Hi Musicwhiz, By the way, what would you consider to be the most important criteria when evaluating a business? As me it would be the business moat (defensible, unique selling proposition (product or service), global, market position, etc)... obviously the ultimate moat would be a monopoly of an industry but that is almost \'rare\'...only Intel and Microsoft even that they are not close to a normal definition of a monopoly. After passing the above criteria, only then I will drill down to management then financials and so on. Reading your blog I do not see much mention of moats which I consider too important to pass up. The one that comes close to having a defensible moat (that would pass muster) would be Tat Hong, China Fish and Suntec.
Hi Gary, I agree with you totally on what you said. Well sorry to say my blog does not really mention the qualitative aspects of what I look out for in a business. There is only a series featuring the quantitative aspects. Sometimes it\'s a little hard for me to externalize and put it into words, but economic moat is the right term to use. In my opinion, companies such as Ezra, Swiber and Boustead have their own moats too, though it would require a very long article to explain it here. Perhaps in a subsequent post I will explain further. Thanks and cheers.
Hi, Just for the sake of argument...if it is difficult for you to express the moat then it probably isn\'t a moat. Or maybe in other words 1. Why are they different or USP 2. Does the difference they have count in the industry they are operating in. 3. Can they set prices? 4. What are the barriers to entry? 5. Do they have a leadership position ie; market share; cost advantage; logistics advantage; patent protection. 6. All is relative to the competition they have. You get the drill...
To keep it short and simple, I will just put it as high barriers to entry, track record and Management experience in managing the business. I didn\'t say I can\'t describe it, I just said it would take up too much typing time ! Would rather prefer to narrate it than type it. Hehe.
I shall take the advice and not see the prices anymore, until such time when i happened to read or see the news od STI hitting 3,000 again or a new record high, then that\'s the time for me to check out which of my stocks have died, survived thru or bagging alot of gold. i think u guys should find some time for coffee breaks to exchange views out, reach a conclusion & maybe post a summary of your shared views? For people who do not have much time for analysis and research, that will prove to be very valuable. How do you see a company as having a high barrier to entry? Do you mean like china milk? How do you see swiber and ezra as having their own moats too when both are coming from the same industry?
