Why I Read (Part II)…

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fear and greed, investing advice, literature, Nosce Te Ipsum, portfolio performance, readers, reading, South Sea Bubble, Warren Buffett

Continued from here.

I encouraged you to ‘Read, read, read & then read some more (’til you puke..!)’, and in return I promised you’d gain:

i) Knowledge, Experience & Inspiration

Readers appeared to enjoy the post, but perhaps it was a bit of a cop-out… ‘Cos there’s plenty of great investors who’ve already highlighted how much you need to read if you aspire to be a great investor too. That’s obviously excellent advice, and I probably didn’t add very much to it. But perhaps I can offer something valuable here – I believe there are two far more important benefits to reading. I should warn you, I’ll be writing about these from a far more personal perspective – so there’s definitely a chance they may not appeal to, work for, or even make sense to you (as an investor). That being said, it’s always worth remembering investing is ultimately ‘an art, not a science’:

ii) Nosce Te Ipsum

How often do you encounter people who are formidable experts in dispensing advice…but appear incapable of following their own advice? Dare I ask, maybe you’re one of those people?! But honestly, we all do it sometimes – when it comes to other people’s problems we have the wisdom of Buddha, but in our own lives we all too often make poor decisions, we deceive ourselves, we procrastinate, we trip ourselves up, etc.

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TGISVP – H1-2013 Performance

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alpha, Alpha Portfolio, Beta Portfolio, Clontarf Energy, Continental Farmers Group, DCC, Elan Corp, Fastnet Oil & Gas, Glanbia, Greencore Group, Irish shares, Irish value investing, ISEQ, junior resource stocks, muppets, Petroceltic International, Petroneft Resources, portfolio allocation, portfolio performance, Smart Alpha Portfolio, Smart Beta Portfolio, TGISVP, The Great Irish Share Valuation Project, US Oil & Gas

Time to wrap up the mid-year review(s) – let’s finish with The Great Irish Share Valuation Project. To recap:

– A total of 73 Irish companies are included this year (same as last year – but US Oil & Gas (USOP:G4) & Fastnet Oil & Gas (FAST:LN) were subsequently listed, so I added them later in the year, increasing the 2012 total to 75).

– Each company’s been individually reviewed & valued, some time between Jan & May, and I’ve kept a record of all share prices (at time of evaluation) & price targets to properly assess performance.

– I’ve made no subsequent changes to the file, except: i) to adjust for DCC (DCC:LN) migrating to a London-only listing & for Petroceltic International (PCI:LN) consolidating its shares 1 for 25, and ii) Continental Farmers Group (CFGP:LN) will continue to be included at its GBP 36p takeover price (the Saudi bail-out came in the nick of time, just before the cash ran dry!).

– Since my TGISVP review/valuation phase was spread over 4 1/2 mths, we need to adjust our benchmark (the ISEQ) accordingly. Like last year, I’ll take the mid-point (in terms of companies valued) of this phase – i.e. Feb-25th – as the most appropriate start date for the index.

I’m bemused to see I’ve apparently become more bearish this year! Last year, I was bullish on 48% of all stocks, while this year that’s now dropped to 40%. But consider the unique nature of TGISVP, which includes an extraordinary selection of junior resource stocks, complete with assorted incompetents & cowboys! Not surprisingly, I’m bearish on pretty much all these rubbish stocks – so stripping ’em out, it’s fair to say I remain bullish on Irish stocks. 🙂 OK, perhaps a little less so today, but with the ISEQ up +17.1% in 2012 & another +16.7% this year, that’s no great shocker..!

Mid-Year 2013 – Performance Update

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Alternative Asset Opportunities, Avangardco, checklists, CLOs, correlation, European Islamic Investment Bank, FBD Holdings, Fortress Investment Group, German property, home bias investing, KWG Kommunale Wohnen, Petroneft Resources, portfolio allocation, portfolio performance, quantitative easing, Richland Resources, risk aversion, Sirius Real Estate, Tetragon Financial Group

I remain (somewhat) uncomfortable with performance reviews. Inevitably, they produce a pretty meaningless snapshot…but we just can’t help ourselves, eh? 😉 [I covered this whole topic in greater depth here, in my 2012 Performance Review, so that may be worth another look]. OK, once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more…

Let’s first check how the indices performed in H1-2013:

The performance of Ireland & the UK nicely supports my theory that the northern periphery (inc. Scandinavia – lots of interesting stocks there right now) offers some of the best (& lower-risk) plays on Europe. Then we have the US, which continues to demonstrate how much further along it is (vs. Europe) in the cycle – as Bernanke reminded the market recently, to its (feigned?) consternation! [And to the genuine consternation of the ECB & BoE – oh boy, there’s going to be plenty of playing chicken, on all sides, in the months & year to come]. I’m profoundly suspicious of the US market now – it’s not that rising bond yields can cause much damage, they’ll obviously remain low in absolute terms for a v long time. But the market’s a discounting machine – when buying stocks gets easy & the economic outlook starts to look rosy for the average investor, that’s when things turn dangerous: Because how much of that’s already been priced in? Too many times, this scenario leaves you at break-even for a couple of years (if you’re lucky), or much worse…

And if you think this time is different – well, I actually agree, but not in a good way! There’s no free lunch – you can’t just print your way to prosperity & expect to escape scot-free, there are always (unpredictable) consequences. So, has that been priced in also..?

TGISVP – Hot & Not, Mid-Year 2013

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Continental Farmers Group, Donegal Creameries, Irish shares, Irish value investing, junior resource stocks, Petroceltic International, Petroneft Resources, portfolio performance, TGISVP, The Great Irish Share Valuation Project

After resisting the lure of reporting quarterly performance at end-March, I’m now left mulling whether I should even report my semi-annual performance(s). Sigh, I probably will… Which is a little silly really, a public (or even private) review of any six month period/return is basically meaningless! Not that I’m complaining, I think you’ll agree the first half of the year treated us all pretty damn well. 🙂 Of course, that cozy warm feeling may simply confirm we’re all addicted to ‘monetary heroin’ now.

Anyway, I noted down quarter-end prices, so why don’t I first do a (brief) post giving you a timely snapshot of current rankings for The Great Irish Share Valuation Project. [For reference, here are my first & last posts in the valuation phase of TGISVP this year].

I’ve updated all share prices, plus some underlying variables (primarily FX rates), as of June-28th. I’ve also reflected the recent 1 for 25 consolidation of Petroceltic International (PCI:LN) shares, and eliminated Continental Farmers Group (CFGP:LN) after its successful takeover in June. At this point, I haven’t otherwise updated/revised any individual company valuations, so if a particular stock grabs your attention please check for subsequent news-flow/results. Of course, you may totally disagree with my valuation(s) anyway – so I’ll provide a complete Excel file below, which you’re welcome to amend as you see fit.