Buybacks

13 Jul
This Is What Could Happen To Berkshire Hathaway After Buffett
BRK’s companies aren’t reliant on Buffett when it comes to their performance.

Buffett leaving leads to two uncertainties, but the outcome of both are positive.

The power of BRK lies in the quality of its businesses and huge cash pile. At this point, even an idiot at the helm of BRK would do well.

Introduction

One of the biggest concerns surrounding Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A, BRK.B) is what will happen after Buffett and Munger.

To keep our karma positive, I’ll write this article under the assumption that Buffett gets an offer from Bill Gates to be the project manager of Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) new multi-billion virtual reality Bridge game project. I think something like this could make Buffett leave BRK as I wish him many more decades of health. More →
By Sven Carlin Berkshire Hathaway Buybacks Charlie Munger Dividends Investiv Daily Warren Buffett
12 Jul
Want A Higher Return With Less Risk? This Company Is A Better “Buy & Forget It” Investment Than The S&P 500
Berkshire Hathaway offers similar diversification, a better book value, higher growth, and it doesn’t do stupid buybacks.

Share this article with those you know who are heavily invested in the S&P 500 and are buy and forget it investors, they’ll appreciate this and it might change their lives.

Introduction

The predominant investing paradigm is to invest in the S&P 500 because of its low risk and good diversification, and because it has done well in the past. Given this, most buy and forget investors simply put their money into the S&P 500.

Now, what if there was an investment that offered the same level of diversification, less risk, and a higher return? It would be logical for the buy and forget it investor to immediately invest in such an investment vehicle. More →
By Sven Carlin Berkshire Hathaway Buybacks Investiv Daily S&P 500
26 May
Corporate America’s Focus Isn’t On Shareholder Value Creation
Earnings haven’t grown in the last 10 years. What is corporate management doing?

A temporarily higher stock price isn’t good for the majority of investors, especially those investing for the long term and retirement.

Buybacks are idiotic, management pays $ 3million for a home they can build for $1 million.

There is only one company that does smart buybacks.

Introduction

There’s a huge problem affecting corporate America that nobody is seeing because most people think in positives and negatives, and can’t think on an relative scale. What do I mean by this? Well, when shareholders judge management, they look at whether the bottom line is positive and in line with what the competition is doing. Nobody is assessing whether it could have been much better.

We expect only the best from our favorite athletes and we hope our children develop to their full potential but when it comes to corporate management, we remain mostly silent and accept whatever they throw at us. More →
By Sven Carlin Berkshire Hathaway Buybacks Corporate Earnings Dividends Investiv Daily S&P 500 Warren Buffett
09 May
Investment Research: The Challenge of Finding Attractive Investments
Bargains can be found through book value, special situations, 52 week lows, merger arbitrages, bankruptcies, etc.

It’s necessary to be a contrarian to be a value investor, though it might be painful for a while.

With experience, it will take less and less time to assess a stock and whether it has the potential to be a good investment.

Introduction

Last week we discussed Klarman’s view on the best business valuation methods. You can find the article here. Today we’ll discuss his approach to investment research.

Studying fairly priced securities won’t get you far because you’re competing with thousands of others who have researched those companies and, especially in the current market environment, if there is anything worth owning, it will probably be expensive. Therefore, to find bargain investments, an investor has to look where others aren’t looking or refuse to look. More →
By Sven Carlin Buybacks Commodities Contrarian Herd Behavior Investing Strategy Investiv Daily Seth Klarman
05 May
The Market Is Dumb And Getting Dumber
The number of analysts is declining, stocks don’t react to earnings nor news anymore, and the underlying economic environment is rigged.

However, as investors, we have to always look at risk and reward as there is always a way to profit.

Protecting yourself from market ignorance doesn’t even cost much.

Introduction

I would define a dumb investor as one who doesn’t think about risk in relation to reward, and therefore I fearlessly say: the majority of investors are behaving in a pretty dumb way.

This is a heavy statement, especially considering markets have performed nothing short of spectacularly in the last 8 years. As evidence, the S&P 500 is up three-fold since 2009 and continues to strongly march ahead. More →
By Sven Carlin Buybacks Corporate Earnings ETFs FED Interest Rates Investiv Daily S&P 500
29 Dec
Is Your Value Being Destroyed? Sven Tells You How To Spot It
Buybacks and dividends continuously exceed earnings creating a financialized corporate environment and leaving less money for innovation and investments.

Such a situation isn’t sustainable in the long term.

We’ll close with an example of somebody willing to spend $21.5 billion of shareholders’ money to increase his salary by a few million.

Introduction

The end of each quarter is an excellent time to analyze what’s going on with buybacks and dividends. FactSet’s comprehensive analysis of quarterly buybacks and dividends for the S&P 500 is a great place to start.

It’s of extreme importance to know what it is that management is doing with your money and if they are increasing or decreasing shareholder value. Today, we’ll analyze the situation and give you a few hints to enable you to easily analyze if the managers of the stocks you own add or subtract value with dividends and buybacks. More →
By Sven Carlin Buybacks Dividends Investiv Daily Warren Buffett
25 Oct
The First Two Weeks Of Earnings Season Are In. Warnings Ahead.
Don’t be fooled by earnings growth in financials and utilities. The underlying risks are growing too.

Lower margins are the first indications of a recession being around the corner. Global government and monetary stimulus make it impossible to know if one will be coming sooner or later.

Without buybacks earnings would be terrible.

The Earnings

The first two weeks of earnings season have passed and, according to FACTSET, the combined earnings released so far are better than expected but still negative. 23% of the companies in the S&P 500 have reported earnings and their aggregate earnings decline for Q3 2016 is -0.3%. More →
By Sven Carlin Apple Buybacks Corporate Earnings Financials Investiv Daily Utilities
29 Sep
What Do Investments, Yields & Buybacks Tell Us?
The 10-year and 2-year treasury yield spread is getting smaller.

Investments peaked last year.

The market is standing on legs of hope coming from positive expectations. What are you standing on?

Introduction

We will take a look at yields, investments, buybacks and valuations, and look for trends that might trigger a bear market. More →
By Sven Carlin Bear Market Bonds Buybacks Interest Rates Investiv Daily Recession
05 Sep
Do Your Future Returns A Favor
S&P 500 companies are not only returning more cash to shareholders than their earnings, but also more than their cash flows.

The trend is resembling the one prior to the financial crisis.

Not all stocks are unsustainable with their cash returns, so check your portfolio.

Introduction

A common piece of financial advice is not to spend more than you earn as it will eventually put you in trouble. Well, this is exactly what corporate managers are doing. Through dividends and buybacks they are spending more than they are earning. If the common advice is of any value it should be trouble ahead for the stocks that are doing so.

In this article we are going to analyze the situation, look at the real short and long term risks and conclude in fashion. More →
By Sven Carlin Buybacks Corporate Earnings Dividends Investing Strategy Investiv Daily
27 Apr
The Buyback Conundrum
Buybacks should increase shareholder value, but that’s not always the case.

From a book value perspective most companies are destroying value.

From a return on investment perspective the logic behind buybacks is open for discussion.

Introduction

The goal of investing is to enjoy stock price appreciation and dividends, but there is another method for achieving interesting returns: buybacks. With stock buybacks, a company buys its own stocks on the open market. As a public company cannot fully own itself, the purchased stocks lower the number of outstanding stocks and increase the relative ownership of the remaining stockholders. In other words, the company is using its cash to invest in itself. More →
By Sven Carlin Buybacks Investiv Daily Warren Buffett

This Is What Could Happen To Berkshire Hathaway After Buffett

Want A Higher Return With Less Risk? This Company Is A Better “Buy & Forget It” Investment Than The S&P 500

Corporate America’s Focus Isn’t On Shareholder Value Creation

Investment Research: The Challenge of Finding Attractive Investments

The Market Is Dumb And Getting Dumber

Is Your Value Being Destroyed? Sven Tells You How To Spot It

The First Two Weeks Of Earnings Season Are In. Warnings Ahead.

What Do Investments, Yields & Buybacks Tell Us?

Do Your Future Returns A Favor

The Buyback Conundrum

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Investiv Daily

Latest Posts

The Bear Case To Investing In China

Worried About The Current Environment? Here’s Why You Should Be.

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