1
Mar
2019
Same, Same, but different
Even before Warren Buffett gave up on showing long term book value progression in his Annual Shareholders letter, others were noticing that price / book had a problem. According to a paper by OSAM there are currently over 100 companies in the US with negative book value. To me, it is the qualities that book... Read More
24
Jan
2019
Everyone’s a winner
Drinks with an outsourcing analyst last month we were laughing about how, for her sector, it was 2008. It’s not fun to be an analyst when your sector becomes uninvestable. “No one trusts the management, the numbers, the forecasts, the accounting.” I laughed, it brought back some old memories. There are interesting parallels. Like banks... Read More
9
Nov
2018
Heroes and Xeros
I’ve been thinking about “story stocks”. In case you don’t know “story stock” is normally a term of abuse among value investors. It means companies like Xeros or Cap XX, which have an exciting potential “story” often about a new technology but fail to deliver profits. To try and understand why we are drawn to... Read More
12
Oct
2018
How to suffer loss
A friend, who has started his own litigation finance platform, https://www.axiafunder.com/ has asked me to write something about litigation finance. He’s not paying me – but maybe he’ll buy me a pint in The White Hart at Barnes Bridge on the River Thames. The idea of litigation finance is simple, legal cases cost money and sometimes... Read More