lundi 21 mai 2018

The little stock that reached 1000$

On april 16th 2012, I bought 50 shares of Constellation Software for 88,50$ each.

On paper, that stock looked great. I thought it was a total no-brainer. Everything was there: very high ROE, high growth, and a very interesting PE ratio. You didn't have to be a genius at all to buy the stock. You just had to be aware of it's existence. 

Over the last 6 years, I've never had the intention to sell my position. But I lightened it... a lot. I went from owning 50 shares, to owning 65 shares... to selling many of them, because I thought that the stock was expensive or it was too important versus the rest of the portfolio. But it always remained a very important part of my portfolio. For instance, currently, the stock represents about 7,5% of my portfolio. It's my most important stake.

Today, the stock reached 999$. Imagine: if I hadn't sold a single share, I would have 65 000$ of Constellation Software (from 5 750$ bought in 2012). That's most than 11 times your money in a 6 years time frame. That's exceptional. Very few investors can get that kind of returns over such a short period.

Would I buy right now? No, because the stock represents a large part of my portfolio. But everyone should understand that many not so solid stocks are selling for a higher price than Constellation Software.

Constellation Software is, by far, my biggest success on the stock market. 

8 commentaires:

  1. its starting to go parabolic, could be time to sell and buy back on the dip

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  2. Congratulations on finding Constellation Software early enough to make some real money. CSU is one of the truly great stocks. We were living through some really bullish years while CSU was multiplying in value...but I suspect it would have done as good or better in bad times. The bear market would have permitted a company like CSU to buy other companies out at really low prices. In bull markets you have to pay a little more to acquire another company.

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  3. It's our biggest holding. Hey, Angelo... I bought PATK. She's a beauty.

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  4. RE: Patrick Industries (PATK)
    All I want is a company with a market cap of just $1.5 billion run by a young man like Todd Cleveland (born 1968) who has been proving for years that he is a master at allocating capital.
    In the short term there are some challenges for PATK (inventory levels of the RV makers and possibly the price of oil). But consensus earnings estimates from the analysts who cover the stock keep rising and the company wants to buy back $50 million of stock.
    May Patrick Industries make you as rich as Constellation Software (although I'm predicting monster returns off of Vicario's micro cap pick Sangoma Technologies). Most penny stocks are trash but you come across that one in a thousand like Sangoma (sales up 138%, gross profit doubled, ebitda up 160%, 2 million in cash generated from operations last quarter, and they now sit on $14 million in cash to deploy for more acquisitions). I'm seeing a ten-bagger in the making once it reaches a certain size and they start to enjoy p/e multiple expansion along with that explosive growth.
    Good luck fellow investors.

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  5. I have a problem/opportunity. If billionaire hedge fund managers who are also activist investors like Carl Icahn are circling a certain oil company convinced it is grossly undervalued and intending to force a sale, should I buy in or should I pass because oil prices may decline and put downward pressure on the stock? The company is Energen Corporation (EGN). Carl Icahn is worth $20 billion or so. There's at least two other hedge funds that have a position and one of them used to work for Icahn and is now running his own hedge fund as an activist investor. Do you ride these coattails? Or just avoid commodity companies? Any opinions? The Russians and the Saudis want to produce more oil to make up for the shortages that may be looming from Iran and Venezuela. This can get a bit tricky. Any opinions?

    Here's a five minute youTube interview with Carl Icahn on CNBC:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Boy86n-1WY

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  6. I generally don't touch resource companies because in my mind they are price takers. I want price makers. What I mean by this is even if they are the absolute best run oil/gas/copper/whatever company, at the end of the day they are still at the mercy of something totally out of their control; namely the commodity price.

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  7. Saw and talked with Mark Leonard and his team from this year's AGM. Everyone seems just like Mark Leonard. They seem confident with well balanced humility, intelligent, patient and shareholder oriented. We need to find our next Constellation Software.

    Patrick and Sangoma are on my watch list but never given much time to read their filings yet. Seems like great performers.

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    Réponses
    1. Have a look @ Umanis.

      https://www.google.com/search?q=EPA:ALUMS

      Not expensive, small but growing very fast.

      CEO's are very clever!

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