Commodity & Cyclical Stock
Investing Strategies
-Jiten Parmar
Twitter - @jitenkparmar
Blog – jitenp69.blogspot.in
Nov 2017
For educational purposes. This presentation does not constitute Investment advise
and is merely an effort towards enhancing learning and knowledge.
Disclosures
I am not a Registered Investment Advisor
Disclosure regarding ownership of stocks - Yes
There are ABSOLUTELY NO stock
recommendations and any examples are
illustrated for EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES.
Please do due diligence before making any
investment decision or consult a registered
investment advisor
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Evaluation
Identify the commodity/cyclical
Study the cycle of commodity/cyclical
Look at macro-economic conditions
If agri, study crop pattern nationally/internationally
If metals/mining, study production data,
supply/demand
Check for capacity utilizations
Check for capex (when many companies announce,
great signal to relook/exit)
Check the margins
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Evaluation
In agri, make decision based on crop
failure/deficient monsoon
Whether prices are domestically or
internationally controlled
Export/import possible in the commodity
Check for anti-dumping duty
Government intervention/control
Check international prices
Falling interest rates
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Higher risk, higher returns
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Process of selecting/buying
Prepare a list of the stocks with the theme (about
10)
Shortlist to 4/5 plays. Use basket approach in
investing.
Check if companies will survive another couple of
years downturn (this stress test is very important)
Wait for some companies to go bust or close
down some plants. Buy after that.
Start initial buying at highest pessimism levels.
As cycle starts turning add.
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Process of selecting/buying
Check insider buying/selling
Don’t look at PE
Price to book/replacement cost are better
parameters
Check if company has cash/manageable debt
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Some Rules I follow
Always make positional plays
These should never be 5-10 year plays
Patience - Be ready to hold for a couple of
years. One may add in that period
Make sure portfolio allocation is adhered to.
Never go more than 25% of your portfolio in
a single commodity
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An interesting analogy
Cyclical/Commodity plays are like
going to a pub. Enter during happy
hours and leave at midnight when
party is in full swing. Even if u stay
late, be near the door, or you might
end up paying the bill for others too.
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Observations/Quotes
There are different ways to investing. And each may
have its merits. Choose the one that works for you.
Successful Investor trait – remove bias, rigidity.
When good times come, make it count.
Many investors keep watching the index, watch the
stocks instead.
Good stock at bad price may underperform bad
stock at good price.
Investing is more of art, than science.
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Observations/Quotes
Understand your limitations, and work to
your strengths.
The longer the cycle, bigger the return (sugar
stocks 9x)
Never stay till the end. Start de-boarding the
train much before the last stop.
Quicker the rise in commodity price, shorter
the cycle
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Some Sample Baskets
Sugar – Dwarikesh, Dhampur, Triveni, Ugar, Rajshree
Paper – Kuantum Papers, Star Paper, West Coast Paper,
Cosboard, BILT
Cement – Deccan Cem, NCL, Saurashtra Cem, Shree
Digvijay, Andhra Cem
Metals/Mining – Vedanta, Tata Steel, MOIL, NMDC,
NALCO, Prakash, GPIL, Hind Copper
Polyfilms – Cosmo Films, Polyplex, Uflex
Fertilizers/Agro – Bharat Rasayan, Chambal,
Coromandel, Khaitan Chem
* Education purpose only. Some of them may not be relevant now as cycle could have played out.
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Examples of Triggers
Sugar – 2 years of monsoon failure in India
and failed Brazil crop in 2015.
Paper – Largest producer BILT plants closing
down.
Fertilizers – A good monsoon after 2 failed
years.
Polyfilms – Increasing delta in RM and finished
product.
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Examples of Triggers
Chemicals - China measures for pollution
control and closing of many units, ADD (anti-
dumping duty).
Metals/mining - Chinese plants started closing
down. Copper, no addition is supply. For Steel
- MSP (minimum support price), infra focus.
Infra - levy of infra cess, govt focus on Infra, 8
years of downturn.
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Why this is different ?
Buy when ratios are bad – EBITDA margins, ROE’s are
down. Company might be in loss.
Sell when these show sharp uptick and company
becomes highly profitable.
Buy when PE is 60 (or -ve) and sell when it is 6.
Buy when sector is completely neglected and sell when it
is hot.
Buy when no one is covering the stock and sell when
many buy reports come.
Basically, a contrarian approach is required.
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Examples
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Examples
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Sources
www.platts.com
www.steelmint.com
www.lme.com
www.mcxindia.com
www.zauba.com
www.mining.com
www.steel.gov.in
www.businessinsider.com
www.google.com
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