📖John Templeton
Quality at Bargain Prices
Buy quality companies when they are temporarily cheap.
The time to buy the best quality stocks is when they are temporarily depressed. Quality always recovers, but you must have patience.
🏠 Everyday Analogy
📖 Core Interpretation
In Quality at Bargain Prices, John Templeton focuses on the gap between price and value. Returns come from paying less than what a business is worth, not from guessing short-term market moves.
💎 Key Insight:Quality at a discount is the ideal combination.
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❓ Why It Matters
Ignoring valuation turns even good companies into poor investments. Overpaying compresses future returns and leaves little margin when assumptions are wrong.
🎯 How to Practice
Estimate intrinsic value with conservative assumptions, set clear buy ranges, and act only when price offers a meaningful discount with acceptable downside.
⚠️ Common Pitfalls
Confusing a low price with true cheapness
Using one metric without business context
Overly optimistic assumptions that erase margin of safety
📚 Case Studies
1
Early Investment in South Korea (1962)
Templeton invested in obscure South Korean companies when the country was poor, politically unstable, and largely ignored by foreign investors.
✨ Outcome:Substantial returns as South Korea transformed into an export-driven Asian tiger, reinforcing his case for broad global diversification.
2
Buying at the Outbreak of WWII (1939)
Templeton borrowed money to buy 100 shares each in 104 depressed U.S. stocks trading under $1 as war began in Europe.
✨ Outcome:Within about four years, around 100 of the positions were profitable, several multi-baggers, establishing his bargain-hunting reputation.
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