnings getting worst though those companies are available at the cheaper valuation. And if everyone thinks similar for an investment opportunity then advantage for a similar investment opportunity will be gone. Similar happens during the FY17 to FY18 to equities where everyone wants to invest in the equities and equities valuation reach at the higher level.

Mr. Graham has also mentioned that we should not put all our eggs into the one basket, diversification protect us, minimize the risk. But diversification should help when we have a stock of quality companies, also over-diversification does not help. If we own the worst quality companies and make diversification then also our winning odds will never be favorable.

These all parameters are important for initial screening, after that we need to make our due diligence before investing in a particular stock. We need to read at least five years of annual reports, if the institution holds more than 60% to particular stock means that it is highly discovered (>15% is much more for Indian companies), and need to put efforts before investing.

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: The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham, Jason Zweig

The Intelligent Investor – 13 – A Comparison of Four Listed Companies

When we have decided to make an investment then we need to perform an analysis work so that we do not be stuck with the wrong investment avenues or at the wrong time. For making an analysis, we must need to focus on a few points.

Profitability – how the company performs? Return on invested capital, margins, growth in sales-profits, earning per book value, etc. If the profitability of the company gets hampered then we need to check whether it is permanent or temporary.

Stability – earning of the company decline in any of the years from the past ten years? Do the earnings of the company get fluctuations? Does a company involve in a seasonal or cyclical business?

Growth – companies with higher growth command for the high multiples and lower growth with low multiples. The growth of the company can help us to grow our wealth also. The growth provides an opportunity for the company to use capital appropriately.

Financial position – liquidity ratio, the position of a balance sheet, debt, preference share, etc. Tree does not grow in the sky. If financials are not strong then the business will not be surviving for a longer period. So that we need to put emphasis on the financial. How does a company utilizing assets? Company is capital intensive or asset-light? Working capital intensive or negative cash conversion cycle?

Also, we need to check what the company is doing with the capital generated. What is the capital allocation decisions of the management? Long dividend track record, increment into the dividend, buyback, buyback at higher than intrinsic value or lower than intrinsic value and if a company requires fund for growth then reinvest profits for growth rather pay dividend or buyback.

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: The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham, Jason Zweig