Revenues and earnings are nice numbers to quote, but often free cash flow (FCF) is a more valuable number for investors when evaluating a business. FCF can be a very powerful tool when evaluating a business. One area where FCF can hamper one’s investment analysis is when a business engages in a major capital project. The capital expenditures will be taken from the FCF value and could possibly drop FCF significantly quarter from a previous
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Investing in Africa: Interview with Larry Seruma of the Nile Funds Interview with an Africa ETF Manager, Larry Seruma My Take: For most investors the majority of the continent of Africa remains a mystery. A largely backwards land that has yet to fully recover from the fallout of Colonialism is often what colors the general perception of the land. Consequently, most investors give little to no thought of even considering Africa as a land of
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Earlier this week I posted a blog discussing how it can be very helpful for individual investors to look at themselves as a business to identify where they might be wasting money and not effectively utilizing their savings. An alternative financial evaluation system can be developed through a sports analogy. You can very easily evaluate your personal finances through a model based on offense and defense. Everyone has heard the sports saying that defense wins
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Google’s social-networking foray saw fewer U.S. visitors last week, and those who did visit spent less time on the site on average, according to new data released today by market researcher Experian Hitwise…READ MORE. My Take: With the news of Googe+’s drop in traffic from its initial ramp-up, a number of news stories are bound to arise casting doubts on the ability of Google+ to hold sway in the social media world (linked above). I
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The decision to offer movie sales and rentals through Walmart.com comes just two weeks after Netflix raised prices for the majority of its customers. The price hike provoked howls of protest from consumers and disappointing subscriber growth projections, leading to a significant drop in Netflix’s stock price…READ MORE. My Take: I am amazed at the speed and scope of the on-demand video revolution. In February 2010 Wal-Mart purchased streaming video provider, Vudu for $100 million and now Wal-Mart
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Thinking of yourself as a business could be a strange concept. Though it might seem odd, it is a good exercise for anyone that wishes to gain a different perspective and better understanding of their financial situation. Going through this process will force you to make a monthly budget, if you don’t have one already. It will also make you look at your income and, probably more importantly, your expenses. As you look at your
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Investors are constantly swimming in a world of data. Whether it be stock prices, ratios, financial statements, trading information or other forms of statistics, it’s not hard to find a multitude of data points when considering a stock or fund. While data might not be the most exciting topic, it is invaluable for anyone, investor or not, to understand the nature of data. Data by its nature is historical. When you see a stock’s price
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I’m linking to an interview with Marshall Berol and Craig Valdes of the Encompass Fund. They were interviewed by The Energy Report recently about their thoughts about a number of energy/resource related topics. The fund they manage has performed well over the past few years. I’d highly recommend this interview. It will help you understand the energy landscape better through the eyes of two experts in energy investments and you will come away with a
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What is currently unfolding in the world of online connectivity presents a number of opportunities for income investors. The transition is blending Internet, phone and television into one. The transition is not something that will fully materialize within a year, but for the long-term investor, if you select the right companies, you could be sitting on very solid and large dividend payments for the foreseeable future. In a recent Daily Mail article, online access was
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When financial actions are taken without regard to the financial repercussions, then decision making can become deeply skewed. In a world where credit is cheap and easy, it’s not difficult for people to build themselves financially on a house of cards. This not only had bad implications for the person, but for society as a whole. At the level of, you and I, the individual, we have a wide degree of choices in how we
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