Top 5 articles on InvestorZclub in 2014

1) Amit Agarwal Model Portfolio - A real time hypothetical portfolio which has outperformed some of the best mutual funds in India. It is one of the most shared and viewed article since the start of this blog and in 2014.

2) Buy Bharti Airtel at every decline - One of the highest conviction idea that was published under Investment Ideas category at 290 bucks in Feb 2014. 

3) Do's and Don't of Investing in IPOs - 6 timeless wisdom before you take a look at any IPO issue and how greater fool theory ruin the chase for IPOs.

4) Indian Stock Market Outlook 2014 - Published on 1st Jan 2014, the article witnessed lot of views and appreciation from InvestorZclub readers and subscribers. 

5) 3 Mistakes that taught me the golden rules of Investing - Published on 23rd Jan it is second most read article on this blog in 2014.

Reliance Industries: Do not buy on dips

If you have listened to the crap analysts on business news channel who were recommending Reliance Industries to be bought at every dip, you have many reasons to worry now. Here are some of them:

1. Very low Gas price hike than anticipated: Analysts were almost sure that gas prices will be hiked to $8.4 per MMBTU and Reliance Industries will make a killing even though it could not fulfill its commitment of producing agreed amount of gas every year. Now the govt has finally hiked the price but far lower that what was discounted in the stock price to just $5.6 per MMBTU. 

2. No benefit of gas price hike to RIL: However small a price hike of more than 30% is positive though less positive than what was anticipated. But what's severely worrying for Reliance Industries is that govt. has denied the benefit of even this price rise to the company. It will have to continue to sell gas at the rate of $4.2 per MMBTU untill the shortfall is delivered.

Consequence of chasing stock prices: The live example

When stock prices move people become impatient both on upside as well as  downside. After 16th may people went crazy and bought whatever they can feeling they should not get left out. The consistent rising prices created perfect trap which sucked in most people. Today some of those junk names are down 50 - 60% from their June 2014 high.

In a post titled "Stocks to avoid under BJP govt." two stocks were specifically highlighted in bold that must have been avoided. But euphoria was so high that those stocks went up significantly over next 1 month. People were excited and still bought those stocks at higher levels without understanding the consequences. Today one of that stock is down 35% from it's level on 16th may and 50% from it's June 2014 high, while the other stocks is flat since 16th may but down 40% from June high.

You can check that post here

Moral: Never chase a running or falling stock price. List 5 solid reasons why you are buying or selling a particular stock. By this practice alone you will be ahead of many stock market pundits on street and achieve superior results. It must be remembered that succeeding in investing or trading doesen't require MBA degree in  finance. People with reasonable knowledge but with very high self discipline and control over emotions are likely to achieve much better result than people with MBA & Phds with fickle psychology and emotions. 

TCS - An IT Company or an Employment Agency?

Well I have not been a big fan of IT companies in India whether it's about working for them or investing in their stocks for long term. The recent run up in stock prices of TCS, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra and other IT staffing companies has only increased my worries as they are being perceived as technology companies and getting valuations accordingly.

TCS is now valued at around $90 billion in market value and is trading at a PE of 21 times FY-16 EPS. If one believes that TCS is an innovative technology company like Apple, Oracle or Google then the valuations are justified but what PE would you apply to an employment agency who has just grown at the rate of growth in number of employees in the company. With employee billing arbitrage gradually getting narrowed due to very high wage inflation in India and less than 2% wage inflation in western world the margins will gradually decrease over next 10 years on this business model.