A thread about GameStop:

Big hedge funds made big bets that GameStop’s stock was overvalued. The way these bets work is the hedge fund borrows shares of the stock and sells those borrowed shares.

(Thread) Why do I own individual stocks?

Thesis:

1. The digitalization of our world is 10% complete.
2. This megatrend will continue for at least another decade.
3. If you enjoy spending your free time on individual stocks, then the potential for outsized returns is possible.

What is my approach?

There are two parts to my portfolio.

- 40% in Vanguard All-World ETF. This is on autopilot w/ regular contributions.
- 60% in what I consider to be high growth stocks

I keep a balance by adding cash. No shuffling around unless it gets too out of whack.

The latter is the interesting part.

I invest in companies that can

1. successfully disrupt an industry with new business models $TTD $SQ $PTON $TDOC

2. further enable the digital transformation with their services and infrastructure $ZS $HUBS $TWLO $CRWD

I intend to hold my shares indefinitely and allow my investments to compound over time.

I don’t believe that it is possible to time the market. Markets go up and down. I hold on knowing that quality businesses tend to bounce back.

The list of reasons to sell is always long.

If you have full conviction in your holdings, then no single piece of “infotainment” should make you change your mind.

Ignore it + people who make predictions about the economy.

1/

Get a cup of coffee.

In this thread, I'll help you understand Geometric Expectations.

2/

Imagine we have an investment opportunity.

If the investment goes well, we get to double our money.

But if it goes badly, we'll end up losing three fourths of it.

There's a 50/50 chance of either outcome.

The question: is this a good bet or not?

3/

A simple way to approach this question is to calculate the bet's "expectation".

For every $1 we bet, there are 2 possibilities:

1. The lucky case, where we double our money and end up with $2, and

2. The unlucky case, where we lose (3/4)'th to end up with just $0.25.

4/

Each of these outcomes is equally likely.

So, on *average*, every $1 we put in turns into ($2 + $0.25)/2 = $1.125.

This is a *positive* 12.5% return.

Such bets are called *positive expectation* bets. On average, we expect to *make* (rather than *lose*) money on them.

5/

Suppose we could take many turns betting at these odds.

In any one turn, we could of course lose money.

But because our bet has positive expectation, *over time* we expect to make money.

Knowledge sharing initiative Book 4: "The interpretation of financial statements" by Benjamin Graham.

This book was published around 1937 by investing legend Ben Graham. Ben is also regarded as the guy under whom the great Warren Buffett started his investing journey.

This book teaches financial statement analysis in a very simple manner. It also focuses on the key relationship between P&L, B/s & Cash flow statements of a company.

Here are key takeaways from the book 👇👇

1.B/s shows how much a company owns (assets) & owes (liabilities) at a particular point in time mostly prepared on a semi-annual & annual basis.

2.Assets=Tangible (PP&E, inventories, accounts receivable, cash)+intangible Assets (trademark, lease rights, goodwill)

3.Liabilities=Short term debt (accounts payable,current portion of long term debt,advances from customers) + Long term Debt (bank loans,bonds,lease liability)
4.Tangible assets are written down through depreciation & intangibles are written down through amortization or impairment

5. Depreciation & amortization means normal wearing out assets over its typical lifespan. It allows the cost of the asset to be charged off (in the income statement) over a number of years.

6. Depletion gets applied in commodity businesses like cement, mining, and crude oil.

A 17 point summary on my 2000+ days as a trader:

Wont take more than 10 minutes ! 🧵

1. Market cycles
Market Always moves in a cyclical way, supply and demand is basic principle for any cycle that involves money. Crack it you’ll be way ahead of the curve.

2. History rhymes
Always remember that history wont repeat but will surely rhyme - go and see all major falls and all major rises. Core principles are same, triggers are variable.

3. Time > Timing
Many people say that timing the mkt is very essential but according to me the more time you spend the more you get to know about mkt that jo course will teach you.

4. Survival
If you manage to survive for the next 3650 days in the market - trust me for the fact that you will definitely be a part of one commodity one bull and bear mkt. Its more valuable than any 1L INR course.