Stock pick of the week: Investor AB
Safety is liberating
Scary week. Liberation Day did indeed liberate markets.
It sent them into free-fall.
I try to ignore most news. Quarterly GDP, rate cuts, non-farm payrolls etc. It’s just noise that doesn’t impact strong companies.
But the tariffs are different. They can inflict immediate pain to top and bottom lines, and force companies to rewrite strategies.
I understand why markets are freaking out.
And it’s now when investing becomes extra interesting.
This time is different
Extra interesting for two reasons:
Because prices are falling, hard, making good companies cheaper
Because I’m bent on continuing to invest. A little each week, rain or shine
I’ve been through crises and downturns before. The financial crisis back in 2008, the pandemic, and the inflation surge in 2022.
I watched markets like a hawk. I saw great companies fall to great prices. But I didn’t do much investing. I stayed on the sidelines.
This time is different.
I’m set to keep investing - and writing about it here - no matter what.
History
That said, I’m not insensitive to the destruction and suffering.
The potential for big-time disruption ahead.
I’m into history. Like many others, I see parallels between now and the 1930s.
The bubbling nationalism, the globalization backlash, the inflation swings, the escalating trade wars.
Even armament, which is ramping up again.
History tells us to keep investing.
To keep cool and keep buying, even when the sky is falling.
Cool. Got it.
But still, the 30s led to the 40s, and the 40s were a big deal.
We may have something big ahead.
Survival
By coincidence, this week I also happened to be listening to a book on investing.
Called “What I learned about investing from Darwin,” by Pulak Prasad, a successful long investor. Very good book so far.
A key concept - inspired by species that learn to survive - is how vital it can be to avoid risk.
Even the best companies can fail.
Instead of jumping at every good investment, Prasad shows that it’s better to focus on the opposite - avoiding risky investments.
Safest
I gave this some good thought.
As markets tumbled last week, I asked myself what’s the safest, strongest, least risky stock out there right now.
I decided Investor AB, and I published a post Thursday with my reasoning:
“The #1 safest stock amid tariff and market chaos?”
I explain a lot there, I so won’t here.
But the book and thought-exercise may have shifted my thinking a bit.
And my strategy.
Not just a pretty benchmark?
The idea with my fund is to build my own little Berkshire or Investor.
To slowly and surely assemble a robust group of high-quality assets that rise in value over time.
My very first purchase was Investor.
Back then, in January, I saw this more as a benchmark.
A symbolic choice and something to measure my fund against.
I didn’t plan to continue buying Investor (or Berkshire, for that matter).
You can't build a new Investor or Berkshire with Investor or Berkshire.
Or can you?
Maybe always
Because I have full faith that Investor can make it through another 30s and 40s style downturn. And come out strong on the other end.
And I might be valuing this higher now than I did before.
Sure, I want the growth that smaller, nimbler niche players can offer.
But like Prasad, I also want my holdings to survive. To make it out alive.
With potential turmoil ahead, I like the diverse, robust, high-quality mix of Investor’s holdings.
And isn’t there always potential turmoil ahead?
Meaning, maybe I should always be looking to add more of Investor's diverse, robust, high-quality mix?
Freedom
In any case, I bought a bit more Investor last week. (At around 265 SEK per share.)
I won’t every week. With markets dropping, I’m hunting even harder for great companies at discount prices.
Also, most of my other holdings show severe drops. In part due to a stronger Swedish krona. I’ll continue buying more of them.
But this week, it was Investor.
After Liberation day, I found its safety liberating.
Thanks for reading. Talk to you next week. Let’s be careful out there.
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.
Fund holdings and performance.
Equinor: -6%
Adobe: -10%
Investor: -11%
Nvidia: -17%
Pandora: -19%
Novo Nordisk: -27%
Wallenius: -30%
Höegh Autoliners: -32%