First stock purchase: Sweden's Investor AB
Maybe my most favorite company in the world
Here comes the first weekly trading update.
I’m starting to invest from scratch and documenting my weekly stock picks here in this newsletter.
For the very first purchase, I’m going with an oldie but goodie.
A symbolic choice.
A company I consider to be perhaps the best in the world. I don’t say that lightly.
The company: Investor AB.
Ticker: INVE-B.ST
Why?
I’ve seen Investor described as a mini-Berkshire. It’s a Swedish holding or investment company, with significant stakes in a wide range of blue-chip companies.
Just like Berkshire, this makes Investor a safe, solid bet.
They rose about 25% last year, far outpacing the Swedish market.
But there are a few more things I really like about the company.
Old, family-owned steward of Swedish business
First off, Investor is old.
This newsletter isn’t going to do history lessons.
So to quickly recap, Investor dates back to a guy who started a bank in the 1850s.
Not 1950. 1850.
And Investor is still run by that founding family.
Pretty cool.
There’s some belief in the market that family-run companies do better in the long term.
Who knows if that’s true in general. But for Investor, it’s certainly the case.
It’s the largest company by market cap on Sweden’s stock exchange.
And it has its hands on basically all aspects of Swedish business, including:
finance, with that original bank SEB (which I work for)
defense, with SAAB
industrial production, with Atlas Copco and ABB
telecoms, with Ericsson
appliances, with Electrolux
pharma, with AstraZeneca
and private equity, with booming EQT
In many ways, Investor is Swedish business.
A role they take pretty seriously.
The company and its controlling family take active roles on boards.
They are also heavily involved in scientific research funding and philanthropy.
And so far, they’ve done a good job making sure Swedish industry stays on track.
Big quality
So what you’re getting here is a family-owned large-cap with significant holdings and long-term, active ownership in a carefully selected group of blue-chip companies.
It’s like the best mutual fund ever, with no fees.
For someone in the Nordic region, like me, I think you could do a lot worse than just investing in Investor.
Buy and hold forever.
In fact, as I’m starting out, this investment will be my benchmark.
Over the next 20 years, let’s see if I can beat them. And if not, great. Because now I own a bit of them.
Fair price
I buy Investor at almost exactly 300 Swedish kronor ($27) per share. A P/E of around 4.5, book value of around 1. And a strong balance sheet. Debt/equity is at 0.11.
I like that nice round number for the share price. 300 kr.
But this isn’t an amazing price. There’s no real discount to its NAV.
Contrary to what I plan to do normally, I’m not buying this company with a margin of safety. I’m not buying the dip. I don’t see a huge surge ahead.
If anything, I’m guessing the Investor share will go down in the near- to medium-term along with the rest of markets.
Because like many, I see over-valued stock markets and geo-political trouble brewing, especially for Europe.
This combo can’t be good for near-term returns.
But my Investor purchase is a long-term investment into a wonderful business that I both admire and want to emulate.
And never sell.
Thanks for reading. Follow along to see how it goes.
Joel Sherwood invests each week and writes about what he buys, learns and earns. He’s a former financial journalist for Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal, and a current bank employee. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden and started the Sherwood Investment Letter in January 2025. Purchases are not recommendations.