Searching for Future Long-Term Picks: Gathering Assets, Reasons to Search - Weekly Blog # 948

 

 

 

Mike Lipper’s Monday Morning Musings

 

Searching for Future Long-Term Picks:

Gathering Assets, Reasons to Search

 

Editors: Frank Harrison 1997-2018, Hylton Phillips-Page 2018

 

          

 

 

Inputs from This Week

1. The Consumer Confidence Index was 91.4 vs the 94.4 expected. The index was however up from last month’s 90.6.
2. The American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) sample survey projections for next six months are Bullish 31.4% vs the prior week’s 42.3%, Bearish 42.3% vs the prior week’s 36.3%.
3. Workforce participation of 61.4% is the lowest since the covid readings. (We have made working on payroll unattractive for some.)
4. In some European countries the number of air conditioners is small, and some are even being removed. (The founder of modern Singapore stated that the installation of “AC” led to the economic growth, enabling it to become the fifth richest economy in the world.)

 

Future Investment Problems

1. Americans misreading foreign data. The foreign performance of indices and positions is converted into US dollars from the local currency. As the US dollar is currently stronger than most other currencies, it makes foreign investments look more attractive. We tend to forget that most US investors temporarily rent foreign securities. When we sell in declining markets local buyers are often the only buyers and they are not generous.
2. When looking at the statics of a company, investors look at where the fiscal headquarters of the company is located, not where the product or service is sold. Consequently, many investors currently think they are investing in the UK, Taiwan, or South Korea. The Financial Times 100 largest companies, which dominate the local British stock market, makes almost none of its operating earnings are earned in the UK. It is my guess that a good many US investors think their rapidly expanding earnings are coming from South Korea and Taiwan, not by what is happening in the US.
3. Investors are often attracted to various securities indices due to a handful of the leading performing issues within the index. These companies, at least for a while, perform better than the indices. However, history tells us that it is only a matter of time before the leaders become laggards and detract from the performance of the index.
4. One recent concern of mine is that a senior American General in Europe is resigning. He is a four-star general with a very good battle record. I don’t believe it is an appropriate time to reduce our military leadership anywhere, particularly in Europe.
5. As a portfolio manager for long-term beneficiaries, I am very conscious of the variability of performance records. Looking at the recent five-year period, only six mutual fund sectors had average performance better than the S&P 500 Index Funds average. For the ten-year period, only Large-Cap Growth Funds and Domestic and Global Science and Technology Funds beat the S&P 500 Index Funds average. Considering the CEOs of many companies don’t last beyond five years, with even fewer lasting ten years, I am particularly nervous about those whose stock prices depend on “AI” products and services. (I wonder how many repeat orders there are for their present products and services.) Many of last year’s leaders are selling below last year’s performance ranks.

 

Possible Buys

The one major stock group selling below its 2000 price is Healthcare. I do not know these stocks well and tend to use specialty funds to invest in the sector. I will probably reach sell decisions without much help from the industry, but that may be a long time from now. Without a lot of knowledge, I am starting my learning efforts with Johnson & Johnson and CVS Health. I like their strategies but don’t know their tactics, managements, and their outlooks for their critical present and future drugs. Furthermore, I don’t know the outlook for government regulation. I need any help subscribers can provide.  

                                         

US Gifts to Others

Those in the US are incredibly lucky, or if you prefer God Given, considering the benefits/gifts we have received. However, it is wise to note that some of what we have given to the rest of the world is not always beneficial, as shown below:

1. A constitution that enshrines the rights of minorities.
2. An education process that attracts students from all over the world, who return to their homelands and contribute to them.
3. A military power that has critically helped defend other countries.
4. Innovation, which has produced great things for the world. 

 

Hope you had a good July 4th and life gets better.

 

 

 

Did you miss my blog last week? Click here to read.

Mike Lipper's Blog: What is Pending and When - Weekly Blog # 947

Mike Lipper's Blog: Too Many Short-Term Worries To Pick Long-Term Winners - Weekly Blog # 946

Mike Lipper's Blog: Is This the Last Hurrah? - Weekly Blog # 945

 

 

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Not Yet a Peak & Luck Lessons - Weekly Blog # 572

Mike Lipper’s Monday Morning Musings

Not Yet a Peak & Luck Lessons

Editors: Frank Harrison 1997-2018, Hylton Phillips-Page 2018 –

       

Absolute price tops and bottoms rarely occur. Most of the time market prices fluctuate without creating important turning points. Comments about investment markets are mainly focused on earnings and related valuations and these have not recently been helpful as guides to making investment decisions. In their place some are relying on various statistical measures of investors’ sentiments and the current somewhat bullish indicators are not generating a lot of enthusiasm. There is something absent from the picture. The stock market has been moving up for three and half months, but the volume on the New York Stock Exchange in 2019 is down -4.68%. An even better measure of short-term speculation, the NASDAQ composite, is up + 1.31%. Some short-term traders may be concerned that in March the three major stock indices had a gap in their price charts. Many market analysts believe that gaps need to be filled before a price trend can be relied upon. While no forecasting measure is ever 100% accurate all the time, I believe we have not yet reached a peak level.

Sports World Experience

One should pay attention to the importance of luck, especially in light of Tiger Woods winning “The Masters” golf championship this weekend. A remarkable comeback for him considering his physical and personal problems. Not taking anything away from the winner, but a couple of golfers that were ahead of him ran into some poor luck with a few of their strokes. In my basic investment analysis course at the racetrack I would call this “racing luck”. To me the most useful analytical time at the track is the twenty to thirty-minute period between races. This is the time during which I compare the results of the prior race against those predicted by my handicapping analysis. Most often, with the benefit of hindsight, one can find in the records of past races the reason the results turned out as they did. In the minority of instances, when the results could not have been predicted, it was the result of the record being incomplete or the result of unanticipated “racing luck”.

My Lucky Experiences

I have had two experiences that had nothing to do with my securities analysis training and certainly was not tested in my CFA exams. I would call these examples of racing luck.  

• As a result of following closed-end funds I owned a few shares of an Eaton Vance fund who had a relationship with Winrock, the venture capital arm of the Rockefellers. They had a share interest in some of their holdings and for regulatory reasons needed to terminate it, resulting in the closed-end fund distributing ownership of those shares to its shareholders. Consequently, I own a few shares of Apple at under $1 apiece. (At some point in the distant past I sold half the position because I had enough losses in other securities to offset the large gain in Apple. VERY DUMB MOVE to let taxes dictate an investment decision, an important lesson.)

• Many years ago I took out a life insurance policy and later realized that unless I passed prematurely it was a bad use of money. The rate of return the insurance company needed to meet its obligation was low relative to what it was earning on its investments. Thus, I bought some shares in the insurance company to take advantage of the spread and the float in the investment account. As a result, I would have a sales force working for me to find others that did not fully understand the economics of insurance. This is a lessoned not taught at Columbia. Over the years the insurance company did well but was never a high-flying stock. Recently it was bought out for cash and stock, the cash being many multiplies of my cost. Thus, I am more than satisfied. The stock is CVS Health, which I currently hold. I don’t generally directly invest in the health care industry, but let my choice of specialty and diversified mutual funds give me exposure. Barron’s recently had a cover story titled “CVS This could be the future of healthcare. Time to Buy”.  According to the article it is selling at an 8 P/E and a yield of 3.79%, which is in the range of the insurance stock I bought years ago.

Lessons

1. As indicated, don’t let taxes alone drive investment decisions. Sell when there is a better use for the money.
2. One needs to be invested to allow good luck to happen to one’s money. If I had to buy them independently, I probably would not have owned these winners.
3. Over long periods of time, investing in a portfolio of equities works better than trying to time the market
4. Cash reserves are appropriate to meet expected payments and for use as a possible opportunity reserve.

Questions of the Week:

1. What is the range of your opportunity reserve?
2. How long should you keep the reserve if you can’t find a commitment?

  

Did you miss my past few blogs? Click one of the links below to read.

https://mikelipper.blogspot.com/2019/04/investing-in-quality-for-growth-or.html

https://mikelipper.blogspot.com/2019/03/investment-committee-and-investors-be.html

https://mikelipper.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-actively-worrying-classpassively.html

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Copyright © 2008 - 2018

A. Michael Lipper, CFA

All rights reserved

Contact author for limited redistribution permission.