"I claimed that Costco at an operating margin of 3 percent is a better business than Tiffany at 19 percent. If we limit our definition of “better” to the level of ROCE, then I was right. This is because Costco’s average ROCE from 2014 to 2019 (pre-pandemic) was 22 percent compared to Tiffany’s 16 per"
"Let’s take an example of investing in the infrastructure and real estate sectors. In India, these two industries are highly regulated, involve a lot of cash transactions, and require a plethora of approvals; hence, over the years, they have attracted a set of entrepreneurs who can successfully “mana"
"The ensuing value destruction assumed epic proportions. Two of the affected infrastructure businesses were Reliance Power and Jaiprakash Power Ventures, whose market values were $29 billion and $23 billion, respectively, in early 2008. Each was valued at less than $700 million at the end of 2021, a "
"Since great businesses remain great for an eternity, everyone knows about them. Investors bid their prices up, and rightly so. The ten-year average price/earnings (PE) multiples of some of the leading consumer businesses in India are astronomical. For example, Asian Paints, 56; Colgate India, 43; Da"
"My intention here was to demonstrate directionally that great businesses remain great much longer than we think. The probability that a not-so-great business becomes excellent over time is infinitesimal."
"Investing is a unique profession in which inactivity can be hugely rewarding."