If companies were World Cup teams...

Now that the World Cup is in swing, I thought some of you may find this article by Derek DeCloet of The Globe & Mail humourous (here is an excerpt):

If Companies were World Cup Teams...


Germany equals the Royal Bank of Canada: Ruthlessly efficient, joyless, and ridiculously competent. They always have a few detractors, but when it matters, they seem to perform better than almost everyone else.


Odds of winning the World Cup*: 16 to 1
Stock price: $53, down 6 per cent this year
Price-earnings ratio**: 12

...

Portugal equals Lululemon. Pretty boy striker Cristiano Ronaldo wouldn’t look out of place wearing a pair of tight yoga pants. Female soccer fans swoon at the thought. But a brave investor would see a short-selling opportunity in something that seems overhyped.


Odds of winning the World Cup: 28 to 1
Stock price: $41.76 (U.S.), up 38.7 per cent this year
Price-earnings ratio: 36

...

Brazil equals Google – powerful, creative and slightly scary. It’s not enough to win; you have to do it with elegance, too. Bet against them at your peril.


Odds of winning the World Cup: 4 to 1
Stock price: $488.50 (U.S.), down 21 per cent
Price-earnings ratio: 18

...

France equals Goldman Sachs. Suave and successful, they’re dogged by critics who accuse them of cheating their way to the top.


Odds of winning the World Cup: 20 to 1
Stock price: $135.64 (U.S.), down 19.7 per cent
Price-earnings ratio: 7

...

The Netherlands equals Rogers Communications. The stylish Dutch breezed through the World Cup qualification rounds hardly breaking a sweat. Rogers cruised to the top of the wireless industry in similar fashion. In each case, we’ll soon know the truth: how much was simply because the competition was weak?


Odds of winning the World Cup: 9 to 1
Stock price: $36.87, up 12.8 per cent
Price-earnings ratio: 13

...

North Korea equals BP. And it’s hard to know which one is less popular with Barack Obama.


Odds of winning the World Cup: 2,000 to 1
Stock price: $33.97 (U.S.), down 41.4 per cent
Price-earnings ratio: 6


LOL ... love the North Korean selection :)

I'll be cheering for The Netherlands...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Thoughts on the stock market - March 2020

Image
Right now, DJIA has a P/E of 16.8 and forwand P/E of 15.1, whereas S&P 500 is at 20.1 with forward P/E of 15.8. Source: WSJ market Data If you ignore interest rates and inflation expectations--both of these influence valuations but depends on your macro call-- the market is not cheap. Long-term P/E is around 15. Trailing P/E is around 20% (Dow) to 40% (S&P500) higher than average. Forward P/E is in line with long term average but that assumes a strong V recovery. Consensus forecast is for profits to drop 1.2% in 2020. In 2008, it dropped 25.4% so current forecast is a very mild recession. Covid-19 coronavirus is not going to last more than a few months but these forecasts are still too rosy in my opinion. So I wouldn't rely on forward P/E. The richly valued (mostly tech or high quality) have not fallen much but the distressed ones have. So if you want to outperform in the long run, I think one’s choice right now is to: • Wait for market to fall another, say
✖ READ MORE >>>

Warren Buffett's Evolution and his Three Investment Styles

Image
A Young Warren Buffett In a comment to one of my posts , Mark Carter, who incidentally appears to have a  good blog worth checking out , asked: "Buffett Prime is 1970's to early 1990's" Could you elaborate? I have vaguely indicated how I view Warren Buffett in the past, but I thought I would detail my view of his investing behaviour. This is more of an opinion piece and many others would disagree with me (if you do, I'm curious to hear your thoughts). I don't follow Warren Buffett as closely as many value investors so I may get some facts wrong. My view is that Warren Buffett went through three different phases, with each consisting of different investment techniques. The overall investment theory remained the same—what people call value investing—but his execution, tactics, and strategy differs across the three phases. Some people may break up his career into additional periods but my feeling is that the three I will describe essentially capt
✖ READ MORE >>>

Charlie Munger: Stock market as a pari-mutuel betting system

The model I like to sort of simplify the notion of what goes o­n in a market for common stocks is the pari-mutuel system at the racetrack. If you stop to think about it, a pari-mutuel system is a market . Everybody goes there and bets and the odds change based o­n what's bet. That's what happens in the stock market. —Charlie Munger, "Art of Stock Picking" Although I don't share the same views on politics, I am probably closer to Charlie Munger than Warren Buffett when it comes to how we view the world. Warren Buffett is almost singly focused on business and investing, and is not very opinionated, indeed possibly not knowledgeable, in other areas. In contrast, I am closer to Charlie Munger in the sense that I have diverse interests—you can probably tell by the articles I link to or write about—and have an opinion on almost anything. There is one big difference though: I am not into the field of psychology quite like Munger. So it may be surprising to see me rarely
✖ READ MORE >>>