Warren Buffett said many times that the companies he likes are:
1. Simple businesses that he understands
2. that have predictable and proven earnings and
3. with economic moat
4. those can be bought at a reasonable price.
GuruFocus conducted a back test study of Warren Buffett's strategy of "buying good companies at fair prices" for the years from 1998-2008.
FirstMerit Predictability Rank Calculation
In our database there are 2403 stocks that have been traded from Jan. 2, 1998 to Aug. 31, 2008. We have the complete 10-year financial data and trading prices of these companies for this period. We rank the predictability of these companies based on the consistency of their revenue per share and EBITDA (earning before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) per share over the past ten fiscal years, and study the correlation between the stock performances and the predictability of the business.
Our study may be subject to these biases and assumptions:
Dividend yields are not counted for investment returns
Effects of price changes due to spin-offs may not be fully adjusted
Study is subjected to survivorship bias due to de-listing, bankruptcy, LBO, M&A, etc.
The correlation between business predictability and investment returns of a company is showed below.
Correlation Between Business Predictability and Investment Returns
Predictables
Non-Predictable
All stocks
Total Number of stocks
570
1833
2403
Total Lost Money
61
830
891
Total Lost More Than 50%
18
412
430
Total Lost More Than 90%
4
86
90
Average Gain
260.6%
100.0%
138.1%
Median Gain
150.0%
13.0%
39.0%
Maximum Gain
2852.0%
11483.0%
11483.0%
Maximum Loss
-100.0%
-100.0%
-100.0%
Annualized Average Gain
12.7%
6.7%
8.4%
Annualized Median Gain
8.9%
1.1%
3.1%
For the 570 predictable companies, we have seen strong correlation between the predictability of businesses and the stock performances over the past 10 years, regardless of the valuation of business at 1998. Accordingly, we have ranked the business predictability from 5-star to 1-star, as shown in this table.
Thank you for viewing the detailed overview of FirstMerit's Predictability Rank provided by GuruFocus.com. Please click on the following links to see related term pages.
Firstmerit Corp was organized in 1981 under the laws of the State of Ohio, It is a bank holding company. It operates through the Bank and its other subsidiaries, providing banking, fiduciary, financial, insurance and investment services to corporate, institutional and individual customers throughout Ohio, Chicago, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Western Pennsylvania. The Company manages its operations through the following primary lines of business: Commercial, Retail, Wealth and Other. Banking services are provided by the Company's national banking subsidiary, FirstMerit Bank. The Bank's trust department offers wealth management and trust services. The majority of its customers are comprised of consumers and small and medium sized businesses. The Bank has a small international department to service clients in its markets. The Company competes with other local, regional and national providers of financial services such as other bank holding companies, commercial banks, savings associations, credit unions, consumer and commercial finance companies, equipment leasing companies, mortgage banking companies, investment brokers and other brokerage institutions, money market and mutual funds and insurance companies. The Company is subject to extensive regulation, examination and supervision under by federal and state law.
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