Sunday, 12 June 2016

Beware!! Have you looked into these before investing in a company?

For most people, share market is a place where people gamble and make money. And the rich people and operators are hand in hand trapping and subsequently milking the investors' money. Such idea is not uncommon whether in developed or in developing countries.And when the markets correct themselves the most ardent enthusiasts give everyone a big smile and say "See! I said so!" And the poor long term believers shall have to remain silent for a long period of time because the bears are feeding fear into the markets , playing randomly with the inner fears of most people. And when there is a bull market you put money in any zebra, buffalo, kingfisher, pelican stocks and suddenly make 60-85% money on your invested capital within a couple of months and again there will be another enthusiast with a bigger grin who shall say "See! I said so!". The poor long term optimist again shall have nothing to say. He shall be staring blankly at the greed, that the bulls are feeding the market and there is a sudden and very rapid out surge of confidence in mind of  all investors.They won't remain prepared for anything sudden,out of turn ,or unwarranted. Another nose drive probably and the unprepared person shall desperately scramble out of the market with what ever capital he or she can salvage.

That is reality. And we are struck when we are the most confident. We are struck when we are the most unprepared. Hence there is an immediate need of grit, determination and patience. What is the point of having an 150 IQ if we have no patience? What is the point of holding fort with no grit or determination.

As the ancient Hindu RELIGIOUS Text GITA advises, we must be prepared for what we want to achieve. A person who jumps into the river,thinks of nothing else but reaching the other side. It is this aim for which he must use his grit and determination to reach his point. With no patience the man shall sink in the middle of the river.

What must we do then? We must be prepared to reach our goal. We must be patient enough to create wealth. And as for preparation we must learn to swim. No one saves an unprepared swimmer in the middle of the river. Hence the fundamental question of investing comes from the depth and love of learning. Hence my dear brothers and sisters of the world let us learn a little bit of the balance sheet everyday. It is not difficult. Trust me, all people in the world have already a balance sheet prepared for themselves in the subconscious mind ,which they use to balance between the bebit and credit in their everyday life.

If I go to a restaurant today, may be in order to balance I shall have to go veg for at least twice a week in the house. May be I shall have to cut on my pints of drink, cut out smoking amounting a couple of hundred cigarettes. May be that is how it works for some. So when we start a month keep a diary close at hand. Write down the cash flow on the right hand side. Write this down in the best of your handwriting!

WHY? BECAUSE YOUR BEST HANDWRITING GIVES YOU A SENSE OF PRIDE, 

RESPONSIBILITY AND DESIRE TO GO FOR THE REGULAR DISCIPLINE WHICH IN A 

WAY BECOMES TIRESOME IF YOU LOOK UPON IT AS THING THAT YOU ARE FORCED 

TO RECKON WITH. 

And after you start with this your duty shall be to open your computer after you come back from work, have spent some time with your kids, have taken your dinner, spoken sweet words to your other half and gave a warm good night to your parents(provide you live with them). You have 45 minute to one hour in which you go and give  a cursory glance to the Face book or Twitter or Linkedin or whatever , giving a couple of likes, sharing some funny videos, approving some friend requests ! And finally the time has come. Sit down with a note book .Open how to study balance sheet. Several pages shall come on Google. Choose any one of the websites which you feel you can be comfortable with and start learning.

And the very first thing you shall realise ,if you have already invested in the share market, is that you shall have an immediate urge to open the balance sheet of the company you have invested in. Whta do you do after that?

1.You look at the profit and loss account. Is the company profitable? Yes. Then is it increasing its profit steadily for the last five years? Yes ! Good! Move on to the next one.

2. Has the company been increasing its sales every year?Yes! Consistently? Yes! Good time to move on to the next fundamental.

3. Has the company raised any debt for the past five years? Yes! Then be cautious! What is the debt-equity ratio? 1.5? More ,a little less? Yes! Is the debt-equity ratio on the rise for last five years?Yes!
Now it is time to become more cautious!

4. Is the Capital Work-In-Progress much lesser than the total debt taken by the company? Be alert! If the answer is yes then you probably have invested in a rotting  fish!

5.What is the current ratio of the company? Is it around 1.13-1.2? If the answer is yes the start believing that the company is already in the quick sand!

6. If the company has high ROCE (Return on invested capital) then of course it makes good sense to invest in the company even with high debt equity ratio. This is what astute investor R.Balakrishnan believes in.

7. Is the ROE(Return on Equity) and ROCE clocking at least 15% for the last five years? If the answer is yes then you can safely invest in the company.

8. Is the company regularly paying dividend?

9.Is the company regularly paying taxes? If the answer is yes then go and invest in that company. It is because if a company does not pay taxes and yet shows high sales and profit then there must be something extremely fishy about the company!

10. Invest in companies which  have a high ROA (Return on Assets)!

11. Never ever forget the above ten points!

Disclaimer: This site is for informational and entertainment purposes only, and the content herein should not be mistaken for professional financial advice. Please contact an independent financial professional or adviser for advice regarding your particular and specific situation.




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