As I mentioned in this post, three of Phil Fisher's 15 Points to Look For in a Common Stock are directly related to profit margins. Companies with slim profit margins often feel tough economic or business cycles more vehemently than those with fat margins. Of course, there is a flip side to that coin: When coming out of tough times, companies with thin profit margins tend to rebound much more than those with fat margins.

Continue Reading Phil Fisher on Profit Margins, Part II ››

At the end of this post, you'll find a "Buy Now" button to purchase a 20-page report comparing Free Cash Flow to Warren Buffett's owner earnings. Though the two terms (free cash flow and owner earnings) are often used interchangeably, they are not always the same. Confusing the two can have a dramatic effect on your intrinsic value calculations.

Continue Reading Free Cash Flow vs. Owner Earnings ››

In his 1934 book Security Analysis, Benjamin Graham laid out the definition for investing versus speculating. In the 74 years since he and David Dodd penned the book, nothing in the definition has changed. That said, BPal asked a very interesting question. I answered it in the comments, but I figured I should post about it as well.

Continue Reading Value Investing vs. Business Investing ››

A visitor just sent this email to me and I figured (as per his last line) that it would be better suited in a post rather than in a private email response. The question: Should I use the owner's margin on lowered sales as I project the intrinsic value of a company rather than sticking with historical growth and projections?

Continue Reading Predicting The Future of a Troubled Business ››

Folks — as you can imagine, I have been busy ripping through annual reports and financial statements like crazy. Hence the irregularity to my posting. Back in October of last year, I had a lot of time on my hands — the effects of a high market and few opportunities. That situation has reversed.

What am I looking for? The economy has been putting a squeeze on a lot of companies, slamming profit margins, revenues and earnings. When this happens, companies have to start shedding assets — human and physical — in an effort to return to normal levels of profitability. When profit margins are thin, the business' are at risk (think GM, Blockbuster). When profit margins are fat under normal conditions, the business is sound, even if it takes a substantial hit to sales.

Continue Reading What You Should Be Looking For ››

Phil Fisher laid out fifteen points to look for in a common stock; three of them are directly related to profit margins. Calculated as net income divided by revenue, the profit margin is a quick way to determine which companies in an industry are most efficient (i) relative to the competition, and (ii) as a whole.

Does the company have a worthwhile profit margin?

To hammer the importance of this point home, you need not look further than traditional auto manufacturers.

Continue Reading Phil Fisher on Profit Margins ››

You've heard the clichés: He could sell ice to an Eskimo. She could sell a ketchup popsicle to a woman in white gloves. The sales force is the lifeblood of an organization. After all, the best product in the world is worthless if nobody knows about it. And so, we move on to Phil Fisher's fourth point:

Does the company have an above-average sales organization?

Continue Reading But Can They Sell It? ››

Today's research and development (R&D) is tomorrow's new product or process. The other day we (or more specifically, Phil Fisher) asked, "Does the management have a determination to continue to develop products or processes that will still further increase total sales potentials when the growth potentials of currently attractive product lines have largely been exploited?"

The goal of R&D is to produce new products, services, or processes that will "still further increase total sales potentials" for the company. Not an easy question to answer, Fisher asks:

How effective are the company's research and development efforts in relation to its size?

Continue Reading What's Happening with Research and Development? ››

Businesses generally expand in three ways — increased sales of existing products, sales (and increased sales) of new products, and acquisitions to expand product lines. We looked at "increased sales of existing products" in Can They Increase Sales For Several Years? Fisher then went on to talk about "sales (and increased sales) of new products":

Does the management have a determination to continue to develop products or processes that will still further increase total sales potentials when the growth potentials of currently attractive product lines have largely been exploited?

There are two schools of thought on this subject — the rational, business-like approach and the "other" approach.

Continue Reading Will They Seek Out More Profitable Lines? ››

Back in April, Lawrence Cunningham, editor of The Essays of Warren Buffett, emailed me to tell me about the (then) upcoming release of the second edition of the book. (We all know what a nightmare April and May were for me. Sorry, Larry, for the delay.) In this new edition, Cunningham preserves the same structure, but addresses new topics like derivatives, currencies, and huge investments like Equitas.

Here is the Amazon description:

The definitive work concerning Warren Buffett and intelligent investment philosophy, this is a collection of Buffett's letters to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway written over the past few decades that together furnish an enormously valuable informal education. The letters distill in plain words all the basic principles of sound business practices. They are arranged and introduced by a leading apostle of the "value" school and noted scholar, Lawrence Cunningham.

What's new in the second edition? This new edition has extensive additional content that highlights topics of vital national or international significance, including:

• the proliferation of stock option compensation and excessive CEO pay;
• Berkshire's shareholder-designated contribution program and the controversy over the abortion issue that led to its termination;
• the explosion of derivative financial instruments and related perils and how Berkshire dealt with managing a sizable portfolio of them after buying Gen Re;
• the dramatic increase in foreign currency trading in the past five years along with the astonishing growth in the US trade deficit;
• management succession at Berkshire Hathaway as Mr. Buffett ages;
• commentary on his philanthropic thinking in giving his entire fortune to charities; and
• the fairness and other matters concerning taxation of corporations.

Here in one place are the priceless pearls of business and investment wisdom, woven into a delightful narrative on the major topics concerning both managers and investors. These timeless lessons are useful to members of a wide range of professions, including law, accounting, finance and management, and provide rich teaching materials for courses in those fields.

Back in November of 2007, I said that Cunningham's original book was a must read (in lieu of reading all of Buffett's annual letters on your own). I just ordered my copy of the second edition, but I already know it's good. After all, it's Buffett and Cunningham. How can you go wrong?

You can get it at Amazon.com.