I was watching CNBC last week and listened to expert after expert rub their crystal balls and predict the best places to invest your money: gold, bank stocks, Brazil, oil companies, large cap multi-nationals, drug stocks, Japan … you name it.
That tassel loafer, Armani suit crowd from Wall Street has one of the most consistent track records I’ve ever seen … AT BEING WRONG!
It’s pretty easy to throw out enthusiastic predictions when you’re investing other people’s money. I’ll never forget a conversation I had a few years ago with one of the top mutual fund managers in the country.
I asked him how much of his own money was invested in his fund.
And his few-too-many-beers answer was, “Hardly any! You think I’m stupid?”
One of the most valuable lessons I learned a long time ago was to pay scant attention to what the Wall Street experts have to say and instead focus on what the people running businesses have to say.
And last week, three of the largest companies in the world put their money where their mouths are and made …
One of the Loudest, Boldest, and Clearest Statements You’ll Ever Hear About China!
In short, what they said was that China is still the place to invest your money.
Leading by Example #1 — Chinese computer giant returns to domestic roots:
Lenovo announced a larger-than-expected $1.09 per share quarterly loss and the resignation of its CEO last week. You know what happened to its stock that day?
It soared by 10%!
Why? Lenovo also announced that it was so pessimistic about the U.S. market that it was going to concentrate its effort on Asia and especially in China, where it already gets 45% of its sales.
Lenovo’s founder, Liu Chuanzhi, said:
“Lenovo has grown successfully on the international stage, but at this important time, we want to pay particular attention to our China business as it represents the foundation of our global business and growth strategy.”
When Lenovo bought IBM’s personal computer division in 2004 for $1.25 billion, it envisioned itself taking over the U.S. computer market. What it didn’t count on was the U.S. falling into such a severe recession that business would drop like a rock.
By the way, if Lenovo is de-emphasizing its U.S.
