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10 Undervalued UK shares with low Price to Book ratios

7/17/2014

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10. Royal Dutch Shell

Shell is a multinational oil&gas company headquartered in the Netherlands and incorporated in the United Kingdom. Created by the merger of Royal Dutch Petroleum and UK-based Shell Transport & Trading, it is the second largest company in the world, in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors".

Market cap: £62,035 million
Price to book: 0.58
P/S: 0.23
P/E: 16.2
Dividend yield: 4.17%
Revenue growth: -3.4%
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9. Kazakhmys

Kazakhmys Plc is a UK-registered copper mining company whose main assets are located in Kazakhstan.

Market cap: £1,352 million
Price to book: 0.55
P/S: 0.75
P/E: 129
Dividend yield: 0%
Revenue growth: -7.58%

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Best UK stocks of 2014 so far

7/2/2014

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Continuing with UK stocks, I checked the best performing ones in 2014 with a minimum market cap of 100 million GBP. The FTSE 100 index is up only 1% this year, but there are still many great stocks out there:
Ticker            Name                                                                   Sector                                     YTD Gain    Market cap        Profit     Insider
LGO.L
GWP.L
SKP.L
GDG.L
OPG.L
MEC.L
STAF.L
PDL.L
SHP.L
MOSB.L
WLF.L
TRI.L
VLS.L
PRES.L
CNKS.L
SBD.L
PWS.L
GEM.L
HCM.L
KENZ.L
PLUS.L
CEY.L
HIK.L
KAZ.L
RM.L
PFG.L
QXT.L
JLF.L
GOG.L
POWR.L
Leni Gas & Oil
GW Pharmaceuticals
Skyepharma
Green Dragon Gas Ltd.
OPG Power Ventures
Mecom Group
Staffline Group
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI)
Shire Plc
Moss Bros Group
Wolfson Microelectronics
Trifast
Velocys
Pressure Technologies
Cenkos Securities
Songbird Estates
Pinewood Shepperton
Gemfields
Hutchison China Med
Kentz Corporation Ltd.
Plus500 Ltd (DI)
Centamin (DI)
Hikma Pharmaceuticals
Kazakhmys
RM
Provident Financial
Quixant
Jelf Group
Go-Ahead Group
Powerflute Oyj (DI)
Oil&Gas
Pharmaceuticals
Pharmaceuticals
Mining
Utilities
Media
Support services
Mining
Pharmaceuticals
Retail
Technology
Industrial
Chemicals
Industrial
Financial services
Real Estate
Media
Mining
Pharmaceuticals
Oil&Gas
Financial services
Mining
Pharmaceuticals
Mining
Software
Financial services
Technology
Financial services
Travel
Forestry
494%
164%
141%
102%
81%
76%
63%
62%
58%
58%
58%
57%
56%
55%
53%
50%
50%
48%
47%
47%
45%
44%
44%
42%
41%
41%
38%
38%
36%
35%

£102.46 
£1,229.17
£252.60
£789.86
£369.08
£185.89
£247.98
£980.69
£26,576.48
£115.67
£270.92
£142.67
£266.24
£107.02
£126.68
£1,836.13
£238.40
£264.57
£484.00
£1,090.99
£517.00
£739.65
£3,420.94
£1,384.03
£135.42
£3,202.29
£110.20
£100.99
£1,020.99
£110.10
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Best UK stocks look a bit different than their US counterparts. Only 7 companies didn't turn a profit and only 10 were bought by insiders prior to their advance. I have picked 2 stocks on this list, namely Hutchison China Med and Hikma Pharmaceuticals, which have done quite well.

But one thing holds true again: The best stocks are almost always small caps, that are growing fast or coming up with a new product/service. And of course, they all make new highs regularly. If you want to make money in the stock market, focus on uptrending small cap stocks, you can definitely catch some multibaggers there.
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Best brokers for international investors

6/29/2014

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1. Interactive Brokers

The undisputed leader in online trading, Interactive Brokers offers the best and cheapest solutions for investors and traders worldwide. Commissions get as low as $1 per trade, depending on the exchange and product you are trading. IB offers stocks, options, warrants, bonds, futures, forex, funds, etfs and many others, on exchanges in US , Europe (almost all countries), Asia (Japan, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea) and South America. The catch is, that you need a minimum of 10 000 USD to open an account.

The company also offers master account solutions for hedge funds and advisors , through which they can manage their clients. I myself have an account with IB simply because they are the best and cheapest. I also manage some of my clients through here, as it offers a safe and convenient way for funds management.

2. Charles Schwab

Schwab is a relatively old company, which offers online trading for stocks, options, bonds and mutual funds. Their fees are sometimes higher, but you can open an account with as low as 1000 USD. The good thing is, that they also offer stock markets in Hong Kong, Japan, Canada, UK and the rest of Europe.

3. Saxo Bank

The Danish bank emerged as a leader for European retail investors, offering a lot of exchanges at affordable prices. You can trade all European and North American stocks, plus Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Tokyo. The company offers stocks, bonds, forex, futures, options, CFDs and funds. You also get lower commissions if you trade more frequently or deposit a large sum in the account.

4. Fidelity Investments

One of the largest investment companies in US, Fidelity has a wide range of products in nearly 25 countries and 16 currencies. You can trade stocks, funds, options and bonds in North America, Europe, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and South Africa. Fidelity is definitely one of the cheapest brokers out there, beaten only by Interactive Brokers.

Each broker has different commissions, and they might not accept customers from certian countries. So check individually before you open an account, to find the best one that suits you.
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10 UK stocks with the best dividend

6/24/2014

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I have looked at UK stocks paying the highest dividend, the minimum is a market cap of 300 million GBP to qualify.

10. Balfour Beatty

Balfour Beatty plc is engaged in infrastructure business primarily in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Market cap: 1.6 billion
Dividend yield: 5.93%
Payout ratio: 70%
P/E ratio: 12
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9 Most shorted stocks in UK

6/22/2014

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Many investors and researchers agree, that short sellers are smart money, more often than not, stocks with high short interest experience negative returns in following months or years. Here is a list of the most shorted stocks on LSE:

9. AMEC plc (AMEC.L)


Short float: 5.4%
Market cap: 3.2 billion GBP
Dividend: 0%



The company provides consultacny, engineering and project management services to many industries including: oil and gas, mining, clean energy and various infrastructure markets. AQR Capital and Oxford Asset Management are among hedge funds holding shorts.
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Sainsbury's and the future of UK retail

6/10/2014

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Sainsbury's is the second largest supermakret chain  in the United Kingdom with a share of the UK supermarket sector of 16.5%.The company was founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury and became the largest grocery retailer in 1922, pioneered self-service retailing in the UK, and experienced it's best days during the 1980s. In 1995, it's no.1 market position was overtaken by Tesco. Among it's shareholders are Lord Sainsbury (descendant of the founder) with 5% and Qatar Investment Authority with 26% of shares outstanding.

Sainsbury’s has been the best performer of the big four supermarkets since the financial crisis, but recently, it's market share suffered the worst drop in a decade (16.9pc to 16.5pc) in the 12 weeks to March 30 2014. The company posted the slowest growth in a decade (5.3%) and same-store sales fell for the first time after 36 quarters of uninterrupted growth. This is mainly due to the intense competition in the UK retail sector, big rivals like Tesco and Asda on one side, and smaller discount stores like Aldi and Lidl on the other. Also, their long time CEO, who successfully guided the company throughout the last decade, is going out in July.  But, they pay a nice 5% dividend. 
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Source: Company reports

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Ocado (OCDO.L) - Is it really worth so much?

6/9/2014

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Ocado (LSE:OCDO) is an online supermarket and the largest online food retailer in the world. Originally founded by a group of former Goldman Sachs bankers who joined together to create an online delivery grocery fulfilment platform, they managed to get Waitrose (one of UK's largest groceries) as their partner. Last year, the company finished it's second fulfillment center for £230 million, which was instrumental in securing a new agreement with Wm Morrison Supermarkets. 

Ocado does business in the most competitive field, groceries. It competes with traditional mom and pop stores, huge chains (Tesco, Sainsbury's) and discount supermarkets (Aldi, Lidl). In addition, almost all supermarket stores in UK maintain an online presence, either through store pickup or direct house delivery. Tesco, ASDA and Sainsbury's websites all rank ahead of Ocado in terms of traffic (according to Alexa).

Let's take a look at Ocado's financials:

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Best UK Stocks to buy for 2014 (AMS, ABF, BLNX, BTG, HIK, HCM, HL, RWS)

12/31/2013

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Advanced Medical Solutions (AMS)
AMS specialises in the development, manufacture and sale of advanced wound care, wound closure and sealant products. The company makes money through it's branded products LiquiBand, ActivHeal and Resorba, with around 80% of sales from Europe (mainly UK and Germany). The group more than doubled it's revenue in the past 3 years while margins have advanced from 17% in 2009 to 24% last year, significantly boosting their net income. The company has confirmed it's previous revenue guidance of 57.5 million and pre-tax profit of 13.2 million, up 9% and 30% respectively. They expect to pay down all their debt by the end of 2013. AMS stock is up 69% in 2013, but I'm still long as it offers great value given it's prospects.

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Associated British Foods (ABF)
Associated British Foods is a diversified international food, ingredients and retail group operating in 47 countries. It is the owner of several famous brand names including Twinings tea, Ovaltine, Primark and British Sugar. The company has achieved growth through the guidance of the the founding Weston family, which still holds a large interest. The stock is up 58% in 2013, pays a small dividend, and recently beat analyst estimates on both revenue and profit. It is mostly a food business, but their retail brand Primark grew revenues by 22% represents now 25% of the company and is expected to open 20 more European stores in 2014. I like to own market leaders and ABF is one of them.

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Blinkx PLC (BLNX)
Blinkx is simply the world’s most advanced video search engine. They link viewers with content publishers and distributors, and monetize those interactions through advertising. Their technology was developed by Cambridge University and is protected by 111 patents. The company has more than 900 partnerships, including the video search for AOL and Lycos. BLNX has grown revenues by more than 70% in the past few years, and stock was up more than 200% in 2013, being #14 on the list of best UK stocks of 2013. My strategy is to buy only the best stocks for a fair price, if you are looking for the same, Blinkx is still undervalued and has plenty of room to fly given it's patented technology and the millions of videos posted daily. 

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BTG PLC (BTG)The Company is focused on three business areas: Specialty Pharmaceuticals, Interventional Medicine and Licensing & Biotechnology.  They have invented Magnetic Resonance Imaging and currently license a large part of the world. Recently, FDA approved their drug Varithena, which is the only available treatment for varicose veins. There are approximately 30 million adults suffering from this condition in US. In the last earnings announcement (November 2013), BTG recorded a revenue and EPS growth of 17% and 21%. The stock was very quiet during the year, but shot up after the announced FDA approval, and scored a gain of 71% for 2013. 

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Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.)
Hargreaves Lansdown PLC is a leader in investment management products and services to private investors in one of the largest financial centers in the world, United Kingdom . The Company's flagship service, Vantage, is UK's largest direct-to-private investor investment supermarket and commands a market share of 28%. Vantage offers clients the administrative convenience of being able to hold and manage their investments, including unit trusts, open ended investment company, equities, bonds, investment trusts and cash, irrespective of the tax vehicle, in one place with consolidated valuation reports. The company is growing by double digits, with profit margins and ROE above 50%, which are numbers usually seen at technology companies. 

Management is superb and has done very well despite the bad financial environment in UK, growing revenues by more than 20% during the worst meltdown in 2008. The founders, Peter Hargreaves and Stephen Lansdown still hold a controlling interest in the business. HL. stock has advanced almost 100% in 2013, but bright days still lie ahead, the company is capturing market share from competitors rapidly and coming up with new products. 

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Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (HIK)
Is a pharmaceutical company with more than 35 years of history and an established position in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region (45% of sales) and US (46% of sales). Their products are marketed under divisions: Branded (40%), Injectables (38%) and Generics (22%). The injectables division ditributes more than 180 products, Branded has more than 600 products, which are mostly licensed from global pharmaceutical companies, which recognize Hikma's strong position in the MENA region. The company has steadily grown by 20% each year, has ROE of 16% and no debt. Their future growth will come from the generics business (Doxycycline grew from 10 million USD in  December 2012 to over 100 million in June 2013), licensing of new products and acquisitions. Hikma stock ended year 2013 57% higher.

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Hutchison China MediTech (HCM)
Chi-Med is the holding company of a pharmaceutical and healthcare group based primarily in China. Chi-Med is a subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. ("HWL"), one of the largest conglomerates based in Hong Kong. Chi-Med focuses on researching, developing, manufacturing and selling pharmaceuticals, and health oriented consumer products primarily in China. The company has a global licensing deal with AstraZeneca on Volitinib, and it's the first deal of this type to progress a China discovered targeted oncology drug towards the global market. The company earned a $20 million upfront, with additional $120 million after successful achievement of clinical development, and in the marketing phase a double-digit share of revenues and profits. 

China represents 20% of the world's population, but only 1.5% of the total drug market. As such, Pharmaceutical companies are on the rise, and HCM is well positioned to profit from this trend, already gaining 48% in 2013. Recently, Chi-Med announced a joint venture with Sinopharm Group, the largest distributor of pharmaceutical and medical products in China. If you like small cap stocks with explosive potential, this one is for you.

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RWS Holdings PLC (RWS)
RWS is a provider of intellectual property support services and high level technical, legal and financial translation services, for companies in the pharmaceutical, chemical, aerospace, automotive, defense and telecom sectors. It provides services to 12 of the world's top 20 applicants at the World Intellectual Property Office in 2011 and 14 of the top 20 applicants at the European Patent Office in 2011. 

Main growth will come from the acquisition of inovia, a web based patent filing company. Their technology is protected by 12 patents (and 35 additional pending), and it achieved 37% revenue growth rate last year, boosting profit margins and future revenue for RWS. The thing I really like, is that the founder of RWS, Andrew Brode (holds 43% stake in the company), pays himself a salary of 269 000 GBP (including pensions), which shows he cares more about the future of his business than short term profit chasing. The stock is up 56% this year, I'm a buyer because I believe I'm getting growth at a reasonable price with this one.

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Best UK stocks of 2013

12/17/2013

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Continuing with my examination of the most profitable stocks of 2013 around the world, find below the UK list:

Ticker             Name                                                 Industry                                    Mkt. cap     YTD gain    Profit      Insider  Breakout
ABTX.L
MAR.L
BLUR.L
OCDO.L
THAL.L
QFI.L
TCG.L
SEE.L
XAR.L
THT.L
SOM.L
HHR.L
TCM.L
BLNX.L
STVG.L
GBO.L
GWP.L
WAND.L
OPAY.L
CLIN.L
KBC.L
TLDH.L
SOLG.L
RNO.L
PRES.L
MTEC.L
PHTM.L
TPT.L
POLR.L
MGR.L
Aqua Bounty Tech.
Mar City
Blur (Group)
Ocado Group
Thalassa Holdings Ltd.
Quadrise Fuels Int.
Thomas Cook Group
Seeing Machines Ltd.
Xaar
Thorntons
Somero Enterprises
Helphire Group
Telit Communications
Blinkx
STV Group
GLOBO
GW Pharmaceuticals
WANdisco
Optimal Pay
Clinigen Group
KBC Advanced Tech.
Top Level Domain Hldgs.
Solgold
Renold
Pressure Technologies
Matchtech Group
Photo-Me International
Topps Tiles
Polar Capital Holdings
Miton Group
Biotechnology
Construction
Computer services
Retail (Catalog)
Oil Services
Oil & Gas
Personal services
Computer services
Computer peripherals
Food processing
Machinery
Rental and Leasing
Communications
Internet media
Motion pictures
Software
Biotechnology
Software
Consumer Finance
Biotechnology
Software
Domain trading
Mining
Engineering
Engineering
Business services
Photography
Construction
Investment services
Investment services
63M
110M
133M
2521M
65M
378M
2378M
53M
844M
95M
57M
85M
174M
791M
120M
220M
292M
304M
493M
468M
68M
106M
50M
116M
51M
139M
539M
239M
403M
80M
585%
506%
500%
441%
417%
384%
375%
369%
285%
233%
233%
209%
205%
204%
202%
197%
197%
194%
183%
177%
174%
173%
166%
158%
147%
145%
143%
142%
141%
137%

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The yearly gains of the best UK stocks range from 137% (MGR) to 585% (ABTX), what is less than half of it's US counterparts. This can be attributed to the significant outperformance of US stocks during the last year, which returned around 25% compared to the 8% return of FTSE100. Nevertheless, there were some big gainers, especially among computer and internet stocks - BLUR, SEE, XAR, BLNX, GBO, WAND, KBC. In fact Blinkx (BLNX) is in my portfolio right now, as I still see a lot of upside potential in that stock. Doing the same research as for US stocks, I have come up with these results:

- All of the best stocks had a market cap of 800 million GBP or lower, before their advance
- Every single stock from the list reached new 52-week highs multiple times during the last year
- 70% (21) paid no dividend during the last year
- 66% (20) still have an institutional ownership of 80% or lower right now
- 56% (17) experienced sharp breakouts on significant volume, which started each uptrend 
- 50% (15) were bought by insiders before the biggest moves began
- 40% of companies were not profitable
- Of the best 5 UK stocks of 2013, only two were profitable, one was bought by insiders and all had broken out of their bases on strong volume before scoring large gains

Comparing these results to the US list, we can conclude so far that: 
1. The best stocks are usually small caps, with market cap under 1 billion USD
2. The majority do not pay dividends
3. Institutional ownership is very low
4. More often than not, these stocks experience sharp breakouts to the upside, which start their advance
5. Top 5 stocks are generally profitable and are not bought by insiders

Again the common trait that all these stocks share is the reaching of new highs many times during their advance. It looks as the UK stocks are less speculative, given that 60% of them earned a profit during the past year compared to only 36% in US. Buying into an uptrend works in UK just like in the US, many of these stocks are still trading at or near their 52-week highs now. I will follow up with similar lists for Hong Kong and Indian stocks to see if the same patterns emerge. Meanwhile, check out the best UK stocks to buy now.
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Best free stock screeners for online trading

12/15/2013

4 Comments

 
The best stock screener out there is without doubt on the Bloomberg Terminal, but that's not affordable to many people, so let's look at some cheaper options:

1. Finviz.com

The best and easiest to use screener for US stocks. You can screen more than 6000 stocks based on fundamentals, technical patterns, volume, analyst upgrades, insider buying or earnings announcements. You can find stocks rising or declining on unusual volume pretty fast, with charts and fundamentals in just one click.  This comes in handy especially when you are comparing a large number of stocks based on their chart patterns, volume action or price movement. Finviz offers only a snapshot of fundamentals, so you need to look somewhere else if you need more detailed data.

2. Gurufocus.com

The go-to website for all Guru stock trades, Gurufocus offers screening the trades of famous investors, and also unique criteria like the Piotroski or Altman Z score. The whole site is focused on valuation, so you can screen based on historical P/E, P/S trends or see how companies rank compared to each other in their respective industries based on valuation. The insider buying screen is also good, allowing you to actually find stocks being bought only by CEOs or CFOs. You can view 10-year fundamentals, guru trades or interactive charts on each stock page. The free portion of the website offers USA stocks, you need a subscription for Canada, Europe, Asia and other markets. 

3. Digitallook.com

The most comprehensive screener, when it comes to fundamentals. It's especially useful due the variability of the criteria you can select, which range from share performance, valuation or growth to insider deals and technical indicators. The ranges are not hard coded like on Finviz.com, so you have more options to experiment with. The stock universe includes North America and major European countries like Italy, Germany, UK, Netherlands, Switzerland and others. Stock pages come with 5-year fundamentals, insider deals and basic charts.

4. Screener.in

The #1 stock screener in India. You can actually design your own criteria, what is really great and offers a lot of room to play. You can view charts, 10-year fundamentals, financial summaries and annual reports on each stock page or create and save your own screens and watchlists. The screener features companies from both NSE (National Stock exchange of India) and BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange), totaling more than 7000 stocks.

5. Marketinout.com

Although not as developed and comprehensive as the above mentioned screeners, Marketinout offers a huge universe of stocks, including exchanges in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia or Argentina. The fundamental criteria are rather basic, but the technicals range from EMA crossovers to Ichimoku. The website is quite useful, if you are trading emerging markets stocks.

6. Financial Times screener

Worldwide screener for more than 40 000 stocks. The number of fundamental criteria is very limited, they also don't offer any technicals. Nevertheless, you can screen stock exchanges from every corner of the world and view 5-year fundamentals with an interactive chart on each stock page. Good for finding fundamental inefficiencies among developing markets stocks.

4 Comments

Buying stocks at new highs

12/15/2013

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Everyone has heard the old saying: "Buy low, sell high". Many investors and traders have made millions or billions with this approach, including of course the most famous of all, Warren Buffett. But what about buying high, and selling higher? If I show you yearly charts of two stocks, stock A being down 50%, while stock B advancing 50%, most of you will automatically conclude that A is undervalued while B is overvalued. This mindset is completely wrong, but illustrates how many people think about stocks and trading these days. 

Value investing involves buying stocks at prices significantly below their intrinsic value, the difference being the Margin of Safety. Many investors mistake that concept with buying declining stocks and averaging down into them. What's even worse, they look for ridiculously low valuation multiples, strictly avoiding anything higher. This leads them into the worst stocks, automatically missing the best ones. Xerox (XRX) sold at a P/E of 100, before advancing more than 3000%, Google (GOOG) sold at a similar multiple at it's IPO, and we all know how that went. Remember, that many great stocks sell at high multiples initially, and maintain them for many years. If a stock grows it's earnings by 40% per year, the stock price has to advance by 40% for the P/E to stay constant! Consequently, what is a P/E? If I start a new business, am I concerned about the valuation multiple, or the growth of my company in the coming years? Will I not invest all my earnings into R&D, marketing and employee expenses, depressing earnings in the early years to fully profit from the future potential?  

When I buy a stock at it's 52 week or all-time high, I do so because it is undervalued according to my analysis, in other words, the intrinsic value of the company is much greater than the price it's selling for. As Warren Buffett wisely said: "Growth is merely a part of the value equation". That means you can actually find undervalued stocks selling at their 52-week or all-time highs. I remember buying Celgene (CELG) at it's all-time high of 80, buying Apple (AAPL) at it's all-time high of 430, buying BOFI Holding (BOFI) at 28, buying Altisource Portfolio Solutions (ASPS) at 52, Ambarella (AMBA) at 14, SPS Commerce (SPSC) at 25, and the list goes on... What about huge past winners like Netflix (NFLX) or Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR), which made new highs exactly as the S&P500 bottomed in 2009?  If you stop and think about it, all of the most profitable stocks in history had one thing in common: they kept rising in price, year after year, making new highs everytime on the way to the top. If I check the list of stocks making new highs, I know for sure there are huge future winners in there, I just need to know what traits to look for.

The main advantage of this approach is in cutting losses. When you buy a declining stock, and it keeps down, how do you keep your risk in check, how do you know you won't be stuck 5 years with a stock that isn't moving anywhere? When I purchase a stock at it's 52-week or all-time high, and the price starts to go down, I know for sure something is wrong, either my analysis or just the general market. In that case I get out of the trade and look for other good stocks to buy. If I keep  my losses limited to 10-15% on a bad trade, but take profits after 50-100% and higher gains, then I can strike out pretty frequently and still have a great year. The key to profitable trading is to cut your losses short and let your winners run. If you take profits after 20%, you will never score a home run and your performance will suffer. Benjamin Graham himself stated, that the profits from the GEICO purchase (he put 25% of his portfolio into the stock) were greater than all of his other investments combined.

So does buying the best stocks making new highs work? Absolutely, provided you keep your risk in check and let your winners run, which are the basic tenets of profitable stock trading. Does buying declining stocks work? Yeah it may, but why not wait until they turn back up?
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RWS Holdings (RWS.L) - a small cap profiting from the global patent war

12/13/2013

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RWS is a provider of intellectual property support services and high level technical, legal and financial translation services, for companies in the pharmaceutical, chemical, aerospace, automotive, defense and telecom sectors. It serves multinationals from Europe, North America, China and Japan. It's clients include 12 of the world's top 20 applicants at the World Intellectual Property Office in 2011 and 14 of the top 20 applicants at the European Patent Office in 2011. The company operates under two divisions, the Translation division (92% of revenues) providing patent and document translation, filing and localization services and the Information division (8% of revenues), which offers a comprehensive patent database service searchable by subscribers, known as PatBase.

RWS has advanced steadily over the years, through both organic and acquisition growth. They have increased revenues and profits for 9th consecutive year, even during the 2008 financial crisis, which saw the number of world patent filings decline, reaching a new high in 2011. The founder Andrew Brode still holds a 43% stake in the company, and pays himself a salary of 269 000 GBP (including pensions), which is a thing I really like, it shows he is shareholder friendly and cares more about the long term future of his business. 

The main catalyst for future growth is their recent acquisition of inovia, a global leader in web-based foreign patent filing. Their technology itself is protected by 12 current patents and 35 pending applications. The company has already served 1500 clients, and grew it's revenues to 26.5 million USD in 2013, a 37% YoY increase. Because of this, RWS Group projects a 12% increase in revenues to 76 million GBP and expansion of margins leading to a 23% increase in pre-tax profits to 20.9 million GBP. Their balance sheet is debt free with 16 million in cash, and 21% ROE, which will increase as well given the inovia profit contribution. In addition to this, WIPO (World intellectual property organization) has announced, that global patent filling growth has reached 9.2% in 2012, fastest increase in 18 years. Their future looks promising, and I think it's one of the best stocks to buy now, I have initiated a position already. For the complete list of best UK stocks, go here.

Market cap: 355 mil. GBP 
P/E: 24
P/S: 4.7
ROE: 21% 

Risks: The greatest risk is a mismatch or human error in their translations, which would void a patent of a client and badly damage their reputation. Although they carry indemnity insurance, the cost of a company's reputation is far greater than any insurance could cover. Another uncertainty is that regulatory approvals and patent requirements might change in the future, which could increase their costs or make them more vulnerable to competition.  
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Selling part of HCM.L and AMS.L

12/13/2013

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I have decided to sell a small part of my positions in these 2 stocks, as I'm making room for a new purchase. Both companies still possess significant upside, and I will still have a 11% weight in AMS and 9% in HCM after the reduction.
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6 Best UK stocks to buy right now

11/9/2013

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1. Advanced Medical Solutions Group PLC (AMS.L)
AMS specialises in the development, manufacture and sale of advanced wound care, wound closure and sealant products. The company makes money through it's branded products LiquiBand, ActivHeal and Resorba, with around 80% of sales from Europe (mainly UK and Germany). The group more than doubled it's revenue in the past 3 years while margins have improved from 17% in 2009 to 24% last year. Debt load has been reduced to a mediocre 5 million. They are currently in talks with regulatory authorities in Russia, China and USA, to start selling Resorba products. Financials and Fundamentals
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2. Associated British Foods PLC (ABF.L)
Associated British Foods is a diversified international food, ingredients and retail group operating in 47 countries. It is the owner of several famous brand names including Twinings tea, Ovaltine, Primark and British Sugar. AB Sugar is one of the world’s largest sugar producers; employing more than 42,000 people across 31 plants in ten countries and with a capacity to produce over 5 million tonnes of sugar and 600 million litres of ethanol each year. Despite it's size, the company kept growing even during the global crisis in 2008 and is positioned well to profit from the future. The founding Weston family still holds a significant interest. Financials and Fundamentals
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3. Blinkx (BLNX.L)
Blinkx is the Internet Media platform powered by CORE, the world’s most advanced video search engine. They link viewers with content publishers and distributors, and monetize those interactions through advertising. Founded in 2004 in San Francisco, the company was floated on London Stock Exchange in 2007. I have already written an article about this stock, so I'm not going into greater detail. This is one of those situations, where the fundamentals and technicals are well aligned and warrant a very aggressive position. If your analysis points to a great profit potential, you have to bet big. Financials and Fundamentals
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4. BTG PLC (BTG.L)
BTG plc is an international specialist healthcare company. The Company is focused on three business areas: Specialty Pharmaceuticals, Interventional Medicine and Licensing & Biotechnology. The Specialty Pharmaceutical products include antidotes against snake venom and toxicity associated with medicines used for heart conditions and cancer. The Interventional Medicines include Interventional Oncology products used to treat patients with liver tumours and Interventional Vascular products used to treat patients with severe blood clots. The company is currently awaiting approval and launch of a treatment for varicose veins in the US. They have invented Magnetic Resonance Imaging and currently license a large part of the world. The expected is growth for next year is around 20%, and there has also been an insider purchase recently. 
Financials and Fundamentals
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5. Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.L)
Hargreaves Lansdown PLC is a provider of investment management products and services to private investors in the United Kingdom. The Company's flagship service, Vantage, UK's largest direct-to-private investor investment supermarket and wrap platform. Vantage offers clients the administrative convenience of being able to hold and manage their investments, including unit trusts, open ended investment company, equities, bonds, investment trusts and cash, irrespective of the tax vehicle, in one place with consolidated valuation reports. The company spots 80% ROE, 50% profit margin and a double digit growth rate. I really like that the founders still hold a majority share in HL, they have demonstrated exceptional skill and they remain one of the best UK financial companies.
Financials and Fundamentals
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6. Hutchison China MediTech (HCM.L)
Chi-Med is the holding company of a pharmaceutical and healthcare group based primarily in China. Chi-Med is a subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. ("HWL"), one of the largest conglomerates based in Hong Kong. Chi-Med focuses on researching, developing, manufacturing and selling pharmaceuticals, and health oriented consumer products primarily in China. Chi-Med was established in 2000 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of HWL. It's global licensing deal with AstraZeneca on Volitinib, represents the first deal of this type to progress a China discovered targeted oncology drug towards the global market. The company earned a $20 million upfront payment with up to $120 million contingent upon the successful achievement of clinical development and later double-digit percentage royalties on net sales. The company has 5 additional drugs in development, they have turned profitable only recently and finally started generating free cash flow. A director has bought shares in October with trade value of £100k. The pharmaceutical industry in China is booming, the country represents 20% of world population but only 1.5% of the total drug market. I believe that if the company executes it's strategy well, it will offer incredible profit potential in the future. Financials and Fundamentals
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Blinkx (BLNX.L) - the world’s most advanced video engine

11/8/2013

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Blinkx is the Internet Media platform powered by CORE, the world’s most advanced video search engine. They link viewers with content publishers and distributors, and monetize those interactions through advertising. Founded in 2004 in San Francisco, the company was floated on London Stock Exchange in 2007. Through its flagship site, blinkx.com, blinkx pioneered video search on the Internet, developing an engine based on technology that was conceived at Cambridge University, protected by 111 patents. Today, blinkx has an index of over 35 million hours of searchable video and more than 900 media partnerships, including national broadcasters, commercial media giants, and private video libraries. In addition, blinkx powers video search for many of the world's most frequented sites, including AOL and Lycos. 

The company makes money through advertising on videos featured on their website. Their advertisements are unique because of the technology they use. Advertisers can pick many options of display like Branded player, Overlay, Fixed footer, Video Float and others, while each of those interacts with the viewer in a different way. They have already partnered with Samsung and Sony to feature advertisements on certain HD videos on their TVs (Connected TV). 

Blinkx browses through millions of videos, categorizes and indexes them, replacing the manual process of tagging. The way it works is that blinkx CORE first divides video into its basic building blocks and then processes each component in the method most effective to the medium: audio is processed with speech recognition technology; images are understood using visual analysis technology; and metatags are indexed and extracted by visual spiders. Once it has collected the most comprehensive data about the video, the CORE engine transforms it into useful information by recognizing ideas and themes within the video. The result is an unprecedented accuracy of the search results and ensures best experience for both viewers and advertisers or content publishers.

The company has grown revenues by an astounding pace,  from 40 million to 200 million GBP in the last three years, growing at 73% in the past year alone. Blinkx is debt free, with 90 million in current assets and a market cap of almost 750 million. Recently, they announced Q3 results, easily beating estimates. Our projected upside for the stock is near 150% for the next year. The company has currently only a fraction of videos in it's database, there is significant room for additional growth, given the number of videos posted daily and it's competitive advantage. Financials and Fundamentals
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    To make money in stocks you must have the "the vision to see them, the courage to buy them and the patience to hold them". And patience is the rarest of the three.  Thomas Phelps

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