Equity

Update from the front

We are in the midst of an economic shock.  India has not been able to flatten the curve and the number of infections continues to rise. There is no visibility of a vaccine or a cure.  SMEs are in distress. Neighbourhood shops are doing very little business, if any at all.    Yet stock prices seem to ignore market conditions and have reached the levels of February 2020.   

What is going on? Are markets ahead of themselves? Should Solidarity be taking a cash call at present to preserve some of the gains?

Strategic implications of SBI- Yes Bank Bailout for Banking sector

We had shared an earlier blog, ‘Why Mid-Sized Banks are strategically disadvantaged’ as they are forced to take on more risk in a business where success needs to be rooted in conservatism.

The collapse of Yes Bank will further widen the competitive gap between the leaders (SBI/HDFC/ICICI/Axis/Kotak) and the others.

Why do we not own any Mid Sized Banks

A question that remained unaddressed in the last Q letter to Partners was “Why do we not own any Mid-sized Banks?”

Banks can be attractive businesses to own as they enjoy natural growth tail winds of growth while delivering 15-18% ROE.  However, over the last decade, only 3 Banks (representing < 15% of Industry Assets) have delivered over 15% PAT growth or above 15% ROE consistently.  

Implications of re-pricing of credit risk in India

India has implemented two significant regulations in the recent past.   GST and the Bankruptcy Code.  We argue that a third one is on the way which will lead to Re-pricing of Credit risk

A perspective on FMCG valuations

The best businesses are those that can grow predictably while generating cash and can grow without any or very little reinvestment of this cash.

High Noon for wholesale funded NBFCs

In our Q2FY18 letter dated 4 July 2017, we had made the following observations

Should one add to equity exposure at present?

Markets have done well over the last 12 months with the NIFTY up ~ 25%.   A common question we encounter at present is whether one should add to their Equity exposure at present.

The impending value migration

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

– Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Tell me where I am going to die, so I will never go there

Tell me where I am going to die, so I will never go there

The above quote is attributed to Charlie Munger, universally acknowledged as amongst the wisest men in Investing.

The danger of 1 Year Forward Multiples

A common tendency while gauging valuation of companies is to estimate the one year forward multiple at which they trade. Our core investment approach is to “Buy Quality Companies at Fair Valuations”.