Thursday, January 27, 2011

TED : Understanding the rise of China

George Soros Lecture Series

George Soros is considered one of the legendary speculator of our time.He is well known for his famous Pound trade giving him the nick name " The Guy who broke the Bank of England". He looks at the world in his own different way and offers his own analysis.In the following lectures from his theory to reflexivity to financial crisis and open society we shall explore more about him , and his views about the world.

Lecture 3 : Financial Markets.
Lecture 5 : Open Society.
Lecture 9 : The way Ahead.

Hope you enjoyed the whole educational experience. Keep posted with new updates.If you have any idea or want to do some specific research and want help feel free to ask us in how we can help you.

Q & A The Way Ahead

The Way Ahead

Q & A Capitalism vs Open Society

Capitalism vs Open Society

Q & A Open Society

Open Society

Q & A Financial Markets.

Financial Markets

Q & A General Theory of Reflexivity

General Theory of Reflexivity

A conversation with George Soros

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Faber Interview on US Stocks : Bloomberg

Soros Sees U.K. Recession If Deficit Plan Implemented , By Simon Kennedy and Scott Hamilton

Billionaire investor George Soros, who reportedly made $1 billion selling the pound in 1992, said the U.K. government will have to rethink its budget deficit- cutting plan or risk pushing the economy back into recession.

“They will probably have the sense that they will have to modify it when the effects are felt,” Soros told reporters today at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. The plan cannot “possibly be implemented without pushing the economy into a recession.”

Britain’s economy unexpectedly shrank 0.5 percent in the final three months of 2010 as the coldest December in a century hampered services and retailing, data showed yesterday. That suggests the recovery faded even before Prime Minister David Cameron’s government implements the largest fiscal squeeze since World War II. Soros said the plan to tackle the record deficit is “unsustainable.”

How fast governments should be restoring fiscal order was a theme of the first day of the Davos conference. Chief executive officers and economists criticized President Barack Obama for not acting quickly enough to reduce the U.S.’s $1.2 trillion deficit even after yesterday revealing almost $500 billion in fresh savings measures.

‘More Action’

“We need a heck of a lot more action” in the U.S., said James Turley, chief executive of Ernst & Young LLP.

Cameron reacted to the first shock of his eight-month-old coalition by sticking with his vow to eliminate the deficit, which Soros acknowledged had been greeted well by investors.

“The worst thing you could do would be to ditch your plans on the basis of one quarter’s figures,” Cameron said in Parliament in London today. Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke, a former chancellor of the exchequer, told BBC Television today that the U.K. faces a “difficult two or three years” until the economy returns to full productive capacity.

The U.K. strategy won backing from Angel Gurria, secretary general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, who told the BBC today that the government “should stay the course.”

Nouriel Roubini, the chairman of Roubini Global Economics LLC who predicted the recent financial crisis, said in Davos that the latest U.K. data “suggest the risk of a double-dip or long-term stagnation are not done forever.”

Speaking on the same panel, Martin Sorrell, CEO of advertising firm WPP Plc, nevertheless praised the U.K. for acting faster than the U.S. to cut its deficit. “At least they’re trying to deal with the issue,” Sorrell said.

Choppy

Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said yesterday the fourth-quarter data pointed to a “choppy” recovery, comments echoed by Cameron in Parliament today when he said growth is likely to be “choppy and difficult.”

The prime minister made the deficit, which grew to 11.1 percent of gross domestic product in the last fiscal year, his top priority after Standard & Poor’s threatened to lower the U.K.’s AAA credit rating in May 2009. S&P affirmed the rating after the government presented the fiscal plan in October.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said that month that eliminating most of the deficit by 2015 was essential to prevent a loss of investor confidence. Both Osborne and Cameron are scheduled to attend the Davos conference.

Soros is chairman of Soros Fund Management LLC and his 1992 bet was that Britain would fail to keep its currency in a European exchange-rate system that pre-dated the euro. Other successful trades included a bet that the deutsche mark would rise after the collapse of the Berlin wall and a wager that Japanese stocks would start to tumble in 1989.

He also said today that European policy makers must address their two-speed economy or risk the euro collapsing, although he said that is unlikely to occur. He was speaking at the launch of a new economic research group that he and former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker will help sponsor.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Global Imbalance - An imminent Dollar Crisis

Sector Rotation for the past decade


Now let us compare compounded return for 1000 dollars invested in each of the asset class over the 1999-2010 time period :

Asset Class                                                            

Sunday, January 9, 2011

The Birth of the Speculator Part 6

The Birth of the Speculator Part 5

The Birth of the Speculator Part 4

The Birth of the Speculator Part 3

The Birth of the Speculator Part 2

The Birth of the Speculator Part 1

Biggest Ponzi Schme Ever - Bernie Madoff Part 7

Biggest Ponzi Schme Ever - Bernie Madoff Part 8

Biggest Ponzi Schme Ever - Bernie Madoff Part 6

Biggest Ponzi Schme Ever - Bernie Madoff Part 5

Biggest Ponzi Schme Ever - Bernie Madoff Part 4

Biggest Ponzi Schme Ever - Bernie Madoff Part 3

Biggest Ponzi Schme Ever - Bernie Madoff Part 2

Biggest Ponzi Schme Ever - Bernie Madoff Part 1

Mortgage Fraud Part 1 of 6 Dateline NBC Inside the financial fiasco

Mortgage Fraud Part 2 of 6 Dateline NBC Inside the financial fiasco

Mortgage Fraud Part 3 of 6 Dateline NBC Inside the financial fiasco

Mortgage Fraud Part 4 of 6 Dateline NBC Inside the financial fiasco

Mortgage Fraud Part 5 of 6 Dateline NBC Inside the financial fiasco

Mortgage Fraud Part 6 of 6 Dateline NBC Inside the financial fiasco

Saturday, January 8, 2011

The Boom & Bust Years Part 6

The Boom & Bust Years Part 5

The Boom & Bust Years Part 4

The Boom & Bust Years Part 3

The Boom & Bust Years Part 2

The Boom & Bust Years Part 1

The Fall of Lehman Brothers Part 6

The Fall of Lehman Brothers Part 5

The Fall of Lehman Brothers Part 4

The Fall of Lehman Brothers Part 3

The Fall of Lehman Brothers Part 2

The Fall of Lehman Brothers Part 1

Llyod Blankfein Testify in Congress

Friday, January 7, 2011

Frontline Inside The Meltdown Part 6 of 6

Frontline Inside The Meltdown Part 5 of 6

Frontline Inside The Meltdown Part 4 of 6

Frontline Inside The Meltdown Part 3 of 6

Frontline Inside The Meltdown Part 2 of 6

Frontline Inside The Meltdown Part 2 of 6

Frontline Inside The Meltdown Part 1 of 6

Brooksley Born : The Warning Part 5

Brooksley Born : The Warning Part 4

Brooksley Born : The Warning Part 3

Brooksley Born : The Warning Part 2

Brooksley Born : The Warning Part 1

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Secret Millionaires Club 8: The Big Trade-Off

Secret Millionaires Club Episode 7: Debt of a Salesman

Secret Millionaires Club Episode 6: House of Cards

Secret Millionaires Club Episode 5: PCs and Understanding

Secret Millionaires Club Episode 4: Lawn and Order

Secret Millionaires Club Episode 3: Walkin' the Dog

Secret Millionaires Club Episode 2: Car Wash Capers

Secret Millionaires Club Episode 1: Lemons to Lemonade

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Understanding How to Invest for the long term .

Many a times referred as the Gordon Growth Model , a lot of people find it difficult to understand the applications of this model . This brief tutorial examines how to understand and use this model and its reliability as a tool in making long term investment decisions  . A long term Discounted Cash Flow Model, if understood well, can serve as a boon for long term investor . However, it is a bit confusing with its terms and terminology that sound simple but are harder to understand and apply in real life circumstances.

                            Discounted Cash Flow Model = EPS , Dividend , Cashflows / ( Investors Expected Rate of Return - Expected Growth Rate of the Company ) 



Now in the numerator what we see are different variables ranging from EPS,dividends and Cashflows. The usage of such depends on an investors preference , and whatever he thinks would be the right estimate in analyzing a company . For this example, we use EPS as an estimate . Expected Return  is the return an investor wishes to earn onto his investment  , and is indifferent to the stock he or she picks. It is an objective return as stated by the investor , whereas the growth rate is the expected rate of increase in a company's earnings or cashflow ( Usually Cashflow refers to Owners Earnings which is cash generated from regular operating activities and left after Capital Expenditures )  .

If cashflow is used in the numerator , its advisable to look at the growth rate in Cashflow so that we are comparing apples to apples , and oranges to oranges , And the same goes for EPS , or Dividends .

Let us simplify and put the formula then finally   :      EPS / ( R- g) 



Now for our example we look at Gillette Company listed in India .As we all know Gillette is the biggest shaving and facial care industry in the world , with a dominant monopoly in the Indian Market.
A large base of loyal customers , and a price dominance within the industry . 
 

Investor expects a 20 % return onto the stock in the long run  , and the growth rate in earnings over the past 5 years has been 14.71 which we expect to continue in the future . EPS for the most recent year is 42 . Usually it is advisable to take EPS1 , that usually is the next years earnings while computing the formula , but just to be on a more safer and a conservative side we shall use EPS0 , the present years earnings . 

Now let us do the calculation :      42/ (0.20  - 0.1471) =  Rs. 793.95



The stock is trading at 1875 right now , which certainly is way above the valuations we have for it right at the moment . But a closer look states that the stock was just trading around the 600 level in the past two years . In such instances it was a really good buy , for a really long term and time .  
Let us examine it in a different way , assuming we bought the stock at the 600-700 level certainly way below our estimates and kept it for a good 30-40 years in the portfolio before we actually need it ( it isn't called long term just for the sake of it)  , how much would it have grown by ? We assume the price for which we bought the stock is 793.95  

Now using the FV = PV ( 1+R)^n   ( Assuming R = 20 % )

For 30 Years : 188,464.92 /    237.38 ( for every  Rupee )
For 40 Years : 1,166,925.14/ 1469.77 ( for every Rupee )



Now certainly that is a good return for every 793.95 in the stock . We assume the stock can maintain the level of growth and return on the networth over the term of 30-40 years .  

Stocks that usually work the best for this kind of assumption are Companies that sell premium products, have monoply or a moat that is hard or is impossible to penetrate . Has a competitive advantage which can be preserved under many cases , and circumstances and against most of the companies . Hard to get in .  

Nonetheless the model we have used has some limitations : 

1)     We assume EPS here , and we assume all the dividends is invested into the business , if most of it is given back to investors in terms of dividends , it turns out to be the responsibility of the investor to find an investment that returns 20 percent on it , and grows at 14 percent . A difficult task to do for 30-40 years . 

2)     As the whole formula is based on assumptions a decrease in growth rate can have sudden impact onto the stocks valuations . It is always advisable to buy stocks trading at deep discount to what the valuations may say , so that any error in judgment won't result into big losses onto the investment .  

As they say medicines are useful , but do have a side-effect . So before using any formula or a valuation technique understands its uses and limitations to discount for any errors that might arise into the future .
 
Anyhow , hope the session was informational , and we shall see and post more of it here . Keep posted .