Intrinsic Investing

Please read important disclosures at www.ensemblecapital.com/holdings . If you're a long-term investor, every one of your companies will go through at least one crisis. What type of companies do you want to own when other investors are losing their nerve?

Please read important disclosures at www.ensemblecapital.com/holdings . We examine the history of how the US stock market has reacted to various military conflicts in the past and we offer our thinking on how investors should be thinking about the impact of the invasion of Ukraine on US stocks.

Please read important disclosures at www.ensemblecapital.com/holdings . Investors have begun to panic that strong consumer demand in excess of economic supply, paired with the war in Ukraine sending oil prices skyrocketing, may result in a stagflationary economic environment. In this episode, we discuss why this outlook has caused weakness in our investment strategy, why we believe the market acti...

Please read important disclosures at www.ensemblecapital.com/holdings . With inflation rates at 40 year highs, we discuss how to tell the difference between companies with and without true pricing power.

Please read important disclosures at www.ensemblecapital.com/holdings . A deep dive analysis of the purported reasons behind Netflix's recent 22% one day stock price decline and an explanation of why the company's long term growth opportunity remains intact.

Please read important disclosures at www.ensemblecapital.com/holdings . During our third quarter 2021 portfolio update, Ensemble Capital's Chief Investment Officer Sean Stannard-Stockton, and Senior Investment Analysts Arif Karim and Todd Wenning, discussed the current market and economic situation, and two of our holdings, Blackline and Costco. There's a Q&A with the team at the end of the presen...

Please read important disclosures at www.ensemblecapital.com/holdings .  The concept of "design thinking," the role of empathy, and its applicability to the investment process is explored.

Please read important disclosures at www.ensemblecapital.com/holdings .  Historically, the best time to have sold Nintendo's stock is when demand for the current console waned. We think Switch will prove different.

Please read important disclosures at www.ensemblecapital.com/holdings . With thousands of stocks to choose from for your portfolio, it helps to recognize promising patterns of great companies. In this episode, we provide a list of some of our favorite investment patterns that help us sort through companies, so that we can focus our attention on understanding the best of the best.

Please read important disclosures at www.ensemblecapital.com/holdings . During our third quarter 2021 portfolio update, Ensemble Capital's Chief Investment Officer Sean Stannard-Stockton, and Senior Investment Analysts Arif Karim and Todd Wenning, discussed the current market and economic situation, and two of our holdings, Booking Holdings and Landstar. There's a Q&A with the team at the end of t...

Please read important disclosures at www.ensemblecapital.com/holdings .   There are some companies that broad base rates do not add value to as part of the forecasting process. We examine a collection of these types of businesses and offer Intuitive as a case study.

Please read important disclosures at www.ensemblecapital.com/holdings . We examine as a case study of Netflix for moving beyond base rates.

Please read important disclosures at www.ensemblecapital.com/holdings . Base rates are useful forecasting tools, but there are important problems with base rates that investors must keep in mind.

Please read important disclosures at www.ensemblecapital.com/holdings . By using "base rates" investors can improve forecasting accuracy.

Please read important disclosures at www.ensemblecapital.com/holdings .   Forecasting corporate growth and something investors as a group have a bad track record of doing well.

Please read important disclosures at www.ensemblecapital.com/holdings . Companies are not static assets like gold or artwork, but in a state of constant change. Over a long enough timeline, the company you own today will be quite different from the one you originally bought. As long-term investors, then, we need to periodically reaffirm or alter our perceptions of the companies we own. Buying a co...

Please read important disclosures at www.ensemblecapital.com/holdings . Even the highest quality companies will likely encounter large sell-offs over a decade. Sometimes those sell-offs are justified, other times they present tremendous buying opportunities. Long-term investors need to know the difference. This episode discusses how Ensemble evaluates such events and determine whether to buy, sell...

Please read important disclosures at www.ensemblecapital.com/holdings . Milton Friedman's concept of shareholder primacy is outdated. While the goal of shareholders is to earn profits, these profits are the outcome of successfully creating stakeholder value on behalf of customers, employees, suppliers and society at a large.

Please read important disclosures at www.ensemblecapital.com/holdings . During our second quarter 2021 portfolio update, Ensemble Capital's Chief Investment Officer Sean Stannard-Stockton, and Senior Investment Analysts Arif Karim and Todd Wenning, discussed the current market and economic situation, and two of our holdings, Illumina and Nintendo. This is an audio replay of the full webinar.

Please read important disclosures at www.ensemblecapital.com/holdings . At times, companies can get caught up in what's working now and ignore that the present circumstances are unsustainable. Unless they course-correct, they are creating an off-balance sheet liability for shareholders. 

Please read important disclosures at www.ensemblecapital.com/holdings . Quality investors often focus too much on the moat and not enough on the castle (i.e. the business), but the moat doesn't matter if the castle it's protecting is deteriorating.