Terry Smith is often referred to as "the English Warren Buffett".

He runs Fundsmith which has a fund size of £27.9bn.

Despite the size, Fundsmith did a CAGR of 18.4%.

In his book Investing for Growth, he explains his investing philosophy.

Here's a breakdown:
1. Fundsmith's winning formula

Find companies that focus on delivering value.

Not those who are looking to pacify Wall Street with short-term results.
2. Avoiding "cheap" companies?

Low multiples are not a reason to buy a company.

A ship will continue to sink if it has a hole in it.

"A stock may have a low valuation but an even lower intrinsic value. Buying such a stock is not a recipe for investment success."
3. Getting quality right

For long-term investors, getting the quality of the business is more important than the valuation.

“An investor could have paid 281 times earnings for L’Oréal, 156 times for Colgate, and 147 times for Brown-Forman and still beat the market.”
4. "Unprofitable" companies could be good investments

Many of the best companies don't show earnings today.

But that's because they're heavily reinvesting for the future.

It's just that the earnings hasn't show up.
5. Not all growth are good

Growth is good only when the return on invested capital (ROIC) exceeds the cost of capital (COC).

If COC > ROIC, the company destroys value as it grows.
6. On share buybacks

A repurchase only creates value if the shares are trading below intrinsic value and there is no better use for the cash.
7. On price anchoring

Often times investors hold back from buying because they "missed the boat".

Or they're waiting for it to "retrace back".

If it's a good company and within your buy range, just buy it.
8. 10 advice for retail investors

-If you don't fully understand it, don't invest
-Don't try to time the market
-Minimize fees
-Deal as infrequently as possible
-Don't over-diversify
-Never invest just to avoid tax
-Never invest in poor-quality companies
-Buy shares in a business which can be run by an idiot
-Don't engage in "greater fool theory"
-If you don't like what's happening to your shares, switch off the screen
If you like this, follow me here @steadycompound

I write about investment concepts, business breakdowns and growth philosophies.
If you have enjoyed this thread, you're gonna love my newsletter where I curate 3 ideas on investing and growth philosophies.

Every week.

steadycompounding.com

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More from @SteadyCompound

10 Dec
Over 627,000 businesses start each year.

But 90% of them will fail.

Only a handful will survive the competition and generate wealth for its shareholders.

Here's 7 POWERS by @hamiltonhelmer on identifying successful businesses:
1. Scale Economies

Per unit costs decrease as volume increases.

Netflix content production costs remain fixed despite growing its user base.

Cost per sub decreases as subs increase.

Smaller competitors must pay a higher cost per user price to compete.
Other scale economies include:

-Volume/area relationships (Amazon fulfillment centers)
-Distribution network density (UPS)
-Purchasing economies (Walmart)
-Learning economies
Read 13 tweets
4 Dec
I thought getting a finance degree would make me a better investor.

Instead, the best educators were at Fintwit University.

🧵 Here are 5 threads that taught me the most:
What you learn: How to read the income statement

From: @BrianFeroldi, writer at Motley Fool

What you learn: Why return on capital = return an investor gets

From: @10kdiver

Read 8 tweets
4 Dec
5 favorite quotes from The Psychology of Money:
Recognize the element of luck

"Realized that not all success is due to hard work and not all poverty is due to laziness.

Keep this in mind when judging people, including yourself."
Our judgements are often shaped by our experience.

Whether we realize it or not.

"Every decision people make with money is justified by taking the information they have at the moment and plugging it into their unique mental model of how the world works."
Read 8 tweets
2 Dec
Investing has no style points.

Sometimes the best investment is a company with a simple business model.

Home Depot has been a 10-bagger in the past decade.

Here's why (a thread): Image
The company doubled down on its efforts on its "pros".

This group are largely professional renovators, contractors, etc.

They are less price sensitive and are very loyal.

By focusing on this group, Home Depot is much more efficient per-store/per-square foot.
This is evident when we compare them with their competitor: Lowe's.

In 2010, Home Depot made $30m per store while Lowe's made $28m.

Fast forward to 2020, Home Depot is making $58m per store while Lowe's making $45m.

Home Depot sales per store nearly doubled!
Read 8 tweets
23 Oct
I've analyzed 100+ stocks that beat the market.

I always try to ask:

"What separates them from the rest?"

Here are 5 traits that stood out to me:
Customer-obsessed management.

Customers are why companies deserve to exist.

Seek out companies that are fanatical about creating value for their customers.

E.g. Every $AMZN meeting has 1 empty chair for the 'customer'.

"Start with the customer & work backward" — Bezos Amazon
Willingness to disrupt themselves.

Netflix started out with DVD rentals.

Reed Hastings saw the opportunity with streaming and was willing to disrupt & cannibalize their existing business.

Many others didn't: Nokia with touch screen, Kodak with digital cameras, Blockbuster. Netflix DVD
Read 8 tweets
21 Oct
🧠 5 mental models that helped me recognize the patterns of great investments early:
Theory of Reflexivity by George Soros

I watched this play out in real-time with Tesla

We often think earnings drive share prices

But high share prices allowed $TSLA to raise a 'limitless' amount of capital

Which in turn allowed them to survive & eventually deliver earnings
Ecosystem Control by @DennisHong17

Every stakeholder in the ecosystem is voluntarily locked into the business

That lock-in is so compelling & powerful that it is economically irrational for anyone to unlock from the ecosystem
Read 8 tweets

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