Net Debt to EBITDA Guide: Risks, Valuation, Examples, and S&P 500 Data
Updated 8/25/2023 Net Debt to EBITDA ratio is a common tool for measuring risk. It’s often listed in company financials. The logic is simple, and the ratio isn’t terribly complex; let’s see how to calculate it ourselves. In this post, we will cover [Click to skip ahead]: Let’s dive in.
ROIC vs ROCE: When to Use One Over the Other [Pros & Cons]
Updated 8/25/2023 ROIC (Return on Invested Capital) and ROCE (Return on Capital Employed) are formulas describing how efficiently a company invests its capital. The difference between ROIC vs ROCE is subtle but powerful—basically, one (ROCE) is a shortcut of the other (ROIC). Before diving deeper, here’s the simple cliff notes: Return on Capital Employed Formula […]
Beginner’s Guide to the Yahoo Finance Numbers (Updated)
Updated 7/12/2023 Let’s assume you are an absolute beginner when it comes to using ticker systems like Yahoo Finance. The world of stock investments might seem confusing and overwhelming, with plenty of symbols and slang. Don’t worry. I’ve broken down the basics to the stock market before, with my beginner’s guide having been viewed over […]
Historical S&P 500 Industry Weights – [20+ Year History]
Updated 7/12/2023 If you’re benchmarking to the S&P 500, then it helps to know the context of your industry weighting compared to the index. It can help to explain your portfolio’s relative performance. It can also create a “heat check” to how your portfolio is balanced, and how it might react to an upcoming economic […]
Why Diversification is Important in Investing (Timeless Principle)
Diversification is important in investing because you don’t want a single mistake to destroy your portfolio. Even the best investors (and businesses) make mistakes, it’s human nature. Diversification spreads out your risk, lowering it. In this post, we will cover all you need to know about diversification: I’m sure you’ve heard the cliché that you […]
Jean-Marie Eveillard’s Investment Strategy and Roller Coaster Performance
Jean-Marie Eveillard was Morningstar’s International Stock Fund Manager of the Year in 2001. He grew Assets Under Management (AUM) to $100 billion with his flagship First Eagle Global Fund. His track record as a money manager has been incredible. But it hasn’t always been easy for Eveillard. In fact, after beating the market for 18 […]
What’s a Good Debt to Equity Ratio? The Ultimate Guide for Beginners
The debt to equity ratio is a great formula for investors to use as a rule of thumb for determining the riskiness of a stock, based on its balance sheet. That said, not all companies with a high debt to equity ratio are risky companies; not all companies with a low (or zero) debt to […]
8 Takeaways from All of Howard Marks’s Letters from 2022
This month, I took the time to read all 8 of Howard Marks’s letters to investors (memos) and summarize them for the average investor. Hopefully you find these lessons to be instructive, and that they make you a better investor. I also highly recommend reading these memos yourself—we’ve included the links at the end of […]
Bruce Sherman’s Investment Strategy That Helped Him Beat the Market
From 1991 – 1995, Bruce Sherman achieved what some consider the holy grail of investing. Sherman beat the S&P 500 without taking on more volatility with the portfolio for Private Capital Management. Private Capital Management was ranked by Money Manager Review as the #1 value manager on a risk-adjusted basis over this 5-year period. The […]
Average Operating (EBIT) Margin by Industry – 22 Years of Data [S&P 500]
Updated 4/21/2023 Operating margin is probably the most useful profitability ratio because it’s much less volatile than net margin but includes all operating expenses to run a business (which gross margin doesn’t). Obviously, we want to see increasing operating margins over time. But how’s an investor to know if a company’s general levels of operating […]
