Ted Williams, one of the greatest baseball hitters in the history, also known as the “Splendid Splinter,” had a unique strategy. Like all worldclass performers, Williams studied the game intensively and devised a remarkable plan.
He broke down his strike zone into 77 baseball-sized “cells” and then meticulously charted his hit results across those cells. With this analysis he learned that his batting average was much better when he only went after pitches in his “sweet spot.”
So he would swing at only those balls that landed in his “sweet spot.” Of course, even with that knowledge, he couldn’t wait all day for the perfect pitch; if he let three strikes go by without swinging, he’d be called out.
Warren Buffett drew a very interesting analogy between Williams’ way of playing and how investing should be done.
Way back in November 1, 1974, issue of Forbes, Buffett pointed out that unlike Williams, investors have an advantage because they can stand there all day without swinging. Investors needn’t feel pressured to act. They can pass up lots of opportunities until they see one that’s terrific. Buffett wrote —
Investing is the greatest business in the world because you never have to swing. You stand at the plate; the pitcher throws you General Motors at 47! U.S. Steel at 39! And nobody calls a strike on you. There’s no penalty except opportunity. All day you wait for the pitch you like; then, when the fielders are asleep, you step up and hit it.
Buffett’s approach, like that of Williams, rewards patience and selectivity. These are some of the things that we strive to practice in SSIAS.
Ted Williams’ sweet spot is akin to the idea of circle of competence in investing. We think that our circle of competence allows us to track about 40-50 companies. We watch these companies closely like a cat watching the mousehole. We’re patiently alert and ready to pounce when the opportunity presents itself.
Last week we published updates on four companies from our watch list. You can read about it here.
Below we have four more companies that we’re tracking closely. We have made notes from their quarterly updates and the analyst conference calls.
Please click on the read more button for more details on each stock.
Intellect Design Arena
Intellect Design Arena is a global leader in Financial Technology for Banking, Insurance and other Financial Services. Deep banking domain expertise, coupled with investments of Rs 800 Crores over the last ten years in developing the world’s first full spectrum of banking products has made Intellect the company with one of the most advanced technologies for financial institutions with global businesses.
Considering the current pipeline of orders, their execution capability and reasonable valuation, we believe it seems to be an interesting investible idea.
Piramal Enterprise Ltd
Piramal Enterprises Limited (PEL) is one of India’s large diversified companies, with a presence in Healthcare, Healthcare Insights & Analytics business and Financial Services.
Piramal Enterprises has consistently performed well with 14 consecutive quarters of more than 20% growth in both revenues and profits. Their efforts to diversify their revenue sources, the consistent improvement in those segments and their diversification of both borrowing and lending sources highlights how they are putting their money where their mouth is and cementing their position as one of the best NBFCs in the market today.
Bajaj Auto Ltd
Bajaj Auto Ltd has been one of the largest automobile players in India for a long time. They have been in operations since 1945. Bajaj Auto operates primarily in the entry level and premium segment motorcycles along with small and large three wheeler commercial vehicles segment.
Bajaj Auto has been a long performing player in the automobile sector that has established itself as a dominant player in all the segments that it operates in both in India and abroad. Adding on the fact that Bajaj Auto is heavily leaning on electric vehicles in the near future, the company presents itself as a good value preserver and growth option in the automobiles sector in India.
Shriram Transport Finance
Shriram Transport Finance is India’s largest player in the commercial vehicle finance sector. It was established in 1979 and has more than 1348 urban and 885 rural centres.
Shriram Transport Finance have been the market leader in commercial vehicles loans segment and they continue to grow at good pace maintaining their status as top of the pack in this segment. The increase shown in the book value per share along with all the above signs help Shriram Transport Finance cement its status as a good stable investment option in the NBFC space.
We’ll continue publishing the notes from these calls on our website. If you don’t want to miss these updates, please subscribe to our newsletter.
And don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions.
