๐ฃ๏ธ Investor Talk #5: Kris
Founder - From Growth To Value
Welcome to Investor Talk โ where we interview successful investors to uncover their journeys, strategies, and the lessons they've learned. Get inspired by real stories and gain valuable insights to sharpen your own investment approach.
Every interview follows the same set of sharp, insightful questions โ such as โWhat is your investment strategy?โ, โWhat are your highest conviction stocks?โ, and โWhatโs the biggest investment mistake youโve made?โ
In this edition, we have the pleasure of interviewing:
Name: Kris @FromValue
Age: 46
Residence: Belgium
Invests since: 2013 (individual stocks)
๐๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป
I have a rather broad and meandering background. I am a Master in English, Dutch and Media and Communication. My first job was as a reporter at a local TV station. After that, I worked in the Belgian Parliament for three and a half years and then I became a teacher to students of 16 to 18 years old.
When my wife was pregnant, I got some sort of primal feeling of having to gather for our unborn child, but initially, I didnโt know what to do. After focussing on investing in single malt whiskey and art, ideas my wife didnโt like, I stumbled on stocks. I had done some investing already, but through my bank and not in individual stocks. I knew nothing about it.
So of course, I made every single mistake you can think of: too much activity, leverage, value traps, you name it. It only made me more determined to find my way and I started studying ferociously. I read dozens of books, listened to hundreds of podcast episodes and read thousands of articles on sites like Seeking Alpha. There you can also comment on articles and follow people and in 2016, somebody wrote something like: โHey, I follow you because your comments are often more interesting than the article you comment on and almost as long. Why donโt you start writing articles?โ And I did. My first Seeking Alpha article was published in February 2016.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ด๐?
One of the things that annoys me most on Twitter is that people act as if there is only one good way of investing and it happens to be theirs. I agree with Joel Greenblatt when he says that the best investment strategy is the one you can stick to.
You have to know yourself very well to be a good investor. What are your strengths and weaknesses? One of my strengths is definitely that I am very calm and patient. I donโt panic if a stock goes down a lot and Iโm not too excited or scared to lose it all again if a stock triples. Thatโs why Iโm a long-term high-growth investor. I try to find companies that can multiply over time, hence the name of my service Potential Multibaggers. Of course, there will be losers, sometimes big losers, but there will also be great winners. The great thing about investing is the asymmetry between the upside and downside. You can only lose 100% (which has never happened to me) but you can gain thousands of percentages.
๐๐ผ๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐๐๐ผ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐น๐ ๐ต๐ฒ๐น๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ณ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐ผ?
I donโt know exactly, and Iโm too lazy to check it now, haha. It must be between 35 and 40.
๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐น๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฐ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ป?
I donโt think that way. I know which sectors I donโt want to focus on. Old energy (oil, coal) and commodities because they are market price takers, not makers. Banks because they are too complicated and too regulated. There are more. People often think that I mainly invest in tech, but I donโt see the industries like that. Every company that wants to survive will be a tech company. Is Shopify a tech company or is it in retail? Is The Trade Desk a tech company or is it in advertising? Is Adyen a tech company or is it in payments? Tech is the enabler for new ways of doing business.
But as I focus on growth, many of my picks are stocks of companies that can scale easily. If you have to build 5,000 new locations to grow your revenue by 20x, thatโs very hard, time consuming and expensive. If you can just add some extra modules to your platform, that is much easier, faster and cheaper.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐๐ผ๐ฐ๐ธ๐?
For the Multis, the subscribers of Potential Mulltibaggers, I have an Overall Quality Score, which I update each quarter. Some of the highest-scoring stocks are
$ADYEY - Adyen
$TTD - The Trade Desk
$CRWD - Crowdstrike
๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต ๐๐๐ผ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ต๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฟ๐ป?
I picked Shopify $SHOP as a Potential Multibagger at a (split-adjusted) $7.74, so itโs more than an 8-bagger. The Trade Desk $TTD is also more than a 4-bagger since I picked it in 2019.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ด๐ด๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐บ๐ถ๐๐๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ?
Skillz $SKLZ. Andrew Paradise was just such an awful CEO. When his brother sued him, it should have been the reason to sell the stock, but I waited longer. Eventually, I sold when it was just under $100 (split-adjusted). Itโs now at $9 or so. But it was a tiny position, at the top maybe 0.1%, so I didnโt lose much money.
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Favorite book: Iโm an avid reader, both fiction and nonfiction. But I guess you ask for investing books here. I really love 100 Baggers by Chis Mayer, 100 to 1, Thomas Phelpsโ book on which 100 Baggers was based, Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits by Phil Fisher and Peter Lynchโs books, especially One Up On Wall Street.
When we go to biographies, I liked The Snowball (about Buffett), Titan (about Rockefeller), and the autobiographies from Sam Walton (Walmart), Bob Iger (Disney) and Phil Knight (Nike).
Favorite podcast: Too many to name, so letโs stick to the very best:
- Invest Like The Best with Patrick OโShaughnessy @InvestLikeBest
- David Gardner's Rule Breaker Investing @RBIPodcast
- The Business Brew by Bill Brewster @BillBrewsterTBB
- Chit Chat Money with Brett and Ryan
- Business Breakdowns @bizbreakdowns
Favorite quote: Iโm not sure if you meant a quote from me or from someone else, so Iโll provide both. From myself: "Life and investing are too complicated for simple rules without exceptions."
From someone else: itโs very hard to pick just one of so many. But Iโll take this one: "Letโs face it. A great deal of investing is on par with the instinct that makes a fish bite on an inedible spinner because itโs moving. Investors too bite on whatโs moving and canโt sit on a stock that isnโt going anywhere." - Thomas Phelps
Favorite FinTwit account: Maybe not a socially excepted answer, but let me explain. My own account @fromvalue is my favorite account because it brought me in contact with so many great people. Not just great investors, but really awesome people! If I name a few, Iโll forget so many more, so Iโll stick to one: Brian Feroldi @BrianFeroldi . He has the talent for explaining complicated things with great, visually clear and easy-to-understand visuals. And heโs a very kind and generous man!
๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป๐ณ๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐?
Seeking Alpha: http://seekingalpha.com/author/from-growth-to-valueโฆ
Substack (free!): http://multibaggernuggets.com
Disclaimer:
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