But first, a funny email from an IR company.
Very Funny Info for you,
Talked to my guy in Hawaii, Just hung up the phone with him like 15 seconds ago. Just started talking about you, did not mention your name, just said your strategy, he said OOH that’s Bradford, yea he is a genius and the reason I sound like him is because I get a lot of my ideas from him.
We laughed a little and talked about our stocks, he told me that you are a very good contact for me, and we should do a lot of good business together.
No wonder why he sounds like he has your investment ideas, he gets the ideas from you.
—————————————
Mr. Hawaii, buy my way out to hawaii and a surfboard and I’ll answer your investing questions!
I sort through the 20,000 stocks by hand, weeding out most of them in less than 10 seconds. That time should increase since google revamped their website. Basically, I start with large lists, here’s one for example. Now, only keep the top 10: GO!
http://www.otcbb.com/dynamic/tradingdata/download/allotcbb.txt
And I only keep the top 50 stocks worth mentioning after it’s all said and done. Basically, it’s a rolling process. You find a new stock, you compare it to what you already have, if it’s not as good, you move on. If it’s better, you toss the one out of your list and replace it, constantly updating a mental model.
I can do about 1,000 stocks a day. You can scan and sort all day long and build mathematical models, but they can’t do what a human brain does. I tried to build a mathematical model screener — don’t use it much anymore. MagicFormulaInvesting’s Gotham Capital pulled 40% annually using his screen and a bit of intuition.
There is only one challenge an investor faces, and that is not losing money. Most investors assume that they need to take large risks to get large rewards, or go mine for gold in caves when it’s paving the streets. That’s not the case. The goal is to perpetually make obvious decisions, and sometimes that may be no decision at all.
“What counts for most people in investing is not how much they know, but rather how realistically they define what they don’t know.”
Most people start with what they know. I start with what I don’t know, and then I start asking questions.
Honestly, surrounding yourself with 5-10 people like me is where I’m headed next. If each person contributes a top idea that doesn’t loose money and has upside 500%+ in the next 5 years, game over.
I guess my investing philosophy is like going to a ballpark where there are no strikes and trying to hit home runs.
Follow the greats, Peter Lynch’s PEG ratio, Graham’s P/B, Buffett’s P/E, and Fishers P/S. Good rules of thumb.
Glen
—–Original Message—–
From: Maj Soueidan [mailto:tradermaj1]
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 4:11 PM
To: Bradford, Glen Richard
Cc: kevin; zou
Subject: Re: SCLX
Their are two challenges an investor faces:
1) Navigating through 20k+ stocks in the market and narrowing that list down to a few that should be analyzed. This is where investors can use scans, highs, lows, filings etc. Investment opportunities present themselves in many venues. We like to leave no stone unturned.
2) Narrowing the list further to find “companies that make more money and are set to make more money than other companies should come with a higher price tag than other companies.” And i think you would agree that its not just about making more money.. Its also about relative valuations.
How do you compile your list of potential stocks?
Bradford, Glen Richard wrote:
> I agree with your focus on fundamental criteria. You pick better
> stocks than most, which is why I check in every once in a while to see
> what’s going on.
>
> I only have one method. My belief is that companies that make more
> money and are set to make more money than other companies should come
> with a higher price tag than other companies. Further, in instances
> where this does not hold true, a lot of money can be made.
>
> CHGI doesn’t appear to be around its 52-week high, fair enough.
>
> Congratulations on beating the average,
>
> Glen
>
> —–Original Message—–
> From: Maj Soueidan [mailto:tradermaj1
> Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 3:40 PM
> To: Bradford, Glen Richard
> Cc: kevin; zou
> Subject: Re: SCLX
>
> Glen,
>
> Our company has many avenues of identifying promising growth stories.
> A
> 52 week high is one of ten “GeoBargain” criteria but not a necessity.
> The overriding factors are the fundamental criteria. If you will
> notice,
>
> the majority of the current stocks that we initiated as a GeoBargains
> were not near their highs, although they may be now. Our staff reads
> virtually every earnings press release, runs scans, interviews
> management and performs minor technical analysis to choose our stocks,
> a
>
> methodologies that has proved successful for over 20 years. Correct me
> if I am wrong, but CHGI is not at a 52 week high. Would you have sold
> TIS around $8 when it hit a new high?
>
> Whatever criteria we use, assessing fundamental statistics will always
> be the predominant method by which we isolate promising stocks. We
> also look at stocks attaining 3 and 6 months highs as a filtering
> process and code stocks that meet our special situation criteria which
> have nothing to with momentum.
>
> In a nutshell, there are many ways to skin a cat – new lows(value
> investing), new highs(momentum investing), or scans, but in the end it
> comes down to fundamentals no matter how one chooses to compile a wish
> list. I think what must be learned is to have an open mind and not be
> pigeon-holed into one method, a philosophy that has propelled us to
> above average returns in all but one year (2008). If you would like a
> further explanation on our investment philosophy as opposed to making
> assumptions we would be glad to speak with you. We would also be open
> to
>
> learn more about your investment philosophy.
>
> Maj
>
>
> Bradford, Glen Richard wrote:
>
>> Geoinvesting only invests in stocks near their 52-week high.
>>
>> If they could only learn to buy them on the other side, they could
>> catch the run from 52-week low to 52-week high.
>>
>> But sure, they end up hearing about most of the stocks I follow.
>> Usually an indicator for me to stop buying.