Why I sold my Tripadvisor shares

I sold TripAdvisor this week for several reasons: Revenue concentrationGoogleSale/IPO of Experiences business Revenue concentration TripAdvisor is still too dependent on Booking and Expedia. Booking and Expedia combined contributed 34%, 25% and 33% of TripAdvisor’s revenue in 2021, 2020 and 2019. New initiatives over the 2019-21 period such as TripAdvisor Plus and display advertisements appears … Continue reading Why I sold my Tripadvisor shares →

Stock picking criteria

Choosing winners is hard. So I came up with a stock picking checklist based on my past mistakes to see if I can improve my stock picking skills. My strategy involves picking two categories of stocks: “Compounders” and “Deep value”. “Compounders” are stocks which can increase their earnings over the long term. Holding such stocks … Continue reading Stock picking criteria →

2020 year in review, most popular posts and 2021 wishlist

This year is finally coming to an end but I'm grateful that most of my portfolio stocks are winners. iFAST basically rescued my overall portfolio with the stock being a 3 bagger since I picked it. Small and fast growing platforms can be amazing multi-baggers! I'm hoping that the other platforms in my portfolio such … Continue reading 2020 year in review, most popular posts and 2021 wishlist →

TripAdvisor: Don’t check out yet!

TripAdvisor Q1 results are out and they are ugly as expected. Q2 will be even worse but TripAdvisor should be able to ride out this downturn. TripAdvisor has cut expenses dramatically including 22% of its workforce while suspending CEO salary for the rest of 2020. In a worst case scenario where sales drops to zero, … Continue reading TripAdvisor: Don’t check out yet! →

Zero sales test

How long can a company survive with zero revenue? The COVID-19 crisis has forced governments to restrict movement so restaurants, hotels and travel companies are faced with a grim scenario where revenue drops to zero. The cyclical companies in my portfolio such as China Aviation Oil, TripAdvisor and HRNet are vulnerable but I subjected all … Continue reading Zero sales test →

2019 year in review and most popular posts

This year was a tough year for my portfolio with 4 out of 6 stocks in the portfolio posting negative returns since I wrote about them. Date purchased Start Now Dividend return (%) Capital return (%) Total return iFAST 22-Apr-18 0.92 1.03 7% 12% 19% Kingsmen 29-Apr-18 0.59 0.45 8% -24% -15% SOG 3-Jun-18 … Continue reading 2019 year in review and most popular posts →

TripAdvisor: Huge travel platform trading at 9% free cash flow yield

I normally don't write about US companies but TripAdvisor (TRIP) was too cheap to resist. TripAdvisor recently paid its first ever dividend, (USD3.50 special dividend) so there's a chance the company could pay dividends in the future. TripAdvisor is currently one of the bigger positions in my portfolio. TripAdvisor is a travel research platform which allows … Continue reading TripAdvisor: Huge travel platform trading at 9% free cash flow yield →