Investing

A reader of The Safal Niveshak Post recently asked me about my background and experience, and about the story of my life.

I thought today is a good day to share that, given that my story started exactly 33 years ago. 🙂

However, being an analyst and investor, here is a different way I will tell you the story.

Hope you’ll be interested to read it because the most important takeaway from my story is something that I’ve reserved for the end of this post.

So here I go.
[Read more…] about The Story of My Life…and Yours

“If you spend more than 13 minutes analyzing economic and market forecasts,” the famous investor, Peter Lynch, once remarked, “you’ve wasted 10 minutes.”

I found myself thinking about Lynch over breakfast recently as I was skimming financial headlines in the newspaper.

Lynch was a ‘numbers guy’ who understood the limitations of numbers. And through daily practice, I’m also trying to do that.

By the way, here are some forecasts I read today…
[Read more…] about How Many Minutes Did You Waste Today?

Before the credit crisis struck in 2008, corporate bankruptcy was the last thing on investors’ minds. It was easy for companies to raise cash at will.

However, over the past three years, times have changed considerably. The number of companies announcing downward revisions to their future growth estimates has increased. Those that are seeing rising pressure on their balance sheets can also be found in plenty.

This means that out-of-favour investment measures, such as Edward Altman’s Z scores (or Altman Z-Score), are being dusted down.

What’s Altman Z?
This system was originally devised in 1968 by Edward I. Altman, who was, at the time, an Assistant Professor of Finance at New York University. He framed this score to warn investors about firms at risk of going bankrupt. Over the years, it has also been used to help investors find the companies that are best able to withstand bankruptcy.
[Read more…] about You May Want to ‘Alt-Ctrl-Del’ These Stocks from Your Portfolio

I still remember that period in early 2009 when not a day passed when a listed Indian company did not came out in the open to disclose the pledging of shares by its promoters.

Ultimately, the debate wasn’t centered around which promoter had pledged his shares to raise funds, but rather on who hadn’t disclosed this information to the stock exchanges.

Also, as the count of companies disclosing pledging increased, so did the number of investor queries that I handled.

People got so worried hearing reports of pledging from the promoters of companies whose shares they held, that many sold off their entire holdings just out of fear.

After all, but for a handful of them, virtually every promoter of India Inc.’s leading companies was admitting to pledging shares for many years in the past.
[Read more…] about 10 Dangerous Stocks in a Bad Market