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10 Lessons, from Henrik Andersson

2015-07-24 ยท Gary Rogan, Henrik Andersson, Russ Sears, Stefan Jovanovich
Original source

Here are some lessons I've learned during the past 8 years:

  1. Call options. If you truly have conviction, buy long dated call options as volatility tend to be under priced for long maturities.

  2. Short selling. It is harder to short sell than most think, and almost no one is good at it. One hurdle is the drift, but there are countless more.

  3. Romance. You're clearly better off to marry someone in management than to marry the stock.

  4. Dip buying. The successful buys on dips and vice versa, it follows that the unsuccessful do the opposite.

  5. Market. Everyone is always bearish on the market, only the super successful dares to be bullish/naive.

  6. Story. Human brains are hard wired over thousands of years to build stories around your beliefs/thesis.

  7. Flexibility. The super successful are always ready to change their mind/direction. Go from long to short or from short to long.

  8. Art. Stock picking is as much art as science and very rarely are the smartest the best at this game.

  9. Top-down. Local knowledge remains under appreciated. The top down guys ends up shorting the best companies and vice versa.

  10. Management. Always invest with the best in class management, however you are better off with a good end market and bad management than the other way around.

Stefan Jovanovich writes:

Yes! Especially #10. "You are better off with a good end market and bad management than the other way around". It applies even more to private business than it does to public companies. Believe me.

Gary Rogan writes:

10 is a lot like the Sage's favorite. When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact.

Russ Sears writes:

Most people cannot admit when they are wrong, in over their head or incompetent. If the tide turns and a business with good economics but bad management becomes a business with bad economics and bad management, then the fraud, accounting tricks and pleas for government bailouts come out. The "smartest guy in the room" is leading the way.