EquityMidas

Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ covers questions on the philosophy (EVM), products and processes If your question is not covered in this FAQ, please contact us over phone or email.

What is EVM?
EVM (Expectations Value Model) is an innovative and proprietary approach to identify opportunities in the stock market. It is a quantitative model to determine operational expectations from a company and the probability & viability of the company being able to meet those expectations.

Stocks meeting the viability and other quality criteria are shortlisted for investment and then ranked. Market data, ownership data and financial performance data are all critical inputs to the model.
What products do you offer for subscription?
EVM shortlists stocks with reasonable and viable expectations across the entire stock universe we group them using some specific characteristics to create a product offering. EVM can use the quarterly financial data as well as the annual data. Hence the recommendations release schedule can be quarterly, bi-annually or yearly.

Currently EVM is used to generate two annually rebalanced sets of recommendations (classified based on market capitalization of companies). Focus includes only large and mid cap stocks while Feast includes stocks from the entire listed universe.

EVM can also be applied to identify stocks for a specific sector or index constituents allowing us to create sector themed or index themed products in the future.

SOI50 uses quarterly data to identify BUY opportunities from the BIFTY50 constituents to generate quarterly recommendations.
How many recommendations are in one product?
EVM is a dynamic model i.e. the recommendations are a function of the input data. Input data among other things include company performance, market data, ownership data and a few other elements.

With the nature of the model and the input data, the number of recommendations shortlisted vary.

Understanding that the variation may not be desirable, we have now implemented a ranking algorithm to restrict the number of stocks to max 12 for Feast and 6 for Focus. For SON50 the typical number of stocks is less than 5.
What investor profile suits the different products?
This question is out of our purview as a research analyst since the answer will change based on the investor financial situation and plan.

Please do discuss with your investment advisor to get a risk profiling done to decide what suits you the best.

We do believe that investors should have a healthy allocation across small, mid & large cap companies.
How do you allocate capital to each recommendation?
What capital should one invest in any of the recommendations is out of our purview and SEBI regulations. SEBI has recently penalised a Research Analysts who did recommend weightage across the recommended stocks.

SEBI Investment Advisors are the right people to seek guidance on capital allocation after a through financial planning and risk profiling.

However, what we can share is that the conviction for each of our recommendations is same. This is because, once the stock is shortlisted, it has equal chance of doing well as other stocks recommended in the same product.
What is your typical holding period or rather, when do you recommend a SELL?
Since the model can processes data annually and quarterly, our recommended holding period is either a year, a semester or a quarter depending on the recommendations. As new stocks are shortlisted, previous BUY recommendations are recommended a SELL. Few stocks do re-appear in the new shortlist which are recommended a HOLD for new subscribers.

Focus and Feast have holding period of 1 year, while SOI50 has a holding period of 6 months.

For annually re-balanced portfolios, subscriber may also get the benefit of lower capital gains tax if the holding period completes 365 days.
Are small/micros cap recommendations more risky than the large cap?
Small caps are certainly more volatile than large caps. To adjust for this volatility (or risk), we use stringent filter criteria.

At the same time, small/micro cap recommendations have consistently delivered better returns in our back tests) than the Large & Mid cap! We hence prefer the Feast portfolio (over Focus) since it gives the benefits of holding small/micro cap stocks while balancing the risk with large/mid cap stocks.
What is the guarantee that EVM portfolios will outperform the market? What if they do not?
There are no guarantees in stock markets. Anyone giving you a “guaranteed” returns in stock markets is probably illegal.
[]br We are confident that the EVM recommendations will beat market returns over 3+ year period. Our confidence of outperformance comes from the extensive back testing of the model.
Please detail out the subscription process.
All our products have a pre-defined recommendations release schedule. This means that our BUY recommendations(entry) and SELL recommendations (exit) are released on fixed days every year. The schedule is different for different products. For Focus and Feast, the BUY recommendations are released end of May every year.

Subscription window is opened a few months before the release of our BUY recommendations. Your subscription remains valid till the current (BUY) recommendations are to be held. Once the SELL recommendation is released the subscription ends.

You can consider it as an Investment Period. The subscription is valid for one investment period. For e.g. Subscription for Focus for investment period 2022-23 is valid for all the BUY recommendations released in May & June of 2022 and will end when the SELL recommendations are released next year in the month of May 2023. BUY recommendations released in May 2023 will NOT be a part of the subscription.

When the subscription window for a product is open, you can subscribe it using the “Subscribe” button on the header menu follow the instructions on the form. Payments are accepted thru Bank transfer. We did have UPI option but have revoked that for now.

Once payment is made, please enter the last 5 digits of the payment Transaction ID before submitting the form. We will match this transaction ID with our receipts and on confirmation, enable your access to the that period’s recommendations.

Access will be typically granted within 24 hours. We will also email you when the access is granted.

In case you are unable to access the recommendations page after 24 hours of you making the payment, please call us on 98507 27817.
Why are Focus and Feast recommendations release end of May?
EVM needs the current year’s results data to identify BUY recommendations. Companies are allowed to publish annual results till end of May every year.

Since we need the data for all companies before the model can process, we have to wait till end of May to publish our recommendations.
How do I choose between the products?
This is a question most suited for your Investment Advisor to answer. Here we try to provide the differentiating characters of the products to help you decide.

Choosing the right product is a function of preferences. If you prefer investing in large companies, Focus is the right product for you. Similarly if you are looking for less volatile portfolio, again Focus fits the bill.

If you are looking to maximize your returns, Feast is the right option. Historically, Feast has delivered better returns than Focus.

Quarterly/bi-annual recommendations are for investors who prefer to take short-term bets. For e.g. Strength Of Index is suitable as an INDEX ETF/INDEFX FUND alternative. It is suitable for investors who prefer investing the largest and most liquid companies listed on our markets.

It is important for an investor to understand the characteristics of the product. Please discuss that with you investment advisor before choosing the right one.
Can I change my product subscription?

Yes, you can cancel the existing subscription (if allowed under our cancellation policy) and re-subscribe to the product of your choice. Do note that the cancellation window for every product end 1 day before the release of BUY recommendations. 

Can I cancel my subscription?
Yes you can. Please refer to the Terms and Conditions for details on our cancellation policy.

Please note that the cancellation window closes 1 day prior to the release of BUY recommendations for the product.
Can I pay in installments?

Sorry, we do not have this facility.

Explain the back testing process to help us decide our investing process.
EVM identifies such companies where expectations from the market are within the company’s capabilities based on its historical performance.

Back Testing: Once these companies are identified, we use the CLOSE price of those companies as the BUY PRICE for our back test.

Since all the companies have equal probability of meeting the expectations, we have tested the model assuming equal allocation to all stocks.

When the next year’s companies are shortlisted, we recommend SELL on companies bought previous year. Again we use the CLOSE price as the SELL price.

Using these BUY and CLOSE prices with equal allocation, we can calculate the hypothetical returns of an equal weighted portfolio. These calculations are repeated year over year to complete our back testing.

Such scenario building allows us to create real-life back test conditions, helping us build the confidence on the model.

Essentially. to simulate the back testing process, one needs to BUY and SELL the stocks on the recommendation date and ensure equal capital allocation across all the companies.

One can always use the recommendations and decide on the investment approach that is tailored to individual knowledge, experience and comfort.

You should always consult an investment advisor before choosing the best approach that suits your financial needs.
How will you communicate when the recommendations are updated?
We send out an email to all subscribers whenever the recommendations are updated. We also try to message using WhatsApp or similar messaging application.

The message will only be an intimation of the change. Subscribers will have to login to the website and access the recommendations page to view the updated stocks list.
What is the maximum charges for a subscriber?
We charge fixed fees for our recommendation service. We only charge subscription charges and nothing else. All subscription charges are for one (1) investment period/cycle for Focus and Feast. For SOI50, we charge fees annually on smallcase.

Subscribers will have access to all BUY recommendations published during the subscription period and the corresponding SELL recommendations for that investment period only.

We do not charge any performance fee, management fee, profit sharing, etc. In a nutshell the maximum fee charged to the subscriber are the subscription charges.
Do you have tie-up with brokers?
We are research analysts and that is all we do. Our only service offering is the EVM recommendations.

We do not have any tie-ups with brokerage houses or mutual funds or anyone else.

We also do not offer any service to execute your portfolios. All buying and selling will be done by the subscriber using their own brokerage/trading account. The stocks will be credited/debited into/from their own demat account.

This is why there is no restriction on the minimum or maximum amount that can invested using our recommendations. We do not expect the subscriber to disclose the invested amount or allocation.
How about statements, especially capital gains & P&L statements?
All these statements can be sought from your broker thru whom you execute the trades. We do not have access to your trades and hence cannot provide such statements.
How about KYC/Demat account and regulatory aspects?
Currently, SEBI does not mandate (in its Regulations for RA) research analysts like us to do customer KYC. This is because we provide research services and do not offer any individual advice. Our recommendations are same for all our subscribers.

Subscribers are advised to consult with their investment advisor before executing any trades based on our model portfolio.

SEBI registered Investment Advisors offer personalised investment advice and financial planning. KYC is mandatory for investment advisors due to the personalised nature of advice they offer. Further, the actual financial transactions are performed on the brokerage platform which are also responsible for KYC.
 
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Research Analyst Role

We are SEBI registered Research Analyst and not Investment Advisors. This means our expertise lies in researching and analysing stocks and giving our views/recommendations on those stocks. In our case, we publish them as recommendations.

 

An Investment Adviser on the other hand, works with you to plan your overall finances after understanding your financial goals. The advice offered by an Investment Adviser is personalised as against our recommendations which do not change based on individual financial situation/goals. Simply put, our recommendations are not personalised advice; it is the output of our research.

Unlike a PMS or a Mutual Fund, we are not involved in the actual trading of stocks. The actual buying and selling of the portfolio stocks is done by the subscriber himself/herself using their own trading and demat accounts.

Our service to subscribers is limited to giving access to the recommendations.

Value Investing

Investing is simple, buy low, sell high & make profit.  The core focus of investing, hence, has always been to identify stocks valued lower than their intrinsic value.

Any financial asset can be valued based on the expected returns (earnings, cash flow, dividends, etc.) in the future. These future returns when discounted at the expected rate of return (also called as discount rate)  yield us present value (or the intrinsic value) of the asset. Consider every company as a returns yielding machine. If you can forecast the expected returns, you can determine the present value. If the present value is higher than the market value, it is valued low and is a candidate for buying.

Value Investing is always a contrarian approach. Many great investors including Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, Benjamín Graham, Peter Lynch, have their own interpretations of value investing but all of them have this trait in common. Value Investing is a game of patience, once you make your move, you have to trust the market to correct its mistake and re-value the stock to its appropriate level.

Even when the company maintains or betters it performance subsequently, it might take a few weeks to few years for the market to revalue the company. However, once you find such a company, which you bought at a relatively low price and which continues to deliver on its operational performance, you probably never need to sell such a wonderful asset! While value investing is perfectly correct in theory, its implementation in practice is much more complicated.

Predicting the future is no mean game. Even the people managing and running the business won’t be able to make correct predictions. The solution is Margin Of Safety.  Margin of Safety gives you the leeway to be wrong on the predictions but yet be right on making gains.

Rating Rationale

  • Our BUY Recommendations are the output of our proprietary quantitative model, Expectations Value Model (EVM). EVM combines financial performance, market expectations, and quantitative assessments to determine stock recommendations. To know more about the model, please visit: https://equitymidas.com/philosophy/
  • We divide the stocks in two sets viz. Large & Mid Caps and Small Caps. Top 6 companies as determined by EVM,from each sets, are given as our recommendations.
  • EVM can only be run after the annual results are declared i.e. on last day of May every year. Our BUY recommendations are hence released typically on 31st May (except when 31st May is a weekend/holiday)
  • When the next set of BUY recommendations are available, we simultaneously give SELL recommendations for the previous year’s BUY recommendations. In other words, we re-balance the recommendations once a year. Essentially, SELL recommendations only mean that the next set of BUY recommendations have been identified.
  • These are key tenets of EVM:
    1. Operational performance of the companies should be rewarded by the market, historically.
    2.  Market expectations are within the reach of the company for the next year.
    3. Company is fundamentally sound with good interest coverage.
    4. Rank the company based on valuations and probability of meeting the expectations.
  • Since EVM is run every year, the typical holding period for our recommendations is 1 year but few stocks may re-appear in our next year’s BUY recommendations.
  • We do not have any price targets.
Rating/Recommendation
Interpretation
BUYStocks identified by EVM with potential to deliver good returns (as a group) over the next twelve months. Total expected return includes dividend yields.

DO NOTE:
EVM being a quantitaitve model, has been backtested for the set of recommendations it genrates and not for performance of individual stock. Potentially, the variation in returns of individual stocks can be very high. We do not have target prices of target returns for our recommendations.
SELLHolding period of 1 year has been completed and new set of opportunities have been identified by EVM.

EVM Guidelines for Operating Performance Classification

EVM states that the market performance of any stock is closely correlated to the underlying company’s expected operating performance. Every quarter we analyse the operating performance of the recommended stocks against the expectations calculated by EVM.

 

We rank the recommendations based on the operating performance and group them in 4 quadrants based on expectations achieved in that quarter. Here is how we group them:

 

 

QUADRANT CLASSIFICATION PER EXPECTATIONS ACHIEVED (%) EVERY QUARTER
Quarter 1Quarter 2Quarter 3Quarter 4
Quadrant 1<=20<=40<=60<=80
Quadrant 2>20 & <22.5>40 & <45>60 & <67.5>80 & <90
Quadrant 3>22.5 & < 25>45 & < 50>67.5 & < 75>90 & < 100
Quadrant 4>25>50>75>100

According to EVM, the group meeting the expectations for that quarter should deliver better than market returns.