As Moneycontrol Pro turns 1, a note to readers from the Research Team

Dear Reader, This is not the perfect time to celebrate a birthday, but as your trusted advisor, there is also no better time than this crisis of a millennium to share our expertise. As we look back, the past year has been nothing short of challenging and while most investors haven’t had superlative returns on their investments, we can claim with pride that we have always been with them with timely, sensible, measured and well-researched advice. The research team and its offering is unique in many ways which makes it a standout feature of Moneycontrol Pro. The team is manned by professionals with a rich mix of sell-side broker research and buy-side money management experience, and we view ourselves more as financial advisors to investors (needless to say, we all have the requisite certification from the regulator) rather than just research analysts. This has an important bearing on the quality of advice. Before putting out any recommendation, an internal brainstorming is done to gauge if the team would put their own money into the research idea being recommended. The year 2019 was showing early signs of stress and we spottedc it early enough despite the pre-election euphoria. We advised against experimenting with momentum plays and stuck to identifying well-established, resilient businesses that could weather the macro headwinds better than others. Although the names sounded boring, it was these insipid handful picks that saw the headline index through in its journey in 2019. Our penchant for quality, however, did not prevent us from spotting multi-baggers elsewhere. [caption id=“attachment_8322051” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Logo. Pic courtesy: Moneycontrol[/caption] Sample this: Polycab (doubled in six months), Mas Financial (99 percent in one year), Tata Consumer (100 percent in one year), Rites (83 percent in 8 months), GRSE (187 percent in 10 months), IRCON (43 percent in 9 months), Navin Flourine (87 percent in four months), Aavas Financiers (163 percent in one year), IRCTC (6 times in 3 months) and the list goes on. While we identified some promising businesses early at the time of IPO, our hawk eye for quality did not deter us from acting on our convictions by issuing early warning on businesses that weren’t sound enough or where valuations left no room for upside. We have from time to time warned investors of what not to buy and when to get out. Not just stocks; we did our best to educate young minds with our knowledge series on several sectors so that investors themselves are adept at spotting warning signs in the companies they are invested in. Our scholarly series on different aspects of investing would have given you enough food for thought in your investment journey, busting common myths and giving you the ability to separate the wheat from the chaff. While all this might sound too much of “boring knowledge” and long-term fundamental investing, we have the Weekly Tactical Pick for the momentum seekers. The stocks recommended here have a blend of fundamental with technical. For instance, it could identify a short-term mispricing opportunity like Tech Mahindra, which we identified at its bottom or it could be a possibility to ride on higher fund flows as our present favourite stocks from the consumer staples universe. Although a weak macro made us broadly cautious on a large section of companies belonging to small and micro-cap space, that did not make us lazy not to spot some of the small gems like Kilpest (93 percent in 12 days), Tyche (100 percent in 5 months) Solara Active (52 percent in 8 months), Balaji Amines (66 percent in 7 months) etc. In the wake of the coronavirus scare, we were early to analyse its impact on key sectors and provide you with a rational analysis of where markets could bottom and how you could restructure a bleeding portfolio to take advantage of the correction. Our endeavour to spot the probable winners and losers continues in these challenging times and we are confident that the passion and hard work of this team will guide investors to take the most well-informed decision as we overcome this challenge together. We will continue to find gems with high quality balance sheets, strong managements and business visibility from the dust. Stay safe and invest wisely. P.S.: On the occasion of Moneycontrol Pro’s 1st Anniversary, as a token of gratitude to its readers, Pro has introduced a range of exciting exclusive benefits worth Rs. 20,000 for existing users. Potential users who subscribe by May 7 too can avail these benefits. Yours truly, Madhuchanda Dey Head of Research Moneycontrol