Portfolio performance and update on fundamentals
Note: For all strategies except GCP, Performance data shown is net of fixed fees and expenses charged till September 30th, 2024 and is net of annual performance fees (Except for Little Champs Portfolio) charged for client accounts whose account anniversary/performance calculation date falls upto the last date of this performance period. Since, for Little Champs Portfolio, […]
Short read: Should we Sleep on a Problem?
Apparently, when we say ‘sleep on a problem’, it is not just meant figuratively. As the author of this blog says, before he goes to bed, he goes through a tricky problem he is trying to solve and lets his subconscious mind have a crack at the solution whilst he is asleep. Turns out, he […]
Short read: Jeff Bezos faces Backlash for Refusal to Endorse Harris
The slow but steady decline in the business model of traditional media is well understood given that in most countries, India included, the bulk of advertising revenue is ending up in the hands of Google and the social media giants. One last hope for traditional media was that if some of the marquee names in […]
Short read: Researchers say an AI-powered Transcription Tool Used in Hospitals Invents things no one Ever Said
Even as discussions with our investee companies point to the inevitability of AI taking over roles which are currently performed by well-paid humans (well-paid in the Indian human context), it is becoming clear that there are still flaws even in the most advanced AI models. Quoting from the AP article: “Tech behemoth OpenAI has touted its […]
Long read: How to be a Norwegian Parent: Let your Kids Roam Free, Stay Home Alone, Have Fun – and Fail
The rest of the world has much to learn from the Scandinavian way of life. The results are there for everyone to see – “their sky-high living standards, low crime rates, enviable maternity and paternity rights and exceptional aesthetics.” Scandinavian countries consistently rank high on world happiness indicators. Another aspect of the Scandinavian way of life […]
Long read: Math Is Still Catching Up to the Mysterious Genius of Srinivasa Ramanujan
It is said that mathematics is fundamental to understanding any other subject from physics to economics. Even otherwise, it remains a beautiful subject in itself and so are its practitioners – the mathematicians. As the quote from this article says “As a budding mathematician, “I had the impression that these are beautiful people,” he said. “They […]
Long read: The Rapid Descent of Southwest Airlines: How the Company Plunged from Customer Cult-Favorite to Activist Investor Target
This is a brilliant case study of how even the greatest of companies can be taken apart in the stock market in the space of a four years. Almost all of us have grown up being fed the Southwest Airlines case study as one of disruptive innovation. Lisa Maclellan’s reprises the familiar story succinctly in […]
Global Compounders Portfolio: N.I.M.B.Y. Investing! – Turning Waste into Wealth
Marcellus’ Global Compounders Portfolio (GCP) strategically invests in 25-30 deeply moated global companies aligned with megatrends, fostering a consistent mid to high teens compounding of free cash flow/earnings. Investing globally, particularly in the US, is often equated with technology companies. While the US is home to iconic tech giants, exceptional value creation has occurred across […]
Short read: The Laws of Financial Health
This month’s correction in the stockmarkets has prodded some of us to believe we need to make some judgement calls about our portfolio – some of us want to sell equities as the first bout of sustained correction is underway coupled with negative newsflow around earnings and economic growth whilst some of us who have […]
Short read: The Malcolm Gladwell rule: how to succeed while annoying critics
Malcolm Gladwell, the author of best sellers such as Tipping Point and Outliers, has come out with his new book – Revenge of the Tipping Point. His books typically have drawn upon research in social sciences and presented implications of the same in simple and intuitive terms with entertaining prose. The Economist reviews the new […]
Short read: Four AI bottlenecks could bolster old-economy companies
In the midst of both the hype and the alarmism regarding AI, the portfolio managers at Capital have produced a really interesting piece on how conventional companies are likely to benefit from the rush to implement AI. The first opportunity is in copper: “Generative AI tools like ChatGPT run on large language models hosted on […]
Long read: An Intuitive Guide to How LLMs Work
Whilst Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been around for a while, it has become ubiquitous over the past two years since the launch of ChatGPT. It is no longer just the realm of tech companies finding niche applications working in the background. With Meta’s AI embedded into Whatsapp chats, Google’s into Android phones and Microsoft’s into […]
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