Business Post mails it
In practice:
Business posts good results
The conundrum at the heart of Business Post’s (BPG) story is inexorably rising sales and range-bound profits.
I think it explains why, judging by the share price, investors have gradually tired of the company, even though it’s an innovator in a fairly solid sector: parcels, and mail.
From its recent annual [...]
Deficient Markets Hypothesis
In theory:
As dead as a parrot
In his latest note, Soc Gen Analyst James Montier, compares the efficient markets hypothesis (EMH) to Monty Python’s dead parrot.
No matter how much you point out that it is dead, the believers just respond that it is simply resting!
Montier’s often pronounced EMH dead. In fact, he’s getting so frustrated he’s [...]
It’s about Chime
In practice:
One that almost got away
Could Chime Communications (CHW) be one of many companies that traded at incredibly cheap prices in February and March, but have since rebounded so strongly the value has all gone?
The share price fell below 40p, briefly, and it’s now well over a pound, partly because doomsday was cancelled, or [...]
The How and Why of value investing
In practice:
It’s not science, and it’s not about rockets
As a youngster, the “How and Why” books inspired me and I’ve just experienced overwhelming nostalgia browsing this website. I’m not alone. Definitely not alone!
How and Why books explained things, and to a boy who’s previous main source of wisdom had been the Valiant Annual, How [...]
Shed: one step from the naughty step
In practice:
Good acquisition, bad acquisition
October’s interims and April’s finals seem to have stopped the rot at Shed Media (SHDP), with a near 20% rise in the share price since October, and adjusted profits up on a per share basis against the sixteen months ending 31 December 2007.
If it’s a turnaround, it’s a curious one [...]
How many economists does it take to start a flamewar?
In theory:
It takes two, baby
Of all the bad jokes about economists my favourite doesn’t involve changing light bulbs:
Q: Why did God create economists?
A: To make weather forecasters look good.
Although our understanding of the economy, and the atmosphere, is sophisticated it doesn’t mean we can predict how they will behave, mostly because of the bewildering number [...]
Why investors are forgiving Alexon for Dolcis and Bay Trading
In practice:
When diworseification pays
I don’t usually find inspiration for good companies at cheap prices in Money Observer’s tables of highest risers, and biggest fallers. The tumultuous price movements of the shares are often indicative of rampant speculation, and not the kind of dull but worthy companies I favour.
Nevertheless, Alexon (AXN), a ladies’ clothing retailer, [...]
Bubble rekindled
In theory:
Don’t investors ever learn?
Where was the great revulsion? The feeling of utter despondency at the bottom of bear markets, when just about everybody capitulates and a consensus forms that things can only get worse.
For a week or two, back in March, the collective mood was very gloomy but then something happened. Markets around the [...]
T Clarke in bargain territory
In practice:
The old ones are the best
Forget London 2012 for a moment. T Clarke (CTO), which claims to be the nation’s oldest electrical contractor, wired up the BBC Broadcasting Centre at Wembley for the 1948 Olympics. It installed electricity in the Tower of London in 1900, in the Beatles’ HQ at Savile Row and [...]
