3M Essay -- essays research papers

12 Basic Immutable Tenets   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As we all know Warren Buffett may be the most successful investor in the world. Some people try to dismiss Buffetts’ prowess of picking successful securities on the basis of a certain degree of luck or inside information that the regular small investor could never hope to have. However what many people do not understand is that, according to Robert G. Hagstrom, Buffett does not invest in stocks but in companies and their underlying businesses. and instead of luck Buffett uses his twelve immutable tenets. These twelve tenets are broken into four sections of the companies: 1) Business, 2) Management 3) Financial and 4) Market. By analyzing 3Ms’ annual report, its financial statements, and by examining all aspects of the company and its’ industry we can come to a conclusion of whether or not 3M would make an attractive investment to Buffett.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first group of Buffetts’ tenets is the Business tenets. The business tenets are broken into three areas of concentration. The first business tenet is the business must be simple and understandable. 3M has thousands of different products, a few of which are simple (and thus interesting to Buffett) such as Post-It Notes, Scotch Tape, adhesives, and cleaning agents. But some of 3Ms’ other products are not as simple such as flexible circuits, and electronic and liquid crystal displays. These highly technical products would be out of Buffetts’ â€Å"circle of confidence†, products that Buffett does not know very much about and therefore Buffett would not be able to interpret and react to developments with as much confidence. The second business tenet is that the business must have a consistent operating history. Companies with a consistent operating history are firms that are in a stable industry, have spent years producing the same prod uct, and that are not currently involved in changing directions. 3M could easily be categorized as having a consistent operating history as shown by its strong core products (Post-It notes, Scotch tape, Scotch guard etc†¦) which have dominated their market for years. Also 3Ms’ consistency can be measured by its’ longevity in the fact that 3M was established over 100 years ago in 1902. The last of the business tenets is favorable long term prospects. Favorable long term prospects ca... ...he last group of tenets, the market tenets, helps the investor decide if the price of the shares is acceptable. The first market tenet is deciding the value of the business. To value a business Buffett estimates a companies total future cash earnings and discounts the owners’ earnings by a risk free rate (30 year T-bond). 3M had total owner earnings of $2,690,000,000 in 2003. If we assume that owners’ earnings will grow by 12% per year for the next ten years (which is what analysts predict as the industry as a whole is expected to grow 11% per year) we can calculate that 3Ms’ intrinsic value in 2003 would be $35,085,216,000. Even if 3M grows at 5% per year the company would still be worth $25,780,818,000. The final market tenet, buying at attractive prices, is buying at a sensible price that will give your investment a â€Å"margin of safety†, and also buying at prices that are below their indicated value. 3Ms’ value is calculated at $63,480,000 ,000. This value is almost double our calculated intrinsic value, which would indicate to us that the stock price is too high and that 3M would not represent a good investment until the price falls to a level that would give a margin of safety.