BIBLIOPHILE: WARREN BUFFETT’S LETTER 1957 – 2017

Posted on January 13, 2019 by Jimit Zaveri under Bibliophile, E-BOOK

Mr.Buffett has taught us –

Never count on making a good sale. Have a purchase price be so attractive that even a mediocre sale gives good results. The better sales will be the frosting on the cake.

Our business is making excellent purchases – not making extraordinary sales.

Mr. Buffett believes that big money can be made by making investment decisions based on qualitative factors whereas sure money can be made by making investment decisions based on quantitative factors. And hence, on the basis of this; he considers himself as a quantitatively focused investor.

The primary test of managerial economic performance is the achievement of a high earnings rate on equity capital employed (without undue leverage, accounting gimmickry, etc.) and not the achievement of consistent gains in earnings per share.

Business must have two characteristics: (1) an ability to increase prices rather easily (even when product demand is flat and capacity is not fully utilized) without fear of significant loss of either market share or unit volume, and (2) an ability to accommodate large dollar volume increases in business (often produced more by inflation than by real growth) with only minor additional investment of capital.

Many a time, management only focuses on the increasing future Earning Per Share (EPS) by sacrificing the strength of the balance sheet. But they forget that if the balance sheet does not remain strong for a longer period of time then business is going to have a tough time into the future.

Accounting numbers, of course, are the language of business and as such are of enormous help to anyone evaluating the worth of a business and tracking its progress. Charlie and I would be lost without these numbers: they invariably are the starting point for us in evaluating our own businesses and those of others. Managers and owners need to remember, however, that accounting is but an aid to business thinking, never a substitute for it.

“What we learn from history is that we do not learn from history.”

Any company’s level of profitability is determined by three items: (1) what its assets earn; (2) what its liabilities cost; and (3) its utilization of “leverage” – that is, the degree to which its assets are funded by liabilities rather than by equity. Great companies = Float + Investment + Cash with higher return ratio

If the choice is between a questionable business at a comfortable price or a comfortable business at a questionable price, we much prefer the latter. What really gets our attention, however, is a comfortable business at a comfortable price.

Buy commodity, sell brand has long been a formula for business success.

Capital-intensive business, look for PBT / interest cost rather EBITDA / interest cost.

When we are fearful with our investment decisions then we focus on the each and every aspects which can result in the erosion of the capital.

Mr.Buffett has taught us many concepts and wisdom which is essential to us while making an investment decision. I am hereby compiling all my learning from the letters of Mr.Warren Buffett. Also an evolution of Mr.Buffett from bargain to quality businesses.

For all in one learning from Mr.Warren Buffett’s Letters, Click here –> BIBLIOPHILE WARREN BUFFETT’S LETTER 1957-2017

WARREN BUFFETT’S LETTER – 1960 – 1961

Posted on January 18, 2018 by Jimit Zaveri under Bibliophile

I am really grateful to Riddhi for helping me with editing work.

WB Letter 1960

In 1959 letter, Mr. Buffett had made an investment of 35% of net assets in the company named Sanborn Map Co.

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Maps are immensely useful to the fire insurance companies. Business is operated in a monopolistic manner and without the need for strong sales efforts. Earlier, the insurance companies had feared for the profit of Sanborn Map and hence they placed a number of prominent insurance men to Sanborn’s Board Of Directors to act as a watch-dog.

In 1959, the ratio of PAT reduced to $100000 as compared to $500000 as in the year 1930. The company began to make investment portfolios since they did not need any further capital to run the business. Over a period of time, their investment was accumulated to $2.5 million; of which roughly half was in bond and half in stocks. These investment portfolios worked well but the map business lost its shine.

In the year 1938, the stock was traded at $110 but the value reduced to $45 in the year 1958; whereas their investment per share value increased from $20 to $65. Hence, their stock is available for negative $20 against the investment portfolio.

The company had sales volume of $2 million per year and they owned $7 million worth of marketable securities. Their income from investment portfolio was substantial enough to take care of their company’s finance. Regular dividends were paid to all the stockholders but there was a decrease seen in the dividend payout for a constant of 5 times in a period of 8 years. As against this; there was no reduction in the salary of the directors.

Board of directors held a minimal position in the Sanborn shares. Buffett proposed to separate the investment portfolio business from the map business. Hence, after the death of the president of Sanborn; his part of shares (around 15000) were bought by Warren Buffett and another 24000 from the open market. Apart from this; there were 2 large stockholders who held 10000 and 8000 shares respectively. They were unhappy with the current situation of the company and they desired to accept the proposed idea of Buffett of separating the business.

Mr. Buffett wanted to work on re-establishment of earning power of the map business. In the same instance, they got an opportunity of converting their physical goods to electronic goods which will multiply their profit for the map business.

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Indian company example – Before 2006, the company was involved in the manufacturing of scooters. But the company discontinued to manufacture in 2006 and became an investment company with the profit that they had made from the sales. At the end of FY2013, the market value of investment portfolio of the company was worth Rs.2034 crore; whereas stock was traded at the market capitalization of Rs.440 crore (stock price of Rs382). Currently, the company is trading at the market capitalization of Rs.3172 crore (stock price of Rs.2775). The company is also paying out healthy dividends.

MScooter

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Mr.Buffett also mentioned that no one should jump to conclusions by reviewing one-year performance. One needs to at least measure five years of performance in both strong and weak markets.

WB Letter 1961

Mr. Buffett had identified few mutual funds and done a comparative performance of mutual funds with the market and with his partnership.

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We can see that Mr. Buffett has outperformed in mutual funds with a heavy margin.

Mr. Buffett used 3 methods of operations as below –

1) Generals

The general situation works with the market situation. The investment outperforms in the bull phase and declines sharply in the bear phase. These investments work well in a longer period of time.

2) Work-outs

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The work-out situation provides stable and safer earnings and due to that Mr.Buffett use borrowed money to take an advantage of work-out situations. In the bear phase; we get better results and in the bullish phase; we get bad performance.

3) Control

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During 1961, Mr. Buffett owned around 70% stake of the Dempster Mill, which was a fall into a control situation category. Initially, Dempster Mill was started as a value investment (General) category but as time passed, this investment came under control situation when an additional stake was purchased by Mr. Buffett.

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The detailed discussion of Dempster Mill investment will be done in the later series of Warren Buffett’s letter.

Few people who want to invest conservatively, have bought government bonds and few others bought blue-chip securities regardless of Price to Earning ratio, dividend yield, etc. with a belief of getting benefits by investing in the bonds.

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Mr. Buffett has always emphasized on better performance during a bear market and getting the similar return in a bull market.

Warren Buffett’s Letters 1957 – 2012

Warren Buffett’s Letter – 1957 – 1959

Posted on January 1, 2018 by Jimit Zaveri under Bibliophile

Since I am a fan of Mr. Warren Buffett and he was highly influenced by Mr. Charlie Munger in his life; so has my life been influenced by both the entities. Hence, today (1^st January) on the birthdate of Mr. Charlie, I would like to pay a tribute to both the entities by extracting the core content from Mr. Buffett’s letters.

Warren Buffett’s Letter – 1957

In 1957, As per Mr. Buffett, the market was above intrinsic value. Even during optimistic situations, Mr.Buffett tried to focus on investing into the work-out situations rather than making an investment decision on general issues. If the market status seemed undervalued; Mr.Buffett would build a portfolio of general issues and make use of borrowed money in operations.

Mr.Buffett has explained work-out situations as an investment which is dependent on the specific corporate actions such as divestment, mergers, liquidation, demerger, tenders, etc. In such cases, risk depends on planned actions and not on the economic scenario or the general market.

Mr.Buffett has given weightage on “the better performance in the bear market than in the bull market.” During general or bull market, he was satisfied by matching his average returns.

We were able to see that everyone has generated good returns during the period of 2013-2017 by investing in the random stocks portfolio. But, we need to sustain our returns over a longer period of time with the risk under control. Doubled your Money in Last 3 Years ? Skill or Luck ?

Warren Buffett’s Letter – 1958

Mr. Buffett emphasizes on better performance in the bear market as compared to the bull market and matching the average returns during the bull market scenario.

In 1958, Mr.Buffett had made an investment into the stock name “Commonwealth Trust Co. of Union City, New Jersey”. The company earned $10 of EPS but did not pay any dividends. As a result of a dividend being unpaid; the stock price was depressed and was traded at $50 per share while the company held assets worth $50 million. 25.5% of the stock was held by the larger banks.

The stock was traded at 20% of earning yield ($10/$50*100). During 1958, US interest rate was 3.50% and Mr.Buffett counted intrinsic value of $125 in a conservative manner. Mr. Buffett had discounted EPS by 8% and made the intrinsic value of $125, while interest rate of US in year 1958 was 3.50%.

If the merger of Commonwealth got approved with larger banks, than, Mr.Buffett had estimated $250 per share value (i.e. discounted EPS by 4%). Mr.Buffett held 12% of the bank. Mr.Buffett got an opportunity to tender his holding at $80 which was higher by 20% of traded price of stock. Mr.Buffett was able to identify another attractive opportunity where he employed nearly 25% of the assets of his partnership.

He bought a higher stake in the Sanborn Map Co. and created his own work-out situations due to lack of availability of opportunities.

In Indian Market, We can also capture such situations for creating our wealth. End of FY13, one of the textile company was at an enterprise value of Rs.210 crore, whose price was Rs.207 and PBT Rs.40.66 crore. So, this stock was traded at 19.36% of earning yield (40.66/210*100). Currently this stock is traded at the price of Rs.1320. (8% Interest rate in India and stock was at 2.42x of AAA Bond rate)

Ambika

Warren Buffett’s Letter – 1959

Mr.Buffett analyzed the availability of a speculative component with the risk of loss into the blue-chip security prices. This situation occurred due to an evolution of new standard of valuation and people believed that new valuation standards will be able to replace the old standards.

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