In his 2010 shareholder letter, Warren Buffett wrote that his elephant gun had been reloaded, and his trigger finger was itchy. He was referring to Berkshire’s dry powder cash that was intended for major acquisitions. Extending the same metaphor, today I could say that my BB gun … [Read more...] about My gun is reloaded
MyPortfolio
Revisiting my Blackstone investment
I have written several times in last two years about my investment in Blackstone (BX). Blackstone is the largest alternative investment asset manager in the world. I have been gradually building up my stake in it for two years. Its shares have mostly stayed flat since -- … [Read more...] about Revisiting my Blackstone investment
Invest in high-quality businesses
High quality businesses keep on giving -- year in and year out. This is one key lesson I learned in my early investing years. Take the case of Wal-Mart (WMT) for instance. Ten years after its IPO in 1970, Wal-Mart had presence in just about 15% of the country. The stock had … [Read more...] about Invest in high-quality businesses
My two-year bet on Apple
A week ago, I heard Blackstone’s COO, Jon Gray, talk about his company’s recent growth tilt. He said that decline in the U.S. interest rates that has gone on for last 30 years has come to an end. And with that, expansion of valuation multiples too. He is now focused on acquiring … [Read more...] about My two-year bet on Apple
My uber dividend payers
CenturyLink (CTL), a large U.S. telecom operator, has just slashed its dividend by more than one-half. For the last two years, it had sported a mouth-watering double-digit dividend yield that reached as high as about 16% recently. It was no surprise that many dividend-seeking … [Read more...] about My uber dividend payers
Market neutral investing
Last week, John Rekenthaler of Morningstar wrote an article on worst alternative investments of the decade. Market-neutral funds were among his top-five worst investments. Average annual return from the funds in this category was 0%. He wrote this, tongue in cheek: … … [Read more...] about Market neutral investing
Investing amid volatility: My 4Q update
What a quarter that was! The US stock market first reached a new high in October and then dropped 10%. It bounced around for a while. And then in late December, it dropped again -- this time more than 15% off its peak. By some measures, it actually dropped 20% briefly (intra-day) … [Read more...] about Investing amid volatility: My 4Q update
Anchor on a business’s value, not its price
The other day, I came across an interesting, albeit hypothetical, auction scenario: Ten companies were bidding for the right to drill in a land tract. Each had done a geological survey of the land and privately assessed how much oil is in there. These surveys were known to be … [Read more...] about Anchor on a business’s value, not its price
How am I investing in commercial real-estate?
RealtyShare, a crowdfunded real-estate investing operation, just shut down its business a few weeks ago. Hopefully, everyone who invested through them will be fine. The company said they will keep skeleton staff to manage existing properties for investors but won’t offer any new … [Read more...] about How am I investing in commercial real-estate?
Grading CEOs as capital allocators
If there were just two questions to ask about a CEO, ask these: Does he run the business well? Is she good in utilizing shareholders’ capital? The first question requires no explanation -- this is obviously any CEO’s number one task. The second question is a bit more complex. We … [Read more...] about Grading CEOs as capital allocators