Asit Bhandarkar, fund manager, #JM Financial Asset Management, knows the value of cautious and contrary plays. He has aced both.
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#AsitBhandarkar #FinancialAssetManagement #Business #OutlookBusiness #OutlookMagazine #OutlookGroup
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00:00 What do you look for in a company before investing?
00:18 We have a buy and hold investment strategy actually.
00:22 Our churn ratios are very, very low.
00:24 Typically, when we buy a company, we would like to hold it for a long period of time.
00:28 So we prefer to buy scalable businesses.
00:31 We prefer to buy structural compounding stories which you can hold on for long periods of
00:36 time and in that period generate multi-bagger returns.
00:39 So you know, scalable business which is a great vision, great promoters, good management
00:45 behind it and strong cash flows.
00:47 I think that's the basic thing.
00:50 And when you buy such a company, you really don't want to sell it ever.
00:53 But we make mistakes and the environment changes too.
00:59 So we revisit our hypothesis at regular intervals about what we initially thought about what
01:05 the company could execute and we do.
01:07 And if it holds, we hold.
01:09 What is your market outlook for FY21?
01:11 I think if we have to describe it in one word, it's disruption.
01:17 We see disruption of all kinds from the regulatory side, business, environment side, even competitive
01:28 environment driven.
01:30 So disruption is actually good because it brings out efficiency and efficiency is great
01:35 for investor returns.
01:37 But it is very difficult to, you know, on a portfolio level to take benefit of disruptions
01:45 in the short run.
01:46 For example, you know, transportation improves, cost of logistics is going to go down.
01:52 But in a short period of time to measure it accurately is very difficult.
01:55 So market will tend to overestimate the impact of disruption or underestimate the impact
02:00 of disruption which will lead to, you know, wild volatility.
02:04 But in the long run, you know, it comes through.
02:06 So execution of the disruption part is very difficult.
02:10 From our perspective, we clearly see that, you know, we stick to in the current environment,
02:16 you know, we are very positive on the Indian economy, especially the fact that, you know,
02:22 Indian economic presidents, you know, a compelling opportunity to become the consumption capital
02:27 of the world.
02:28 Investment cycle, which is down right now, that will turn, but to predict accurately
02:34 when it will turn is a little hazardous.
02:37 So in the current environment, we stick to companies with strong parentage, strong cash
02:41 flows, high quality earnings.
02:44 So we clearly see a trend in the market right now where strong companies are pulling ahead
02:49 of the rest and, you know, marginal companies are actually finding profitability and survival
02:55 quite difficult.
02:57 In a small way, if you actually see the stark difference in the performance of various stocks
03:02 in the large cap indices, it probably presents you a possibility of the same happening right
03:07 now on the ground.
03:08 According to you, which are the sectors that one should pick and which are the sectors
03:13 one should avoid?
03:14 See, actually, this question is really not important to us from our perspective, because
03:19 we are sector agnostic.
03:22 We as you would have understood, we focus on businesses, right?
03:27 So sectors really doesn't matter.
03:29 We buy companies which have leadership capabilities, which can be, you know, generating strong
03:34 cash flows over a period of time.
03:35 That said, we are happy to look for sunrise businesses, which can, you know, generate
03:41 jobs, which can generate a huge business and investor wealth, you know, sunrise businesses.
03:49 But what we really avoid, you know, are companies or sectors where there's continuous need
03:55 of capex, there's a regulatory overhang, there's corporate governance issues.
04:01 And we also don't bet on turnaround stories.
04:04 That's, that's, you know, we prefer to bet on not the possibility of success, but
04:09 actual success.
04:11 What has been your biggest investment learning?
04:14 Biggest investment learning, I would be, you know, return of capital is more important
04:18 than return of capital, return on capital rather.
04:23 Cut the noise, focus on the fundamentals and wait patiently for the market to do its bit.
04:31 And lastly, not everything that we hear is a fact and not everything that we see is the
04:35 truth.
04:36 What are your key success factors?
04:39 It's discipline actually, you know, minimizing mistakes, avoiding distractions, and resisting
04:45 the temptation to take short term bets.
04:47 Which are the sectors that you're currently bullish on?
04:49 As I said, you know, we are sector agnostic, we really don't want to get into, you know,
04:54 it's not as if for our portfolio at building, we don't look at the underlying benchmark
04:57 or the sector, sector breakups, etc, etc.
05:01 But you know, it's the basic business which excites us.
05:03 So if I name a particular sector, it doesn't mean that all the companies in the sector
05:08 will behave similarly, which is why I was alluding to the point that if you actually
05:12 see the breakup of the way the stocks have performed in the Nifty last year, you know,
05:18 say for example, a private bank sector, forget banks, just private bank, there'll be so
05:23 much variation in what one stock has done and what other stock has done.
05:27 So I think we feel that in the current era, the way the economy is, it's very important
05:32 to be more stock specific, rather than be sector specific.
05:36 Who are the fund managers that you admire?
05:38 See, I still consider myself as a student.
05:42 So yeah, I'm learning all the time, either from history or from books or from my own
05:47 mistakes, others mistakes.
05:48 I really admire Charlie Munger, you know, who is probably one of the best person who
05:57 has a very elemental long term investment, you know, wisdom driven long term investment
06:02 philosophy.
06:03 You know, anybody who reads him long enough can follow him.
06:06 And I also admire Prem Vatsa, actually, who is also known as Canada's Warren Buffet.
06:12 I admire his incredible humility.
06:14 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:18 (whooshing)