The fallacy of predicting Short-Term movements in Investing
I keep getting asked this question a lot of times “What do you think of the markets?” My answer is “I don’t know.” We are in the business of equity analysis and not astrology. Let me give a recent example of how hazardous predicting short-term movements can be. Two events happened recently. On the same day. The RBI governor resigned abruptly and the ruling party lost elections in 3 key states.
According to media and pundits, these were big negatives. The market should have gone down due to these events. But, we all know what happened. We had a superb rally. Nifty rose by more than 600 points and broader markets also participated to a good extent. This has happened many times before too, when market behaved contrary to what many think in the short term.
Investors spend too much time thinking about short-term views. They must be spending that time wisely, researching companies, reading annual reports, learning about industries/sectors, understanding market and business cycles, doing scuttle-butt. There are a few things investors can control and a few things they cannot.
What they cannot control is market behavior. What they can control is their behavior. We try to predict the former, which is not in their control. Do the things that you can control. Control your greed, master your fears, focus on buying companies at good valuations, learn to be patient, understand and learn from mistakes and so on.
On the macro and micro front, there will be something or the other wrong at all points. Learn to live with them. What one can do and must be focused on is buying businesses at good valuations. Below their intrinsic value. Track them diligently. Always write a hypothesis before you buy. And keep visiting it at periodic intervals. A value investor always should focus on buying a dollar worth of assets at 40-50 cents or lower. And opportunities do come. Just wait for those opportunities. In short-term markets may always be not efficient. But in long-term, as long as the company you invest in performs, the stock price will follow, provided you have entered at comfortable valuations. Control your temperament.
One must also learn the art of selling. Every asset has a price to sell. When valuations are in blue sky zone, one may book profits. It doesn’t matter, even if it is a good/great company. Corrections are inevitable. Blue sky valuations also correct. Wait for the companies to come into value zone, before buying. An example. An IT major is still at a 30%+ discount to its price of the year 2000, despite growing its profit by 25 times in this 18 year period. It was a decent company then and is still a decent company. One will find many examples like this in the market. My belief is one should be detached from stocks. Never love them and never be married to them. Look at them critically from time to time. Seek disconfirming evidence from people in your trust network. Building a trust network is very very important and it really helps.
As far as Indian markets are concerned, we must have a long-term view. Short-term challenges will always be there. This country is going to grow at a good pace for many years to come. The demographics simply point to that. As per capita income crosses $2000, a lot of things change. Incremental income is spent a lot on consumption, health care and so on.
We, at Aurum Capital, always focus on the long-term. We believe our job is to identify good companies at good valuations, keep tracking them rigorously, and stay the course, till valuations are in favor. This is what we can focus on, and that is what we focus on.
As always, we eagerly look forward to receiving your response.
-Happy Investing.
Jiten Parmar
Aurum Capital
SEBI registration No: INA000011024
To know more about our services: https://aurumcapital.in/services
Disclaimer: The stock name/s mentioned are only for the education purpose. These should not be considered as our recommendations/advise. Please consult an investment advisor before taking any decision.
