Jitendra Kumar Gupta's blog

Q&A:   Bruce Greenwald, Professor & Investing Expert 'Value is in cheap, obscure and disappointing stocks' Jitendra Kumar Gupta / Mumbai April 26, 2011, 0:49 IST Bruce Greenwald   is a professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business and Director of Research at FirstEagle Funds. Called ‘a guru to Wall Street’s gurus’, he is a recognised authority on value investing. Edited excerpts from an interview with   Jitendra Kumar Gupta : Many people focus on the revenue statement or earnings. How important is the balance sheet and what does one look for as a value investor?   The balance sheet is more important than the income statement for value investors, since it provides more reliable valuation information, that does not depend on projecting the future. The exception to this rule is the case of franchise businesses, where long-run earnings depend on competitive advantages, not just assets. As a value investor what is the starting po...

The last year was reasonably good for the Indian markets. But, with macro headwinds picking up, 2011 could be different. Jitendra Kumar Gupta spoke with Tridib Pathak, senior director, equities, IDFC Mutual Fund, about his expectations from the markets in the current year, the concerns and the earnings outlook, among other things. Excerpts: What do you read into the sharp fall in the markets in the last couple of trading sessions? And, to what extent will this correction continue? The correction is largely due to domestic macro factors led by high inflation and further expectations of interest rates going up. Also, the fact that the current account deficit and crude oil prices are high. If inflation and international commodity prices don’t come down fast and if we (India) are forced to increase interest rates further, then it could have an impact on growth, leading the markets lower.

Send me your feedback or suggestions at jitendragupta2001@gmail.com Indian equity markets’ risk premium, which is used to gauge how much additional returns investors want from the markets over and above the risk-free rate of return, is on upward trend due to increasing concerns over interest rates, commodity prices, political uncertainty and rising crude oil prices. Following these events, research houses, especially international, have increased their equity risk premium for the Indian markets, which now stands at about 6-8 per cent compared to around six per cent at the start of the year. In the light of these events, the cost of equity, too, has gone up and the markets which were seen to be in fair value zone are now perceived to be expensive.

'Sugar output may remain in line with projections' Jitendra Kumar Gupta / Mumbai http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/qa-peter-baron-international-sugar-organisation/424733/ International sugar is trading at a 30-year high due to several supply-side issues. To understand the sector’s global and domestic concerns, Jitendra Kumar Gupta spoke with Peter Baron, executive director, International Sugar Organisation (ISO), which closely tracks global developments pertaining to the industry Sugar prices rose to a 30-year high in New York, led by worries over a cyclone in Australia, the third-largest exporter. Also, India may not export sugar, contrary to what was expected. In this light, what is your view of the global supply and demand for this and the next season? Fundamentals remain tight. ISO plans to release its second revision of the world sugar balance estimates for 2010-11 by the end of February. Preliminary figures show a further reduction in the gl...

Ramesh Damani focuses is on the wisdom of Dalal Street, as he discusses the fork law, the sayings and the war stories of the street with two veteran watchers of the market—N Jayakumar of Prime Securities and Madhu Kela of Reliance Capital. Here is an excerpt of the interview. Also watch the accompanying video. Q: I started this as a Dalal Street maxim and the one thing that I always remember even when I was younger walking to Dalal Street was all the Gujarati community which tends to populate the street "Bhav Bhagwan Che". Tell me about that.

The panel comprises of UR Bhat, MD of Dalton Capital Advisors and Ajit Dayal , Chairman of Quantum AMC. Here is the verbatim transcript of their comments. Also watch the accompanying videos. Q: Can you give me a bio of Peter Lynch, one of the most revered fund mangers of our time? Dayal: He is a legend. He was the fund manager for the largest fund at that time Fidelity Magellan and wrote a phenomenal book that investors should read is called, ‘One up on Wall Street’. In the book, he just uses common day experiences to explain what stocks could be interesting to own and what stocks may not be interesting to own.

Life is a game and all you have to do is to know how to play it. No one has played the investing game better or bigger than Rakesh Jhunjhunwala , Partner, Rare Enterprises. He has parlayed a few thousand dollars into a few billion dollars. He lives his life king size. In an candid chat with financial expert Ramesh Damani in a CNBC-TV18's special RD 360, stock market veteran Jhunjhunwala advises looking into stocks that are not very popular. "Never in my life have I not made an investment because the stock is not popular. In fact I like to make the investment when the stock is not popular." Here is a verbatim transcript of his interview. Also watch the accompanying video. Q: Your life in the stock market is over 25 years and there is the trading side of you and there is the investing side of you. There is the general philosophy. Let us start with the trading part of you because a lot of people know that you are a very active trader and you love trading markets always,...