gamesinvestor
06 Aug 2017
Re: That boy Terry sticks the boot in! " The fact that AZN's ROCE is currently low doesn't mean it's going to remain so."Yee Woo, I see your point and some of the tone of Terry's article might appear rather pointed at Woody, but given he gave warning of some of the activities 2 years ago I think his points are valid.It's not so much that AZN could pull some rabbits out of a hat and increase ROCE, it's the underhand reporting, or more accurately "not reporting" that he is aiming his arguments at here.Games -- Terry should address the attitude perhaps but his points are spot on and I think AZN is dangerously guilty here.
gamesinvestor
06 Aug 2017
Re: That boy Terry sticks the boot in! "the-end for the Tobacco stocks that Terry Smith enthusiastically holds!!"Well Woody would be pretty foolish to write such an article given he is a large shareholder (or more accurately his fundholders) of IMB.He's also been a long term holder of Reynolds and BATS, only these has he recently sold.Games
gamesinvestor
06 Aug 2017
Re: That boy Terry sticks the boot in! Well - It's not just the drugs is it?Prov Financial; AA; Allied Minds; Centrica; RR; North West Bio; CircassiaThese are not just set backs, they are big losses. And the lastest picks could not have been worse timed :-Taylor Wimpy; Barrat; Redrow at the top of the housing market?Perhaps it's all a short term blip -- but is seems to be repeated for years now.Games
Yee Wo
06 Aug 2017
Re: That boy Terry sticks the boot in! I am a fan of Terry, I disagree with him here though. The fact that AZN's ROCE is currently low doesn't mean it's going to remain so. Tesco, is self evidently, a completely different business with far lower barriers to entry and far higher fixed capital requirements than AZN. I'm not exactly Bullish on AZN but it does, IMHO, justify a 2% of my Pot-punt. I'll also be keeping-the-faith with Glaxo and Smith & Nephew!!Woodford could, quite easily, of written a similar piece last week proclaiming the-end for the Tobacco stocks that Terry Smith enthusiastically holds!!
LK Hyman
06 Aug 2017
That boy Terry sticks the boot in! I've read Terry's FT article comparin' AZN with Tesco, and it seems to me that the boy's 100% right. AZN was quite wrong to exclude restructuring, exceptional legal costs, and intangible asset amortisation from core earnings back whenever it was (it was 2007).The slump in ROCE since 2006 is especially telling [do you see what I did there?], and makes me happy that I've sold out 100% from AZN.I suspect that Terry wrote his piece largely in order to stick the knife in Woodentop and, if he did, he's succeeded big time, so far as I'm concerned.[link] on the flybridge and he [Terry} should know
gamesinvestor
06 Aug 2017
Woody's fortnight from hxll [link] of the biggest 12 companies in Mr Woodford’s portfolio experienced dramatic falls in value, resulting more than £250m worth of losses.""Everyone still convinced this is just coincidence?Games
gamesinvestor
06 Aug 2017
Re: FT article Good article, glad I left the party some time back -- Glaxo also, more recently.It's hard to reallocate the capital of course, but I'd rather have it in cash than in companies that keep taking these risks and are sliding on a downtrend.I think I agree with Terry, I'm done with the high risk, high cost pharma approach. Medical devices and more mainstream everyday drugs seem safer although I have no idea how to value companies like Smith and Nephew so I'll stay clear of that also.Games
LK Hyman
06 Aug 2017
Re: SP slump unwarranted - says Neil Woo... Bill,"can I interest you in a few Card Factory? ... perhaps a bit of M&S??"I fear not, m8, though mebbe not for the reasons you might expect.The raw numbers look OK, I grant you [I'm takin' you on trust here, 'cos I haven't actually looked closely at either mesen] but both companies lack a certain something that I like to see in companies awarded the Hyman shekel. That something is a hook to attract my attention and interest.I'm afraid I chust can't get excited about a company that sells cards, even if they do employ a lot of people to cut out the cardboard and think up amusing pics and tags to put on the front.As for Marks and Sparks, it looks to me like a company whose best years are far behind it. Yes, the food is excellent and, the last time was in one, I marvelled at an elderly dowager in front of me at the checkout who spent a small fortune on stuff that she could have bought far more cheaply at Waitrose, let alone Aldi/Lidl. However Mrs LKH informs me that the quality of their underwear has taken a definite turn for the worse. And, although I am not an expert on women's fashion [gasps of disbelief], I look at some of the stuff they churn out and am frankly unimpressed. Does anyone actually wear a jumpsuit or ... God help us ... a playsuit these days? And what the sam heck are "jeggings"?I shall watch the share price of both companies with interest but will not be joining you on the share register.Meanwhile I shall be digging deeper into a company in which I have long been interested but have always thought was too expensive (sound familiar?) .... Croda. Not sure whether it will fully satisfy Terry's big criterion of lack of correlation (with ULVR for example) but it does a lot of interesting things in far off places of which we know little, such as the Amazon. That intriguesLKH on the flybridge who needs to find amusement in his investments
TalygarnTom
06 Aug 2017
Re: FT article This link works for me. [link] search" AstraZeneca is beginning to look a lot like Tesco" in Google and you'll find several other news sources with the same article. I use Chrome and also find that if you refresh the browser you can access most of the FT articles.
MyHobby
05 Aug 2017
FT article Sorry to sound like a cheapskate internet sponger but anyone got (free) access to Fat's article today re. AZN...and the fact that they are beginning to look like Tesco (a worrying comparison)?As a middle aged accountant with brown shoes, I still judge companies by PE, debt level, cash flow etc. And AZN is still looking viable.Thanks,D
Bill1703
05 Aug 2017
Re: SP slump unwarranted - says Neil Woo... "Not sure if I should sell it and forget about it... or just forget about it."Yes, Games, probably still the latter ... all joking aside, Next will probably do you fine from below £40 - I would probably have been tempted by a few down there, if I didn't already have my M&S, and an otherwise pretty heavy weighting in U.K. Retail.Though we will see if it can sustain this recent rally - the trading update was hardly bullish, merely that things are holding more or less at the new, lower levels, and it's all very redolent of M&S recently, where a decent update (but again, more a case of things not getting any worse) carried the shares up to 390p or so - only to see it subsequently retrace all the way back.The risk/reward looks pretty favourable @ £40, I can see the highly-regarded management team delivering from there... but M&S still the better bet for me at these levels - the better, more balanced retail story, and the better valuation.
gamesinvestor
05 Aug 2017
Re: SP slump unwarranted - says Neil Woo... "Forget Next "Bill - I bought it at 3950 and forgot about it for a while.When I looked up it was up 11.4% + a £1.5 dividend making it 15% in about 3 weeks..Not sure if I should sell it and forget about it, or just forget about it.Games - Next !!
gamesinvestor
04 Aug 2017
Re: SP slump unwarranted - says Neil Woo... LK - You should have followed Woody's lead m8 and bought the builders, now that Help to Cry scheme is under fresh scrutiny by the intelligent top boys in govmint.TW -- down 3.43%BDEV - down 4.53%PSN - down 4.01%Oh and he bought Redrow in the Income fund :-RDW - down 1.35% -- not as exposed to the help to buy scandal as the top 3.Games -- You build em up, I'll shoot em down !!
Proverbs 26 vs 5
04 Aug 2017
Re: SP slump unwarranted - says Neil Woo... LKH: you could make a case that buying tobacco shares is investment vertical integration; they create the demand that AZN with their IO seeks to satisfy.Off topic IO is classical greek for violet.
LK Hyman
04 Aug 2017
Re: SP slump unwarranted - says Neil Woo... Bill,"Now that's a nice theme for me to put alongside another theme that I think that my 16/17 shares are likely to be influenced by .... "the world needs to be greener and it needs to eat"."Well, two days ago I bought the first of my 16/17 shares and [wouldn'tcha know it?] it's totally inconsistent with my themes of greenness and the need to eat .... and it is [pause for drum roll] Imperial Brands LOL ... and I'm already up by 3%, so thanks for the tip.I was impressed by your analysis of its prospects and the Alison raver's promise to jack up the divi by 10% a year in perpetuity [or summat].Having always disapproved of baccy shares in the past, and never having owned any for that reason, I feel a bit guilty, especially in the light of having promised mesen that my portfolio rejigging would be marked by its planet-saving focus, but, hey, anyone's entitled to ONE evil share outta 16 or17, innit though?LKH on the flybridge I wonder if I can keep my QQ as well? ... that Talon black robot is very appealing
