Investing Almanac

Lakshmi Machine Works (LMW) is India’s largest textile spinning machinery manufacturer. The company’s business is organized into three business segments - textile machinery division (TMD), Machine Tools Division (MTD) and Foundry division (Foundry). Besides they have small operation in Wind Energy and has Advance Technology Center. The textile machinery business accounts for almost 85% of LMW’s revenues with remaining 15% contributed by machine tools and foundry businesses. LMW is one of the three leading textile machinery manufacturers in the world (the other two being Rieter and Marzoli). The company has been one of the prime catalysts of the textile spinning industry in India, commanding more than 50% share of the spinning machinery industry. LMW has maintained its credibility and stronghold on the industry across business cycles while maintaining its credit terms intact. Industry Analysis India's textile sector is trying to come out of one the toughest period due to...

Bharat Bijlee manufactures and distributes transformers, motors, and drivers for escalator but major revenue comes from transformers. It has been generating positive operating cash flow over the last 7-8 years, has been paying dividend and don’t have to make significant investment in next 2-3 years. It has also made little non-strategic investment over the year amounting to 400-450/Share at current market price. It operates in a pretty much commoditized industry (transformer up 220 Kv) and faces significant cost and margin pressure. It has done commendable job in managing cost and has improved productivity to manage profitability but future remains uncertain. In FY10 its revenue increased to 655 Cr from 545 Cr in FY 09 but PAT came down to 41 Cr from 48 Cr in FY09. Company has leadership position in 220KV is trying to expand the product portfolio. The company has a plan to upgrade the plant for manufacturing 132 / 220 KV transformers and intends to increase focus on project bus...

Today I am discussing about the 2nd stock in my portfolio. I bought the stock around 9-12 months back at an average price of 260. The price has moved significantly since then but I think it is one of best stock ideas I have for long term perspective. Blue Star is a leading player in centralized air conditioning, Electro Mechanical Projects and has grown 5 times over last decade as IT/ITES companies expended their operation significantly. IT/ITES companies’ growth have slowed down in the last 2-3 years and are likely to remain in single digit or low double digit over next few years. Blue Star has to depend on investment on other industry sectors to grow at the rate it has been growing over last few years. Fortunately, many sectors in India are the cusp of breaking out which should help Blue Star to maintain its growth at around 20-25% over next 5 years. Management has also been trying – organically and in-organically – to expand the portfolio of services to become one-stop stop for all ...

I have been trying to blog on and off for last year and half but have not blogged much. Investing has been new found passion, probably the only passion, of my life and I spend most of my discretionalry time on this passion. In the coming weeks, I will try to explian the reason and rationale for owning stocks I have in my portfolio. I hope it may be of some help to someone out there. About Company Gruh Finance is a subsidiary of HDFC primarily catering to lending loans to people with non-steady income sources (non-salaried class) for purchase and repair of houses in tier 2 & 3 cities. They started the operation in Maharashtra and Gujarat and since then have expanded the business Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. They disburse around 65% of loans to Gujarat and Maharashtra so have significant upside in other states. GRUH has formulated a risk management framework which lays the procedure for risk assessment and mitigation. The Risk Management Commit...