23rd July 2007
If you've ever been confused by the array of dividend dates, you're certainly not the only one. Here's how they all fit together.
Ex date, record date, books closing date, payable date: dividends seem to have almost as many dates as you'd find at Sydne...
23rd July 2007
The market's expectations about a stock swing around much more wildly than its underlying value.
In the first instalment of this value investing series back in issue 197/Apr 06, we noted that 'for some, [value investing is] all about buying shares on l...
23rd July 2007
A company's dividend yield and cash flow provide useful cross-checks on the PER.
In the sixth instalment of this value investing series, last issue, we saw how the earnings of a company could be split into two elements: one that appears in the form of ...
23rd July 2007
Despite what many would have you think, managing risk is less about ticking boxes and more to do with recognising the extent of your knowledge.
Financial planning these days – at least as practised in some quarters – can be a peculiar business. You...
20th July 2007
A company's cost of capital is one of the most enigmatic areas of economics – absolutely crucial to understand but absolutely impossible to pin down.
There are two basic ways that a company can obtain finance. It can either borrow it (debt) or raise ...
20th July 2007
Like any good mathematical formula, the price-to-earnings ratio, or PER, is simple yet powerful.
In this publication we try to shelter you from as much unnecessary mathematics, jargon and financial-speak as we can, but the price-to-earnings ratio, or P...
05th July 2007
Big bath accounting is accepted as a fact of life by most analysts. But what is it and how should it be treated?
Well travelled readers may be familiar with the ancient city of Leptis Magna (pronounced Lepcis Magna). It was located on the Mediterranean S...
05th July 2007
It's counterintuitive, but investors need to be most cautious when business conditions are booming.
In Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, a book written amost 50 years ago, Phil Fisher made a point that resulted in an epiphany for this analyst when he...
05th July 2007
Stepping on some of these fourteen corporate landmines has proved unlucky for many a company.
In last issue's Investor's College, we discussed the fact that corporate insolvencies aren't normally the result of a sudden misfortune. Instead, they tend to...
05th July 2007
The bottom line on corporate metabolism comes down to the cash that flows out for shareholders.
In the first two episodes of this three-part series on corporate metabolism, we looked at how a low return on equity could slow down the flow of cash throug...
05th July 2007
Here we take a look at two great $2 stocks to illustrate an important point that many investors miss.
In this article we'll discuss two stocks that we think have great future prospects. We'll reveal their names later but, for now, will refer to them si...
05th July 2007
Following last issue's article, here are more great ways to blow your hard-earned savings.
As we said last issue, to make money, sometimes it's better to first concentrate on not losing it. With that in mind, here's the second part of our series, with ...
01st July 2007
In the first of two articles, here we explain the classic investment mistakes that, to be successful, you should avoid at all costs.
Investing successfully poses many challenges. In these pages we aim to show you some of the techniques that can help you ...
01st July 2007
For a business, using debt can be a bit like putting your foot down on the accelerator. The chances are that you'll get to where you want to go a little faster but if something goes wrong, the consequences are more likely to be serious. Since we have an u...
01st July 2007
Analysing Ten Network is much tougher than it might first appear. Here we step through a couple of the issues.
As value investors, we attempt to consider every stock from a business perspective. When doing so, we often find it helpful to look at the 'b...
