What are your views on this and have you read any good books/blueprints on this?
This is where I focus my energy for my personal portfolio. I have some funds for large cap and foreign but I do the small/microcap on my own. I’m not sure what investment style you like but I’m a deep value type of investor so currently I’m looking for net-nets, companies trading around cash/asset value and workouts. There are a few good sites with screens for this out there. There is really no difference in evaluating companies that are small cap verses large cap. The biggest difference I’ve seen is small caps are usually a lot easier to analyze, they’re a lot simpler. Also beware of liquidity, some companies have such a small trading volume it’s hard to make a large purchase. If you’re looking for books I’d recommend: Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham You Can Be A Stock Market Genius by Joel Greenblatt (corny title and cover ignore that, the content is really good)
^ What this guy said.
Let us discuss some stocks specifically if you guys are up for it. Has anyone analyzed DJCO? I think it looks like an interesting firm, lots of liquid assets, increasing revenue, etc. Tiny as hell.
I’d stay away from the newspaper/print media business
I have liked things in the medical or personal care fields…something at least a tad insulated from the economy…MLAB, UG (not at current price), ATRI to name a few.
In my view there is a big difference between investing in small caps (mkt cap under, say, $1.5B or $2B) and micro (mkt cap under $400 or $500mm). In micro you can actually use the low volume/illiquidity to your advantage through technical analysis since the signals are not diluted by so much noise. From an industry perspective I like value investing in some of these small banks right now, especially if you can get ahead of a capital raise for one of these FDIC deals. The deals aren’t as sweet as they were, but still nice place to play specific names. On the growth side there are a lot of concept stocks, so the technical signal becomes extremely important since it’s all supply/demand driven. Small cap is a lot more about real companies with cash flow, although they are easier to analyze in one sense than LC just because there are fewer earnings drivers and variables. On the other hand, SC tends to be buffeted by the macro winds to greater degree than LC.
I’ve analyzed micro-caps (even smaller than defined above, think
pgh.ndt Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > This is where I focus my energy for my personal > portfolio. I have some funds for large cap and > foreign but I do the small/microcap on my own. > > I’m not sure what investment style you like but > I’m a deep value type of investor so currently I’m > looking for net-nets, companies trading around > cash/asset value and workouts. There are a few > good sites with screens for this out there. > > There is really no difference in evaluating > companies that are small cap verses large cap. > The biggest difference I’ve seen is small caps are > usually a lot easier to analyze, they’re a lot > simpler. Also beware of liquidity, some companies > have such a small trading volume it’s hard to make > a large purchase. > > If you’re looking for books I’d recommend: > Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham > You Can Be A Stock Market Genius by Joel > Greenblatt (corny title and cover ignore that, the > content is really good) Agreed. would you like to shoot me a email to tangask @ gmail.com I like to get in touch with other value investors.
eureka Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > In my view there is a big difference between > investing in small caps (mkt cap under, say, $1.5B > or $2B) and micro (mkt cap under $400 or $500mm). > In micro you can actually use the low > volume/illiquidity to your advantage through > technical analysis since the signals are not > diluted by so much noise. From an industry > perspective I like value investing in some of > these small banks right now, especially if you can > get ahead of a capital raise for one of these FDIC > deals. The deals aren’t as sweet as they were, > but still nice place to play specific names. On > the growth side there are a lot of concept stocks, > so the technical signal becomes extremely > important since it’s all supply/demand driven. > > Small cap is a lot more about real companies with > cash flow, although they are easier to analyze in > one sense than LC just because there are fewer > earnings drivers and variables. On the other > hand, SC tends to be buffeted by the macro winds > to greater degree than LC. So do you feel that you’re at no advantage when analyzing small cap firms instead of microcap when compared to the rest of the market? I don’t have any experience to back this up, but I feel that even if a small cap (circa 1Bil) is a little higher priced, it may still be worth investing as IMO you just cannot predict future cash flows. As long as it is a strong firm with consistent revenue growth and potential for expansion. Anyone looked at HITT or SMTS? Both look like interesting firms. HITT is relatively higher priced, but has a solid balance sheet and good revenue/income growth. SMTS is more speculative.
ShintreH Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Let us discuss some stocks specifically if you > guys are up for it. > > Has anyone analyzed DJCO? I think it looks like an > interesting firm, lots of liquid assets, > increasing revenue, etc. Tiny as hell. Interesting…Munger owns 41% of DJCO stocks via his company with Marshall. I haven’t done any research on it, but feel that it’s a bit overpriced at the current $61 range. I could be wrong though (i only spent about 10 minutes looking at it).
Iginla2010 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ShintreH Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Let us discuss some stocks specifically if you > > guys are up for it. > > > > Has anyone analyzed DJCO? I think it looks like > an > > interesting firm, lots of liquid assets, > > increasing revenue, etc. Tiny as hell. > > > Interesting…Munger owns 41% of DJCO stocks via > his company with Marshall. > I haven’t done any research on it, but feel that > it’s a bit overpriced at the current $61 range. I > could be wrong though (i only spent about 10 > minutes looking at it). i too just spent 10 mins looking at it. overpriced? not really but certainly not super cheap. I suspect you’re just looking for net nets or book value when determining their cheapness. not a bad way to go if you’re short in time. This isn’t your typical publishing company so there “moat” may be wider. really have to dig at the qualitative measures to value it anymore. but the numbers are decent.
The price might be high, but there’s also a lot of liquid assets there. And the float is really small. This firm has a growing online presence though so it’s probably not in the same boat as NYT.
I wouldn’t consider SMTS speculative. Small, but a great razor/razorblade model. Mkt cap of 190M, 53M in cash. Sales of the INVOS system are picking up and they got fat (80%) margins on those $200 sensors.
I was just saying it was speculative because AFAIK their revenue is derived primarily from the INVOS system without many other products in the portfolio. Could be mistaken though. I am also curious as to how much patent protection they will have in the future. What is interesting is that their sensors appear to be cheap. Who knows, this firm may turn out to be a serious growth stock