PHILOSOPHY

Rewarding results are usually achieved over a realistic period of time - not overnight.
Our philosophy is geared to long-term performance, rather than short-term profit. Still, if the equities become frothy or rise beyond their intrinsic value, we either take profits and invest in other stocks with calculatedly better prospects, or move to the sidelines either by increasing cash reserves or by buying bonds.

The Stuart Way: Essential Ingredients for Successful Investment Results

1. Judgment - using rigorous fundamental analysis to the ability to recognize investment value and arrive at conclusions that are logically sound, rather than being influenced by mass emotionalism, or stampeded by rumors or tips.
2. Conviction - the courage to be a contrarian; to go against the stream of mass opinion, or popular trends. We never lose sight of the fact that time is the market, not timing the market, determines financial success.
3. Selectivity - adhering to carefully researched situations and preferably quality stocks. However, quality does not necessarily equate with size. Good values can often be found in situations that have been overlooked by large institutional investors.
4. Diversification - to follow a policy of reasonable diversification of asset classes, industrial sectors, companies and geographic areas.
5. Prudence - to safeguard against unpredictable market swings by preserving a liquid reserve - a rainy day fund to provide for emergencies, or take advantage of intermittent buying opportunities.
6. Patience - to allow sufficient time for the anticipated improvement in a company’s prospects to be reflected in earnings, dividends and ultimately, share price.
7. Discretion - to take partial profits after unwarranted up trends in stock prices, but not to abandon profitable positions prematurely and never in protection of weaker ones. The greatest rewards come from a handful of great ideas, not a series of lesser ones.
8. Flexibility - recognizing that one’s pride must be swallowed and a loss realized if an original investment decision is proved incorrect, or subsequent trends or technological changes alter the company’s outlook. It is inevitable that some investment vehicles will be errors in either judgment, or timing, and it is infinitely wiser to cut them short rather than allow them to spoil the fruits of other successful results.

Careful analysis, geared to the selection and appreciation of basic values, is a tried and proven investment philosophy calculated to produce rewarding results.