The SOIC Podcast

"There is no such thing as a worry-free investment. The trick is to separate the valid worries from the idle worries, and then check the worries against the facts." – Peter Lynch The legendary investor Peter Lynch had a peculiar style of investing and one of his favourite category of stocks was Proxies. The whole idea of proxies is so fascinating that the target industry’s direct participant may b...

“Even if you’re correct in your fundamental analysis, investor perception is what creates buy orders and you are going to need big buy orders in your stock to move it up significantly.” -Mark Minervini There are several ways to Nirvana, we believe one should not confine themselves to a particular way of thinking. If you are following a particular path, you should try to keep refining your trajecto...

"If you’re great in this business you’re right six times out of ten. But the times you’re right, it overcomes your mistakes. So you have to find the big winner.” - Peter Lynch   The famous investor Peter Lynch has had no shame in admitting that he has been right 6 times out of 10 in his choice of stocks. However, when he was right he made the most out of it and his losses were limited by havi...

“The first rule of compounding is to never interrupt it unnecessarily.” - Charlie Munger   Big ambitions require extra effort & special celebrations for every milestone. SOIC turned 2 although it feels like we started yesterday, this has been an amazing journey where we covered a lot of ground all because of the love & support of our SOIC Tribe. We wish to intensify the spirit of lear...

“Always take the high road, it’s far less crowded.”  - Charlie Munger In the words of Mr. Warren Buffett, "a business is a moving picture and not a static one." We have to bet on the future probabilities in a business and it's important to stay abreast of the developments taking place. A few months ago we analysed Varun Beverages Ltd. in detail. However, this business like any other business,...

“Buy companies with strong histories of profitability and with a dominant business franchise.” —Warren Buffett Focus is the key element in all spheres of life. We can observe that businesses with focused have a greater chance of succeeding than those ones involved in different spheres. This episode will analyse a boring business from a boring industry that has been an immense wealth creator and a...

“If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.” - Warren Buffett SOIC believes that an investor should approach the stock markets with the sole purpose of multiplying their capital. There are several ways to compound wealth in the stock markets and we believe that one should take the road they are most comfortable with, with potholes and sudden twists and turn...

“The big money is not in the buying or selling, but in the waiting.” - Charlie Munger A business is a moving picture and not a static one, it keeps evolving and taking the course required for its growth. We believe in the strategy of keep tracking businesses that seem interesting to us. As nothing is permanent, one needs to keep assessing the new information that crops up. We'll look at an NBFC fr...

“Over time the skill with which a company's manager allocate capital has an enormous impact on the enterprise value." - Warren Buffett In the journey of investing and studying various businesses, we come across different business structures. Recently we analysed SRF Ltd. where we saw how a conglomerate used the fungible cash flows to erect other businesses and now we'll analyse another such busine...

For a business to succeed over a long period, it must have some kind of competitive advantage. This becomes even more important in the case of businesses that have commodity characteristics. As commodity cycles are brutal if not timed correctly, we investors need to be very careful while assessing such businesses as potential investment candidates. This is where we can s eparate the wheat from the...

To succeed in the capital markets or in life, be it your career or relationships, thinking long term and keeping the faith and same level of attention throughout will bring phenomenal results. If you keenly observe, you'll find that people or management or businesses who have had this quality of long term attention have done better than someone who has had shorter term attention span. We look at o...

We often read businesses bottoms up and try to analyse the competitive advantage. However, sometimes we can get a much better idea about the competitive position and trade advantages of an industry by looking top down and studying the peers. We saw a similar situation emerging in the business we are going to cover. The industry seems to be a commodity sorts, still most players in this industry are...

We often come across people who are disgruntled with stock markets as they have not been able to fulfill their expectations. The reason for their displeasure isn’t the stock markets instead, the real reason is their unreal expectations from the markets. Stock Markets are not casinos to double or triple your money in a jiffy, rather they are the source for enormous compounding but over a long perio...

In our journeys to be good investors we come across many super investors. We read about them, we watch their interviews and often aspire to make decisions like them. It is nearly impossible to ape someone and have the exact same outcomes in life as the masters have had. However, it is always beneficial to keep learning from the masters as the impact they will have in shaping up our mindset and inc...

A business is often measured on the basis of the growth it has been witnessing over a period of time. However, there are many other factors that must work behind the scenes in making a business a success in the long term. This is a detailed analysis of Solar Industries, that makes explosives for the Industrial & Defence Sector. They are also venturing into the uncharted territories of Space Sc...

The ultimate goal of all investors is to make a decent to above average return on their capital. In pursuit of these returns and building a good corpus for our determined goals we take risks with our present capital. It pays well if one has enough time to study and invest in the ideas that fit their framework. However, for many finding time or having that much passion for investing is not a possib...

A podcast about the latest Howard Marks letter with detailed Indian case studies. There's no point in learning without case studies. :) We have covered 10+ Indian examples.

A business with ~50% Operating & ~30 PAT Margins from Indian Retail Sector We bring you a business from the sector of The Big Fat Indian Wedding. The story behind this business is as beautiful as the products it is making. We'll cover different segments, comparison with other brands, financials and a very special scuttlebutt segment. The story of an entrepreneur who has forayed into the highly...

“Your Network is your Net Worth.” —Porter Gale   To be successful in an industry one needs to first enter it. Your entry will largely depend upon your skills. However, there is an aspect of soft skills, which is underappreciated but holds the key to great success in your life and career. We'll answer a very important question that is hot among youngsters interested in Financial Markets. This...

Market structure in which a business operates plays a vital role in its success and longevity. We often see that businesses that operate in consolidated profit pools or the ones that are pure monopolies command a premium valuation in stock markets. However, we believe that just being a monopoly isn’t enough to guarantee higher returns for a very long period of time. There are various other factors...

Investing is an Art whether it's investing in Equities or other asset classes like Real Estate. We call it an art for a reason. In Science, there are fixed parameters, once they are met a reaction is bound to happen. However, in Art, many times we need to adjust the whole rules of the game to arrive at our projected point. Here we will answer a very pointed question that keeps propping up in our e...

“Housing really affects all aspects of a person’s life.” - Anonymous In today’s era where there is a constant debate going on about whether it makes sense to own a house or it is better to rent one. People are busy making their case strong by making excel sheets of all sorts. However, for some owning a house is not just a financial decision, it is more than a financial investment. Our purpose is n...

“Know what you own, and know why you own it.”—Peter Lynch Doing fundamental analysis and knowing the language of the business is one of the most important aspects in investing. Most new investors who have an inclination towards fundamentals based investing try and master this. However, we often get asked about what follows next once you're done exploring the world of fundamentals. Many new, young...

“Banking is a very good business if you don’t do anything dumb.” —Warren Buffett In my journey as a teacher, I have encountered people having loads of misconceptions about Bank & NBFC stocks. There are many reasons behind this notion. Some of it can be attributed to the 2 financial crises we have witnessed in the last 2 decades. However, if we try to understand things with an unbiased mind we...

“Never stop thinking about how to delight your customer. Not to satisfy your customer, but delight your customer.” - Warren Buffett We often talk about consistent compounders and coffee can investing. However, there are few companies that can fit the bill. To understand more about such businesses, we need to break the term in 2 parts. Consistency is not something that is to be done, rather it is a...