The John Johnston Lounge

This episode includes a summary and thoughts on Alibaba's Full Fiscal Year 2023 Results, the current China economic backdrop, Alibaba’s ongoing share repurchases, a brief update on Alibaba's planned spinoffs including Alibaba Cloud, some comments from the CEO and CFO, and the overall direction of company.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

00:25 BABA the controversial stock

01:20 Alibaba the company

03:00 CEO & CFO comments

04:30 Multiple spinoff announcements

05:30 New business capital allocation priorities

06:30 Substantial Free Cash Flow 

07:10 Financial results overview

08:20 Share buybacks

09:19 Substantial net cash position 

Related episodes:

Are China Stocks UNINVESTABLE or HISTORIC VALUE OPPORTUNITY?

https://youtu.be/qfrjfIEx1vw

Mohnish Pabrai: Why I Switched from Alibaba to Tencent

https://youtu.be/v27JsHlgPZU

Using a referral link helps support the pod, thanks!

The main investment brokerage I use to buy international stocks, and to hold cash, is Interactive Brokers (referral link): https://ibkr.com/referral/john5664

I use GuruFocus for historical, financial and valuation data, screeners, charts and comparison tools, to help me make smarter long-term investing decisions (refferal link):

https://www.gurufocus.com/?r=2c95d5930bb2537b2e0265075fb66581

Disclaimer: I am not a financial adviser. This content is for education and entertainment purposes only. Do your own analysis and/or seek professional financial advice before making any investment decision.

A look at the portfolio updates of seven guru or super-investors from Q1 2023. The investors include Warren Buffett (together with Charlie Munger at Berkshire Hathaway), Mohnish Pabrai, Li Lu, Chuck Akre, Bill Ackman, David Tepper, and Thomas Gayner. See below for timestamps for investor sections, and related episodes.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

00:15 Warren Buffett & Charlie Munger - Berkshire Hathaway    

05:15 Mohnish Pabrai - Pabrai Investments

09:00 Li Lu - Himalaya Capital Management

12:08 Chuck Akre - Akre Capital Management

15:40 Bill Ackman - Pershing Square Capital Management

16:59 David Tepper - Appaloosa Management

19:49 Thomas Gayner - Markel   

Related episodes:

Mohnish Pabrai: Key Investing Lessons from "Circling the Wagons”

https://youtu.be/TqC_m7-DPfM

Warren Buffett Interview: Banking Crisis? - Highlights

https://youtu.be/2ysbmHbVVYs

Mohnish Pabrai’s thoughts on Constellation Software and Mark Leonard

https://youtu.be/HR_gJ6WOe60

Investor Li Lu is Buying MORE Google Stock | Why?

https://youtu.be/is9frHZaGYg

The AI Race is ON! Google Showcases New AI Products

https://youtu.be/xL7MvGAjdew

Is OpenAI ChatGPT Disrupting Google? Founders Come Back!

https://youtu.be/7dLT_CDITmg

I Just Bought Tesla Stock for the 1st Time!

https://youtu.be/YX76lZBp8X4

Recommended book - mentioned in this episode:

Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World's Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life, by William Green (refferal link) https://amzn.to/3WGcleJ

Using a referral link helps support the pod, thanks!

The main investment brokerage I use to buy international stocks, and to hold cash, is Interactive Brokers (referral link): https://ibkr.com/referral/john5664

I use GuruFocus for historical, financial and valuation data, screeners, charts and comparison tools, to help me make smarter long-term investing decisions (refferal link):

https://www.gurufocus.com/?r=2c95d5930bb2537b2e0265075fb66581

Disclaimer: I am not a financial adviser. This content is for education and entertainment purposes only. Do your own analysis and/or seek professional financial advice before making any investment decision.

I summarize and discuss key lessons from Mohnish Pabrai’s latest presentation, Circle the Wagons, in which he emphasizes the importance of finding and protecting your very best few investments for the long term, and how to go about doing that.

Related episodes:

Mohnish Pabrai Talks Constellation Software & Mark Leonard

https://youtu.be/xPI773-AE-I

Mohnish Pabrai on The Best Super Investor You Don't Know: Rakesh Jhunjhunwala

https://youtu.be/XwgLnnr_nCw

Stan Druckenmiller Still Predicts Hard Landing Recession

https://youtu.be/8Ue-etn4E74

Chris Mayer 100 Baggers: Stocks That Return 100 to 1!

https://youtu.be/59CuGd2aAwg

Peter Lynch's 2023 Advice on Buying Stocks - Rare Interview

https://youtu.be/sZKt5j1Rwi0

Investor Li Lu Buying MORE Google Stock | Why?

https://youtu.be/is9frHZaGYg

The main investment brokerage I use to buy international stocks, and to hold cash, is Interactive Brokers (referral link): https://ibkr.com/referral/john5664

Using a referral link helps support the pod, thanks!

I use GuruFocus for historical, financial and valuation data, screeners, charts and comparison tools, to help me make smarter long-term investing decisions (refferal link):

https://www.gurufocus.com/?r=2c95d5930bb2537b2e0265075fb66581

Disclaimer: I am not a financial adviser. This content is for education and entertainment purposes only. Do your own analysis and/or seek professional financial advice before making any investment decision.

In this episode I summarize and discuss Mohnish Pabrai’s recent comments on serial acquirer company Constellation Software, and its legendary founder CEO Mark Leonard. Pabrai had many positive things to say about the company and its future prospects. I also discuss Topicus, a recent spin-off from Constellation software. Relevant stock tickers: CSU.TO TOI.V 

Related episodes:

Mohnish Pabrai Portfolio Update: Pabrai Buys BAM Stock! (Brookfield Asset Management)

https://youtu.be/c5ivXtnz6-U

Mohnish Pabrai: Why I Switched from Alibaba to Tencent

https://youtu.be/v27JsHlgPZU

The Investor’s Podcast: TIP550 Mohnish Pabrai on The Power of Compounding 

https://youtu.be/HR_gJ6WOe60

The main investment brokerage I use to buy international stocks, and to hold cash, is Interactive Brokers (referral link): https://ibkr.com/referral/john5664

Using a referral link helps support the pod, thanks!

I use GuruFocus for historical, financial and valuation data, screeners, charts and comparison tools, to help me make smarter long-term investing decisions (refferal link):

https://www.gurufocus.com/?r=2c95d5930bb2537b2e0265075fb66581

Disclaimer: I am not a financial adviser. This content is for education and entertainment purposes only. Do your own analysis and/or seek professional financial advice before making any investment decision.

I react to highlights from the recent Google I/O keynote presentation, which features impressive competitive technologies to OpenAI's GPT-4 and wildly popular ChatGPT. Google showcases its many new AI powered products within its existing suite of products and services, including Help Me Write in Gmail and Workspace apps, Magic Editor in Google Photos, PaLM 2 (competitor to GPT-4), Med-PaLM for the healthcare sector, next generation language model Gemini, Bard (competitor to ChatGPT), Google Search AI integration (competitor to Microsofts Bing Chat AI), and more. 

Timestamps:

00:00 intro

00:38 AI Help Me Write in Gmail

01:52 AI Magic Editor in Google Photos

03:23 Google PaLM 2 vs OpenAI GPT-4

04:34 Med-PaLM 2 for healthcare

06:02 Google Brain + Google Deepmind consolidated

06:26 Google Gemini - next foundation model

07:30 Responsible AI 

08:23 Google Bard vs OpenAI’s ChatGPT

13:32 AI features in Google Workspace apps

17:26 Generative AI in Google Search 

23:15 Google's AI infrastructure vs Microsoft

24:02 Wrapping up

Related episodes:

Microsoft to Challenge Google Search Using OpenAI's ChatGPT

https://youtu.be/Vh42ZgADo5k

Is OpenAI ChatGPT Disrupting Google? Founders Come Back!

https://youtu.be/7dLT_CDITmg

Microsoft Bing Now Using OpenAI’s New GPT4 To Challenge Google

https://youtu.be/WNr9KE3nobE

OpenAI ChatGPT ALREADY at $29B Valuation!

https://youtu.be/PPSDBc7lx9g

The main investment brokerage I use to buy and sell international stocks is Interactive Brokers (referral link): https://ibkr.com/referral/john5664

Using a referral link below helps support the pod, thanks!

I use GuruFocus for historical, financial and valuation data, screeners, charts and comparison tools, to help me make smarter long-term investing decisions (refferal link):

https://www.gurufocus.com/?r=2c95d5930bb2537b2e0265075fb66581

Disclaimer: I am not a financial adviser. This content is for education and entertainment purposes only. Do your own analysis and/or seek professional financial advice before making any investment decision.

Famous investor Michael Burry just reported his first quarter 2023 stock holdings and he bought many stocks during the quarter, and sold out of a few. In this episode we take a look at the three main sectors he’s being buying in, and what it could mean for us.

Related episodes:

Michael Burry Predicts Stock Market Bottom After Bank Panic

https://youtu.be/yXkp5BhQJiw

Michael Burry Has Started to BUY Cheap Stocks! What’s Burry buying?

https://youtu.be/kzbuujGXTuI

Warren Buffett: Banking Crisis? - Highlights

https://youtu.be/2ysbmHbVVYs

Stan Druckenmiller Still Predicts Hard Landing Recession

https://youtu.be/8Ue-etn4E74

The main investment brokerage I use to buy international stocks, and to hold cash, is Interactive Brokers (referral link): https://ibkr.com/referral/john5664

Using a referral link helps support the pod, thanks!

I use GuruFocus for historical, financial and valuation data, screeners, charts and comparison tools, to help me make smarter long-term investing decisions (refferal link):

https://www.gurufocus.com/?r=2c95d5930bb2537b2e0265075fb66581

Disclaimer: I am not a financial adviser. This content is for education and entertainment purposes only. Do your own analysis and/or seek professional financial advice before making any investment decision.

Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and perhaps the greatest investor of all time, recently hosted the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder Meeting with fellow legendary investor and long-time business partner Charlie Munger. In this episode I react to highlights about how they are thinking about future investing opportunities for us and for Berkshire; one investor is more optimistic than the other.

Related episodes:

Berkshire AGM 2023 Highlights: Warren Buffett on Elon, EVs, Apple

https://youtu.be/V6SGsxYN7tw

Stan Druckenmiller Still Predicts Hard Landing Recession

https://youtu.be/8Ue-etn4E74

Howard Marks Says Historic Stock Market Sea Change Has Begun

https://youtu.be/ie_4N3v-cDs

Using referral links helps support the pod, thanks!

The main investment brokerage I use to buy international stocks, and to hold cash, is Interactive Brokers (referral link): https://ibkr.com/referral/john5664

I use GuruFocus for historical, financial and valuation data, screeners, charts and comparison tools, to help me make smarter long-term investing decisions (refferal link):

https://www.gurufocus.com/?r=2c95d5930bb2537b2e0265075fb66581

Disclaimer: I am not a financial adviser. This content is for education and entertainment purposes only. Do your own analysis and/or seek professional financial advice before making any investment decision.

Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and perhaps the greatest investor of all time, recently hosted the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder Meeting with fellow legendary investor and long-time business partner Charlie Munger. During the annual six-hour Q&A, they discussed many topics, including their massive Apple shareholding, Elon Musk and electric vehicles, share portfolio concentration and more. In this episode I react to highlights from duo's Q&A.

Related episodes:

Charlie Munger Interview with Todd Combs - Highlights

https://youtu.be/217e7NnDtkE

Warren Buffett Interview: Banking Crisis? - Highlights

https://youtu.be/2ysbmHbVVYs

Using referral links helps support the pod, thanks!

The main investment brokerage I use to buy international stocks, and to hold cash, is Interactive Brokers (referral link): https://ibkr.com/referral/john5664

I use GuruFocus for historical, financial and valuation data, screeners, charts and comparison tools, to help me make smarter long-term investing decisions (refferal link):

https://www.gurufocus.com/?r=2c95d5930bb2537b2e0265075fb66581

Disclaimer: I am not a financial adviser. This content is for education and entertainment purposes only. Do your own analysis and/or seek professional financial advice before making any investment decision.

I discuss some highlights of a recent Stan Druckenmiller interview, in which he gave his views on the difficult macroeconomic environment, bonds, the stock market, the US dollar, gold, and the hard landing recession he still sees up ahead.

Related content:

Stanley Druckenmiller Predicts Hard Landing Recession for 2023 https://youtu.be/VxpoJnbD8yo

NBIM Annual Investment Conference 2023 – Stan Druckenmiller https://youtu.be/dXxWajc-tgI

The main investment brokerage I use to buy international stocks, and to hold cash, is Interactive Brokers (referral link): https://ibkr.com/referral/john5664

Using referral links helps support the pod, thanks!

I use GuruFocus for historical, financial and valuation data, screeners, charts and comparison tools, to help me make smarter long-term investing decisions (refferal link):

https://www.gurufocus.com/?r=2c95d5930bb2537b2e0265075fb66581

Disclaimer: I am not a financial adviser. This content is for education and entertainment purposes only. Do your own analysis and/or seek professional financial advice before making any investment decision.

I discuss a new and rare interview with legendary investor and former fund manager Peter Lynch. Lynch offered his thoughts on the stock market, stock picking, his winning investment strategy, and the current economic environment and bank collapses.

Related content:

Warren Buffett Interview: Banking Crisis? - Highlights https://youtu.be/2ysbmHbVVYs

CNBC interview: Legendary investor Peter Lynch on stock picking: 'The sucker's going up' is not a good reason https://youtu.be/U-6fv09KCDw

Recommended books: 

One Up On Wall Street: How To Use What You Already Know To Make Money, by Peter Lynch https://amzn.to/3Nyo3FD

Additional Peter Lynch book titles: https://amzn.to/3p574kl

Using referral links helps support the pod, thanks!

The main investment brokerage I use to buy international stocks, and to hold cash, is Interactive Brokers (referral link): https://ibkr.com/referral/john5664

I use GuruFocus for historical, financial and valuation data, screeners, charts and comparison tools, to help me make smarter long-term investing decisions (refferal link):

https://www.gurufocus.com/?r=2c95d5930bb2537b2e0265075fb66581

Disclaimer: I am not a financial adviser. This content is for education and entertainment purposes only. Do your own analysis and/or seek professional financial advice before making any investment decision.