When investors like us invest in the stock market, the goal is always trying to grow our wealth over time.
Investors are generally thrilled by the prospect of growth in general, whether they are referring to their income, savings or even the companies that they invest in.
We just love things going in the “up” and “grow” direction.
It is so tempting for investors to see their companies growing by double digit each year because i.) they expect the management to take the shareholder’s earnings and reinvest them to propel for further growth or ii.) Higher growth means higher dividends that the management can decide to payout or iii.) the share price would eventually re-adjust themselves to the same valuation.
What do I mean by that?
For example, Colgate’s share price is $63 today. If Colgate’s valuation based on price to earnings ratio is currently at 20x and the company prospects a guidance growth of 10% per annum over the next 3 years, then the forward price to earnings ratio at the end of the 3 years is expected to be at 14x. Most of the time, the market will not allow such scenario to happen and upon the announcement of the news, the share price would adjust itself to the range up to $84 such that the valuation of the company goes back to 20x.
Of course, such scenario is a very simplistic way of putting it in mathematical form.
In reality, we all know that not everything will go according to plan in the next 3 years.
Well, mostly in that sense.
From a downturn to the economy to the change in the fiscal or monetary policy of the macroeconomic factor or the company could have internal labour, production or acquisition issues that they did not anticipate for. There could be a scandal in the making or a new competitor coming in with better quality and cheaper products. The possibility of any event happening in the 3 years is seamless.
The problem is the share price has usually priced the news in earlier before allowing what the company can really perform.
The market is often forward looking and that’s when most investors get caught in their pants, i.e buying when the valuation is high.
Most investors notice the prospects of a “good” investment only either when their friends tell them or when they read about it on the newspaper. By the time they put their foot on the water, most if not all of the good news have been baked in and the investor is left to pick up the mess should anything goes wrong or if the company is not able to meet the ambitious guidance they project.
Unless you are a damn good timer in exiting the market, the investor who uses this strategy are most likely to end up poorer over time.
Growth investing also has the tendency to caution the day when finally that growth slows down.
You can’t have a company that grows perpetually and exponentially higher growth each year.
At some point, the company is going to register a slower growth and when that happens the market is going to take it quite badly, re-adjusting to the slower growth outlook for the valuation it entails.
I don’t have a good strategy to go long on growth companies because I’m always skeptical about either what the management say or what the world might crap on me.
Being in the financial and accounting sector myself doing forecast for the past 10 years of my work experience, I’ve seen almost every single time the forecast has gone haywire, even if they are only for the next 3-6 months, let alone multi-running years.
It is also extremely difficult to spot on the very few companies in their early stage of growth and then ride on them because it entails a lot more expertise on the sectors you are eyeing for (almost like going for a private equity seed stage).
I’m interested to listen though to the strategy of those who’ve been investing in growth companies for some time with some measurable success and how they decide to enter and exit and what are their cautious approach to not being caught.
Let me know in the comments below.
Thanks for reading.
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I think an investor who is investing in a growth company needs to have good business acumen and ability to judge people's (management) capability and attitudes determines him/her to be a good growth investor.
Nowsdays we can easily find the numbers or anything relating tothe company's financial status either from reading their financial reports or from the reports extracted from analysts. A person with an average financial knowledge is able to do that.
But to have good business acumen and good judgement view are 2 inborn character which are not really able to mastered from school or books.
Hi Anonymous
Yeah I agree with your take that it takes a lot more skills and intuition in judging the business outlook of where the management wants to direct their company to hence it is a lot harder than using a financial mathematic formula to deduce the outcome.
Only after Point X we will know whether we are right or wrong. Any other time is just speculating.
Hi Uncle CW
Seems like at any given point we are speculating after all
I can never pick growth stocks or do so call valued investing because of this "Most investors notice the prospects of a "good" investment only either when their friends tell them or when they read about it on the newspaper. By the time they put their foot on the water, most if not all of the good news have been baked in and the investor is left to pick up the mess should anything goes wrong or if the company is not able to meet the ambitious guidance they project."
fully agree with you.
Hi MIM
Looks like we are on the same boat.
Hence we'd better stick with what we know
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I think invest with a margin of safety in companies with good growth track record should be rewarding
Growth companies always sell at a premium valuation due to the expectation being baked in. So wait til the right moment to go in
Eg Raffles medical has been a multibagger and its price has dropped from 1.4 to 1 then rose up again.
Growth investing has its merits, even though i don't really practice it. A good source of knowledge is at basehitinvesting.com or http://basehitinvesting.com/tag/roic/
Growth investing is challenging indeed. How many can spot the next Apple, Google or Amazon?
I think the principles ring true, value companies with good management can invest for the future while providing dividends, growth and excitement.
I think the best way to avoid missteps is to avoid companies that have yet to turn a profit, wait for the profit and then you can consider investing. The exception to this is probably Amazon.
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