Dear Investors,

I think the biggest test for a bull is to survive when the indices go down more then 50%. This is exactly what happened in 2008. Inspite of all the (wrong) calls that we made stocks kept tumbling down to such an extent that at one point in time even I thought whether it was worth all the pain.

However in my limited history of investing I have learnt that stock market investing is not about getting out when the going is bad and getting in when the going is good. It looks good on paper and never seems to come out of it into the actual world. Anyone who has been consistently investing for 20 years has made tremendous money more then any general business could or for that matter any job.

In times like these it is better to knock off a greater proportion of risk from the portfolio and stick to large established names till one gets a chance to punt on a stronger mid/small cap theme. Just buying a company based out of its market cap will get you nowhere. That is because finally stock prices are slaves to earnings and not to market cap.

So my strategy has kind of changed over the last few months. I am looking more at the larger capitalised companies rather then blindly buying hope (companies with small market cap and no/unpredictable earnings).

Whatever be the style the objective is that the stocks which I buy should increase in value (value is different from price) either through increasing EPS or otherwise. If EPS keeps on rising at a stable rate then there would be a commensurate price movement. It becomes just a waiting game then.

The Equity Desk XI which was loaded with financials and midcaps has suffered as much as the sensex but when markets fall everything gets butchered the distinction if ant\y will be made on recovery.

Regards,

Basant Maheshwari

Yes, from what I have managed to track.