tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798074091942701235.post6450395000367811782..comments2024-03-29T01:35:09.550-04:00Comments on Can Turtles Fly?: Reader Sunny's thoughts on the Warren Buffett waySivaram Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06361276466660862882noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798074091942701235.post-53449873896730618212009-10-15T14:12:35.000-04:002009-10-15T14:12:35.000-04:00Yep, good knowledge of investing & business go...Yep, good knowledge of investing & business goes a long way... I haven't read Fisher's books yet :( but hopefully will at some point.<br /><br /><br />"Pfizer and Ticketmaster are two of them that I can not understand why not more people are talking about them"<br /><br /><br />Medical companies are outside my circle of competence so I didn't look deeply at it but the problem with Pfizer is that it may be looking at a secular long-term decline. Even if you were bullish on healthcare as a broad sector, there is little to indicate that old-school drugs are the way to go. Some of emerging things in biotech, genetics, and so on, may grow while conventional drugs stagnate.<br /><br />Furthermore, Pfizer is way too big to easily "turn around" or growth much. Even if you were a contrarian investor and think the company will do better, a doubling of the stock, as an example, seems remote. It's hard to see a $100 billion market cap going to $200 billion.<br /><br />To me, Pfizer is only attractive as a "utility" that generates stable cash flow.<br /><br /><br /><br />Ticketmaster is more complicated (in a big picture sense) and I think that's worth investigating. I looked at it when I was looking at Expedia earlier in the year and thought it was an interesting stock. I don't like the corporate governance (sort of the same as Expedia) but it is essentially a monopoly (or a duopoly at worst). The market is obviously concerned with potential government crackdowns and emerging threats (possibly on the Internet). It is also possible that it is not understood well given how it was spun off just a few years ago.<br /><br />TKTM could turn out to be Buffett's Washington Post--distressed, ignored by everyone, but owning a rare monopoly. Now that you mention it, I'll take another look at it soon.Sivaram Velauthapillainoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798074091942701235.post-39077520884672108282009-10-14T15:13:27.000-04:002009-10-14T15:13:27.000-04:00That is a great post Sivaram and I could not agree...That is a great post Sivaram and I could not agree more. My business background is Corporate Planning and got to know about value investing after trying to understand how Berkshire and Teledyne had such great track records. Getting hooked on value investing was a consequence on that.<br /><br />It is not that difficult to find a great business, most of the time the issue is WHEN to buy those great businesses. Pfizer and Ticketmaster are two of them that I can not understand why not more people are talking about them.<br /><br />I specially recommend reading Ch 5 of Fisher's Oaths to Wealth through Common Stocks that mixes brilliantly value investing with competitive strategy. That is a great idea for a post.PlanMaestronoreply@blogger.com