How Companies Got So Good at M&A by Bain & Company

Very interesting article by Bain & Company on how companies got better in their M&A activity. Agree with the main conclusions and take-aways why M&A is generating more value to the acquirer (better due-diligence, broader scope, more small deals, avoid big one-shots, a derivative of corporate strategy, creation of dedicated teams for M&A and integrations phases, etc...).The only question mark is the control groups of graphic 1, are we comparing similar companies or the ones with inactive or infrequent are companies that have a worse starting point, thus no access to funding to perform M&A, thus naturally with lower TSR on the long-run? Were the control groups streamlined so we are comparing properly the 3 groups, i.e. sound companies that could have done M&A and decided not to do it? https://www.bain.com/insights/how-companies-got-so-good-at-m-and-a/?utm_medium=social_advocacy&utm_source=LinkedIn-dysi&utm_content=8a26d0bd-fd5d-4772-9658-114e2695efde&utm_term=87726

- Pedro

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Chess - Daily last 30 days evolution - Road to 1500 rating

Chess - Daily Evolution - Road to 1500 rating Last 30 days up 16 in the rating for daoly games and now have a 1038 rating. Won 4games and lost 2!

- Pedro

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Chess - Rapid Evolution - Road to 1000 rating

Chess - Rapid Evolution - Road to 1000 rating Last 30 days up 198 in the rating for rapid games and know have a 647 rating. Won 15 games and lost 3! Still in the low hanging fruit!

- Pedro

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S&P 500 with a CAPE at 34 - Shouldn't it make you stop and think?

When you have a CAPE ratio of 34 vs a median of 16 since 1880 shouldn’t you think the market is overheated? i.e. when the share prices are 34x more than inflation adjusted 10 years average of earnings, does not feel expensive? I definitely do think so, especially when the periods that we had such extreme outlier or higher, beginning of 2000 and in 2021, preceded significant market crashes! This is important not only for the individual investors, but also for all the M&A activities this are currently going on! Of course, the music is still playing, and no one wants to leave the dancing floor, but we all know that usually who foots such kind of bill is not professional investor, or at least at length, and on the M&A side are the management teams that need to generate value to justify such high valuations! The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham has several insights about times like this one (a must read book). I will wait for it to burst and start my investor endeavors when it happens. This article from the Economist is a great read on the subject! What is your opinion? “…Reversion to anywhere near the mean would take an earth-shaking drop. Worse, the high cape makes such a fall more likely, by giving investors reason to dump low-yielding stocks. …” More on the CAPE ratio below llink. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cape-ratio.asp How far could America’s stockmarket fall? https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2024/04/25/how-far-could-americas-stockmarket-fall from The Economist

- Pedro

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Emperor penguin chicks jumping off a 50-foot cliff by National Geographic

Sometimes you just need one to the lead the way. Amazing video of the Emperor’s penguin chicks jumping off a 50-foot cliff. Some of them are forced, but plenty take the dive by free will. What makes them do it? The importance of a committed leader for some or the audacity of the ones without any consciousness :-) Invest 4 minutes of time and enjoy! https://youtu.be/4PwDFddpo4c?si=Si54asdt2DPbpmCf

- Pedro

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El Problema de Gettier - “Is justified belief true knowledge?”

¿Excelente articulo del País sobre el Problema de Gettier, basado en su paper “Is justified belief true knowledge?”. Gettier demuestra que no es suficiente cumplir con las 3 condiciones del conocimiento enumeradas por Platón (para saber algo tenemos de:(i) creer en ello, (ii) la creencia debe ser cierta y (iii) la creencia debe ser justificada) es necesario un poco más. ¡Recomiendo su lectura! https://fitelson.org/proseminar/gettier.pdf?sma=filosofiainutil_2024.04.30_2&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=filosofiainutil_2024.04.30_2 https://m.newsletter.elpais.com/nl/jsp/m.jsp?c=%403GoqW4iJRoVPaeXTRaFfR5rma1Bd6OJhIL%2Fy3NXa6%2FY%3D

- Pedro

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Want to learn probabilities and statistics? Check this website that provides you a visual intro to those topics

Want to learn probabilities and statistics? Go no further and check this website that gives you a visual introduction to those areas of study! Great resource. Enjoy! https://seeing-theory.brown.edu/#secondPage/chapter2

- Pedro

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