Nikhil’s Investment Journey – Past and Current

@ChotuKatappa – Thanks for reading. I will try to respond to your queries

1. I am not good at value investing does not mean that I don’t love value. Infact I would classify myself more as a “GARP” investor. However reasonable value with Strong business model and Cyclical upswing/ business momentum is required to make the cut. While I dont mind buying high PE stocks, generally I don’t build aggressive positions in those. I am more comfortable with good stocks at reasonable valuations. Both Rolex and Kennametal were purchased at much lower prices. I did add some quantities during the rise but it was hardly 5-10% of my initial purchases.
   I may trim my positions if the stock and business (especially cyclical) valuations become very high. However it also depends on the continuous quarterly updates coming in and the stock once expensive can become cheaper and hence may become at least a hold again. Generally I don’t exit any performing stock completely unless the price action/results change substantially, given that market is giving them the valuations. Specifically for Rolex/Kennametal, I did trim some positions but the market action suggest that they have more way to go, especially with the way the bearing guys are moving up again.
2. I try to keep track of more than 100+ stocks. So excel sheets are no good. It will take full day and more to update data only from one place to another . I manage through screener for any significant announcements, price action and a broad understanding of the business. As you can imagine I cannot do very detailed studies of the stocks with so many stocks to cover. So my idea is to get a good sense of the business and results and then buy/hold till price action is confirming the view.
3. I try to read most of what becomes available in public domain on reports/changes etc. If the new reco is not in “too difficult” bucket, then I atleast look at broad data and latest annual report/concall and then take a call. Most of the MF’s are generally quite slow in moving to new ideas and hence are not good for following, However I do try to track any new additions that the Small/Mid cap guys are doing.

Thanks.
Nikhil