“Most businesses consume cash. Very few ever create it for the security holder on a regular basis.” — Martin J. Whitman, founder of Third Avenue Management Download the Slide Deck (PDF) : Direction_of_Absorption Listen to the deep-dive discussion – The Direction of Capital Absorption I. The Flow Between Two Reservoirs Every business is…
Author: J. Dubé
Hello World! The purpose of this blog is to help people become better stocks investors.
When Growth Destroys Value – What the Dean of Valuation Sees in the SpaceX IPO
“Growth, when it’s accompanied by huge amounts of reinvestment and substandard gross margins, might not just be neutral to value, but actually be value destructive.” — Aswath Damodaran, The Intangible Economy, June 2026 Download the Slide Deck (PDF) : The_Physics_of_Value Listen to the deep-dive discussion – Why SpaceX Growth Might Destroy Value I. The Heresy…
Why Visa Earns 30% But You Get 12% – The Recycling Spread and the Deep Mechanics of Compounding
« Truly great businesses, earning huge returns on tangible assets, can’t for any extended period reinvest a large portion of their earnings internally at high rates of return. » — Warren Buffett “Over the long term, it’s hard for a stock to earn a much better return than the business which underlies it earns. If…
Heavy Tolls and Light Tolls – When the Cost of Growth Becomes a Moat
“A fat wallet is the enemy of superior investment results.” — Warren Buffett Download the Slide Deck (PDF) : Heavy vs Light_Tolls Listen to the deep-dive discussion – Why giant wallets need heavy moats I. The Framework in Brief A short orientation for the reader new to this collection. Every business contains two forces….
Toll Position – The Architecture of the Permanent Wave
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” — Blaise Pascal “The big money is not in the buying or the selling, but in the waiting.” — Charlie Munger Download the Slide Deck (PDF) : Toll_Architectures Listen to the deep-dive discussion – The Invisible Tolls Of Global Capitalism…
The Toll Collects – What the SpaceX IPO Reveals About S&P Global and MSCI
“You paid for a front row seat. Don’t miss the show.” — Nobody (Terence Hill), My Name is Nobody (1973) “Nobody pays attention to the guy who collects the tickets at the gate.” — attributed to Nobody Download the Slide Deck (PDF): Owning_the_Index Listen to the deep-dive discussion – Index Giants Own the SpaceX IPO…
The Double Swell – How S&P Global Graduated to the Rarest Architecture in Investing
“I don’t think there’s ever been a swell that big. There were no sets. It was just line after line after line, as far as the eye could see.” — Laird Hamilton Download the Slide Deck (PDF) : The_Double_Swell_SPGI Deep-dive discussion – The Double Swell : How S&P Global Graduated to the Rarest Architecture in…
The Gap, the Gift, and the Guarantee – What You Actually Buy When You Buy a Great Business
“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” — Warren Buffett Listen to the deep-dive discussion – The Gap the Gift and the Guarantee Download the Slide Deck (PDF): The_Financial_Architecture I. The Floor The traditional approach to valuation projects growth—estimates future cash flows, discounts them at a rate that blends the risk-free…
Why Berkshire Is Right About Google – The Alphabet Reinvestment Thesis
“I feel like a horse’s ass for not identifying Google. We screwed up.” — Charlie Munger Listen to the deep-dive discussion – Why Berkshire Hathaway Bet on Alphabet AI Download the Slide Deck (PDF) The_Alphabet_Architecture I. The Decision Worth Defending When Berkshire Hathaway committed $10 billion to Alphabet at roughly $350 per share,…
$190 Billion to Grow – What the AI Race Reveals About the Cost of the B
“For the investor, a too-high purchase price for the stock of an excellent company can undo the effects of a subsequent decade of favorable business developments.” — Warren Buffett Listen to the deep-dive discussion – Why Alphabet dilutes shareholders for AI Download the Slide Deck (PDF) : The_Growth_Ledger_Averagingup I. The Headline On June 1st,…