Identification of Corporate Quality
As a rule, systematic quality investors identify quality stocks using a defined set of criteria that they have generally developed themselves and revise continually. Selection criteria that demonstrably influence and/or explain a company's business success or otherwise can be broken down into five categories:
1. Market Positioning: quality company possesses an economic moat, which distinguishes it from peers and allows to conquer leading market position. The company operates in the industry which offers certain growth potential and has global trends (e.g. ageing population for pharmaceuticals industry) as tailwinds.
2. Business model: According to the BCG matrix, the business model of a quality company is usually classified as star (growing business model, large capex) or cash cow (established business model, ample cash flows, attractive dividend yield). Having a competitive advantage, quality company offers good product portfolio, well-established value chain and wide geographical span.
3. Corporate Governance: Evaluation of corporate management execution is mainly based on soft-criteria assessment. Quality company has professional management, which is limited in headcount (6-8 members in top management) and has a low turnover rate. Its corporate governance structure is transparent, plausible and accordingly organized.
4. Financial Strength: Solid balance sheet, high capital and sales profitability, ability to generate ample cash flows are key attributes of quality company. Quality company tends to demonstrate positive financial momentum for several years in a row. Earnings are of high quality, with operating cash flows exceeding net income, inventories and accounts receivables not growing faster than sales etc.
5. Attractive valuation: Valuation ultimately is related to quality, which is similar to investments in real estate. Attractive valuation, which is defined by high discounted cash flow (DCF), low P/E ratio and P/B ratio, becomes an important factor in quality investing process.
According to a number of studies the company can sustain its quality for about 11 months in average, which means that quantitative and qualitative monitoring of the company is done systematically.
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