Notes on value investing

I had about 64 stocks in my portfolio on Oct. 1 2015. It is only about 12 months that I have learnt the lessons of value investing and my earlier teacher/guide (I realize now) wasn't really that well versed - so yes, she did a great job of introducing me to this world and since last 6-8 months I have had to build upon her introduction. So in the process of learning I ended up buying many good businesses. [The reason I say these are good businesses is that they were all selected based on fundamentals focusing on ROE/ROIC/Cash flow etc. after research often spread over several days/weeks. Of course, the depth of analysis has increased with time filling several pages of the 'Diary of a Dumb Investor'. However, I now realize that this learning curve landed me up at this juncture with large portfolio with many stocks where I had invested only 0.5% of my portfolio. My biggest gainer Britannia at 250% forms <2% of my portfolio.] Until recently two pieces were missing in my a...

It is nearly 3 years since I am actively investing in stocks and managing my portfolio. Recently, ICICI Direct launched several reporting tools which includes the Equity Portfolio Drilldown and the Portfolio X-Ray Report. I was observing a strange pattern in the data reported in the equity portfolio drilldown. See image below. Time and again, it appears that my tail portfolio where holdings are <2% are delivering excellent gains and the core portfolio, i.e., stocks with holding >2% are delivering poorly. It was evident from these reports that if I could eliminate the poor stocks from my portfolio and enhance my holding in the core stocks, my overall portfolio gains could be much better. This was an insight which was very useful in helping me change my strategy from having a highly diversified portfolio containing approximately 60 stocks down to a target of roughly 25-30 stocks. The initial trims have been easy. Some of these had been languishing and hogging a large portio...

First post. What this blog is going to be about. All good things about Value Investing Experiences from my startup / small business journey Experiences from projects I have been engaged with Travel experiences Anything else that pops up at random Simplistic language, well thought out opinions, a record for a lifetime.