1/ The Queen's Gambit is apparently causing demand for chess to surge!

I play daily and coach at my kid's school, so I love seeing the interest

If you're want to learn about chess, here are some great free resources (thread)

I asked, “What are the first metrics that you look at when evaluating a new stock?”

I received 322 replies

Here are 10 great metrics to look at first (and how to find them):

1/ Market Capitalization

Why: Shows the current size/scale of the business

Where: @YahooFinance (image), @theTIKR , @KoyfinCharts ...etc

2/ Sales Growth Rate

Why: Shows the business model works & current growth rate

Where: @stockcardhq (image), SEC filings, @theTIKR...etc

3/ Free Cash Flow

Why: Is business generating cash or burning cash?

Where: @YahooFinance (image), SEC Filings, @stockrow1...etc

4/ Returns on capital (ROE, ROIC, ROA)

Why: Shows capital efficiency of business

Where: @stockrow1 (image) , @ycharts , @YahooFinance...etc

Accounting is the language of business.

If you buy stocks, you MUST learn how to read a Cash Flow Statement.

Here’s everything you need to know:

The cash flow statement shows how cash moves in and out of a company over a period of time.

The most common time periods are:
▪️1 Quarter
▪️1 Year
▪️Year-to-date (usually 6 or 9 months)

The time period is at the top. Here's $NFLX recent cash flow statement time period.

Some companies show the cash flow statement in their earnings press release, but many don’t.

You can find the cash flow statement by looking at:
▪️10-Q (Quarterly Report)
▪️10-K (Annual Report)
▪️Fnancial aggregators such as @theTIKR,
@CMLviz, @themotleyfool, @YahooFinance

There are three main segments to a cash flow statement.

1. Operating Activities
2. Investing Activities
3. Financing Activities

Companies get some leeway with how they breakout each segment, but they all follow this basic structure.

Let’s start with Operating Activities.

This segment STARTS with net income (the bottom number of the Income Statement).

It shows cash movements from all normal operational business activities.

I asked, “What's the biggest valuation mistake you've ever made?”

I recieved 135 replies

Here are the 6 biggest valuation blunders to avoid:

1: Overemphasizing growth

No surprise to see this one at the top of the list

Many investors (including me) focus too heavily on top-line growth

Growth is important, but ONLY when combined with other factors like business model, financials, management, & moat

2: Not understanding the “hype cycle”

AI. Metaverse. 3D Printing. Cannabis. Fintech. IoT. Plant-based meat.

There are dozens of promising markets on the horizon

If you choose to invest in them, you should study this picture intensely

3: Buying bad companies because they are “cheap”

Just because a company has:
▪️A low P/E ratio
▪️A high dividend yield
▪️Fallen sharply from its 52-week high

Doesn’t mean it's "cheap"!

A "cheap" valuation won't save you if the business is crumbling

4: Not buying because of a “high” P/E ratio

I’ve made this mistake many times

Companies in phases 3 & 4 are not optimized for earnings, so the P/E can look “expensive”

You must consider where a company is in the business growth cycle before you judge the valuation

Here are some of the big investors that track:

Altarock Partners
AKO Capital
Appaloosa
Akre Capital
Broad Run
Dorsey Asset
Duquense
Ensemble
Fundsmith
Polen Capital
Third Point

Here are their current top 10 holdings (in order) and links to their latest buys/sells ⬇️

Altarock Partners

Top

AKO Capital

Top 10 (in

Appaloosa: (David Tepper)

Top

Broad Run

Top

When we started @CourtsideVC in 2016, the biggest question we faced was "Can you really generate venture returns investing in sports?". 5 years later, we have enough data to share. This is the story of how we turned our passion for sports into a business.
👇👇👇👇 👇 👇

First, some context. When I started my sports analytics software company in 2009, I was unable to raise a single dollar in venture capital. I ended up having to cobble together $10K, $25K and $100K checks from individuals to get things going.

At the time, there were no venture funds focused on this space and generalist VCs simply did not believe in the market size of sports companies. As a result, almost all of them ran to the hills when they heard the word "sports".

Even when we got to ~$10M in recurring revenue, there was nobody knocking on our door to try and give us growth capital to see if we could build something big. Ultimately, this forced us to sell short to private equity guys who destroyed the business.

Fast forward to 2016 and we felt the sports, fitness and gaming markets were on the verge of exploding - these were three places where the next generation was spending its money & yet there were no early stage funds setup to fund these entrepreneurs and strategically open doors.

If you are a 90s kid, you’ve seen everything in Indian cricket. Start & End of SRT, Match-fixing, some embarrassing displays in England & Australia, some individual heroics & some deserving team wins. You’ve seen Dravid grind it out, you’ve also seen 81 all out (1/n)

If you are a 90s kid, you are mentally tough. You expect your team to put up a fight, more often than not, you ended up in disappointment. You’ve digested everything. You’ve laughed & cried. Sometimes both at same time (remember Perth ‘08). Too much depends on Tendulkar you’d say

Now you are in your late 20s early 30s. You see your team travelling to Australia. Kohli is leaving early after embarrassing Adelaide loss. Injuries are in bucketful. Covid restrictions mean they have to struggle for an XI. You write off your team mentally before Boxing Day Test

Rahane is captain now. He’s known for his silent aggression & counterattacking play. Pujara, Ashwin, Bumrah stand up with him, they create magic. India win Boxing Day test convincingly to shun off 4-0 critics (you loved this as a 90s kid, dont you). Yes, Gill is born!

1-1 & its Sydney. Media tries to play games. You’ve seen this before. But this is new India! They are determined. Bowlers get us back in the game & well, India tries to win, later save the match. Enough has been documented on Vihari & Ashwin. Stuff of legends! Momentum: India

“Mastering the basics” is a long-standing pillar of cricket coaching. I want to challenge the idea because I think removing it will lead to more effective cricketers.

Welcome to my TED talk.

Most of us have been brought up that nailing the basics equals success. I remember being a kid reading and re-rereading my coaching manual, knowing it contained all the answers. The idea is simple and intuitive: the basics provide a template.

Copy what works. No need to reinvent the wheel. Play straight. Sure, there is some natural variation but the basics are always at the core. They are the spelling and grammar of cricket.

We can see this at the highest level. TV commentators criticise technical flaws (against a template) in every player. When they fail we see this as the cause. When they succeed we see the player as finding a way to compensate in spite of this basic error.

We also see it when coaching. We use the basics template to tell players how to bat, bowl and field. If they get it wrong, they need to identify and correct their errors through hard work. You can add flair, but not until these basics are firmly in place and the flaws ironed out.

THREAD - HANUMA VIHARI'S INSPIRING JOURNEY.

Joined the St.Johns Cricket Academy at the age of 11. And after few days his father passed away. But the next day, Vihari scored 80 in the final and won a school tournament.

VVS was the first of five cricketers who came from St. John’s academy and went on to represent their country followed by Mithali Raj, MSK, Tarun Sai and Hanuma Vihari.

2012 - Picked as a last-minute replacement for the injured Manan Vohra for the 2012 U19 WC. India won the World Cup but he could only score 73 runs in 6 matches.

"That moment I told myself, I would be the first one to play for the national team from this U19 WC squad 2012."
- Hanuma Vihari in Spicy Pitch episode (cricbuzz)

2013 - SRH brought him in the IPL. Vihari opened the bowling as an off-spinner and removed Chris Gayle for just 1, also scored 46* in the same match while chasing and was awarded Man of the match in his 2nd IPL game.
Scored 241 runs in 17 games in IPL 2013, with two MOM.

🎙 @Pirlo_official's virtual press conference has begun: "@sampdoria_en is a good team, they come off the back of a positive run, they have added quality to the squad. And it's never easy to play against Coach Ranieri, whom I respect a lot."

#SampJuve

🎙 @Pirlo_official: "How do you get to the first team? You have to be good... Fagioli joined after Portanova's departure, he will be a part of the group but will still be able to play for the #Under23s."

#SampJuve

🎙 @Pirlo_official: "Today everyone should be able to train with the group apart from @PauDybala_JR, but we hope he is on the right track too. We have a tour de force of matches coming up, it will be necessary from time to time to see who is better."

#SampJuve

🎙 @Pirlo_official: "Tomorrow, @federicochiesa will start from the beginning. @WMckennie? He is guy who has a great desire to improve, and can do it. He has good room for growth and has the right mentality."

#SampJuve

🎙 @Pirlo_official: "Against tight defences you need to be patient - we know that Sampdoria will try to be compact. Ranieri keeps the lines very tight, we will have to try to widen them."

#SampJuve