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Learning that drives better investment decisions

Sino-Thai Engineering & Construction – World Class Benchmarking

By Become a Better Investor | Jul 26, 2019

Sino-Thai Engineering & Construction Public Company Limited (STEC TB): Profitable Growth rank of 2 was same compared to the prior period’s 2nd rank. This is World Class performance compared to 1,480 large Industrials companies worldwide.

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PTG Energy – World Class Benchmarking

By Become a Better Investor | Jul 25, 2019

PTG Energy Public Company Limited (PTG TB): Profitable Growth rank of 5 was up compared to the prior period’s 7th rank. This is average performance compared to 350 large Energy companies worldwide.

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Net Margin Appears to Have Peaked in Developed Markets but Not in Emerging

By Become a Better Investor | Jul 24, 2019

Chart of the Day: Emerging markets’ net margin is still below peaks before the Asian and Global Financial Crises. Net margin in Developed markets is still at the highest it has been in over two decades–remains a risk.

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Indonesia and Philippines Remain Attractive, Now Joined by Singapore

By Become a Better Investor | Jul 23, 2019

Chart of the Day: Indonesia and the Philippines still appear attractive but has switched place, and joined by Singapore. China has moved to unattractive from attractive.

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VMC: What Is Free Cash Flow to the Firm?

By Andrew Stotz | Jul 22, 2019

Free cash flow to the firm (FCFF) is the cash flow that a company is ‘free’ to distribute to all providers of money (both, debt and equity) without damaging its growth opportunities.

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VMC: WACC – Theory versus Reality

By Andrew Stotz | Jul 19, 2019

Since debt is cheaper than equity, in theory, this would mean that a company would prefer to be fully funded by debt to minimize its cost of capital. However, it’s not the case in reality that a company has a capital structure that is 100% debt.

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Gearing Could Become Problematic in the US

By Become a Better Investor | Jul 18, 2019

Chart of the Day: Net-debt to equity is well-above the 2008 level, while times-interest-earned is slightly lower. Worth pointing out is that the effective interest rate is significantly lower now. Problematic if earnings stagnate and rates increase.

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Corporate Debt Is More Concerning Than Household Debt in the US

By Become a Better Investor | Jul 17, 2019

Chart of the Day: US household debt is back just above the levels seen at the start of the new millennium; big deleveraging since the Global Financial Crisis. Corporates, though, are back to 2008 levels which could constitute a risk if rates were to increase.

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Gov’t Debt Has Driven Total Debt Growth in the US

By Become a Better Investor | Jul 16, 2019

Chart of the Day: Since 2001, US household debt as a % of GDP has remained at about the same level. Corporate debt has increased a bit. While gov’t debt as a % of GDP has doubled since 2001.

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Thailand Was Asia’s Top Performer in 1H19

By Become a Better Investor | Jul 15, 2019

Chart of the Day: In 1H19, all Asian markets were up except for Malaysia. In local currency terms, Hong Kong was the strongest performer. For foreign investors, Thailand was the best as the Baht strengthened significantly.

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