Skip to main content

Posts

Book Notes: Mohnish Pabrai - The Dhandho Investor

The Dhandho Investor - Mohnish Pabrai Acknowledgments “ I have very few original ideas. Virtually everything has been lifted from somewhere ”. He says that there is no shame in cloning and that there are plenty of very talented people out there from which you can take a lot of ideas. Chapter 1: Patel Motel Dhandho Dhandho is roughly translated to “ endeavors that create wealth ” and he suggests that the more correct, complete definition for him would be “ endeavors that create wealth while taking virtually no risk ” (p. 2). “ role models play a huge role in how humans pick their vocations ” (p. 5). A saying that is repeated numerously throughout the book and embodies the Dhandho approach to investing is: “Heads, I win; tails, I don’t lose much!” (p. 12). Chapter 2: Manilal Dhandho A common trait across Dhandho entrepreneurs in the early chapters of the book is that despite their improving economic situation, all of them continued to live quite simply, keeping expenses low and not splur...
Recent posts

Imperial Brands

Introduction and Business Overview Imperial Brands is a Company dedicated mostly to the manufacture, marketing, and sale of tobacco products. The company was founded in 1901, has a current market cap of GBP 14.788 billion, 32,500 employees, and annual sales of GBP 16.6 billion in 2020. According to its market shares it is the fourth largest tobacco company in the world after Philip Morris, British American Tobacco, and Tobacco International (Tobacco Tactics, 2021). The company has three main lines of business: tobacco, NGP (Next Generation Products), and distribution. The tobacco segment manufactures, markets, and sells cigarettes, rolling tobacco, rolling papers, and premium tobacco (cigars), although Imperial has had to sell the premium tobacco business in 2020 to pay down some of its debt. Some of the most well-known tobacco brands of Imperial Brands are Davidoff, JPS; Gauloises Blondes, West, Winston, and Parker & Simpson. The NGP segment includes products like “heated-not-burn...

The Case for Best Buy

     While running a screener searching for financially healthy companies that provided excellent returns on capital employed I stumbled upon Best Buy. In this post you can find the reasons why I think there could be a great buying opportunity in Best Buy at the moment.  Pros: here I will first start with some comments about the business itself and then I will get into the financials of the company through an analysis of some ratios. The company adapted really well to the "pandemic environment" through their online store and their store pick-up model. They were able to retain 70% of their sales during the first month of lockdowns, which is really impressive considering that in the end Best Buy is still considered a retail business. Best Buy is expanding changing their business model to accommodate more online sales and transition away from the dependency on their brick and mortar stores. For example, they are focusing more on the servicing of their clients'...