Investing journey of an imperfect investor

Samarth_Nagpal · September 14, 2025, 5:17am

It’s been a year since I wrote about the above PF which was duly constructed over a span of more than 2 years before I penned down.

So all in all the top 4-5 stocks had been given a healthy run of 3-4 years without any new addition until last couple of quarters.

Over the last 2-3 months have done more profit booking than I had actually planned strictly basis results, expectations & management commentary & actions playing out.

My thesis over last 1 year was that market was going to become difficult to make money & hence my actions more oriented towards rotation & deploying less of fresh capital & watching if any major opportunity presented. It has been a strategy I’ve executed across PFs & has helped maintain good cash position as well as peace of mind. It has also helped reduce churn as markets have given multiple false hopes & stocks have given multiple false rallies.

Coming to recent times, the biggest mystery to take action upon post & before Q1 has been the somewhat delay in announcement of capex by Shilchar. Now they are known to take their own course & go with their plans, so in hindsight it wasn’t a surprise.

But the delay in capex announcement seems to have taken its toll on stock price now particularly keeping the market conditions into consideration.

I was hesitant to sell it at the top & started selling once it showed signs of exhaustion as it moved towards 5500-5600 levels after having dropped down to 5200-5300 levels. Have sold some position & gains lead to elevated cash levels. This is the first time I’ve sold Shilchar in close to 3.5 years & still retain a good position to play with.

Ethos now is part of only family PF. I feel with current expansion & model, the earnings growth will have a drag. It’ll be more of a compounder & hence sold that off in own PF to look at some other opportunities or add onto those recently added.

I have added some more Windlas Biotech & a lot of Sandhar over last 2 months.

It is a phase of staggered buying for me & nothing much to add onto apart from the fact that this still for me is a stock picker’s market giving ample opportunity to evaluate, reject & accept companies into PF.

Disc: Not authorised to advise & no reco on stocks. Pls do own diligence

Samarth_Nagpal · September 27, 2025, 6:43pm

We follow many frameworks & marquee investors also have their trademark frameworks to work upon, which novices like us borrow from.

Having followed different approaches to the market & having constructed PFs from scratch, I’d been contemplating to pen down what has worked or rather could work in future as well.

In the past I had put a video taking inspiration from cricket & had penned down my understanding of market in May taking inspiration from Tennis, hence it’s no surprise that this small framework also draws its inspiration from a sport called Basketball.

Now in Basketball one of the most exhilarating parts of game is when a player scores through Slam dunk which is a glamourised scoring shot as one has to manoeuvre through impossible spaces & get the task done on his own or rather be there at the right time to score for his team.

The joy one gets is immense. But then the ability to master it or specialise in it comes after years of practice. Ofcourse taller players or well built players have an advantage but it isn’t that it’s impossible for others to do it.

Now a few points might sound repetitive but let’s see how SLAM DUNK framework could help one select good Businesses.

This isn’t fool proof but could be one of the starting points qualitatively.

𝘚- 𝘚𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴
𝘓- 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 & 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘥
𝘈- 𝘈𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘣𝘪𝘨 & 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘺𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 & 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦
𝘔- 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘩 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘴 & 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘥

𝘋- 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦. 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘥𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰
𝘜- 𝘜𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘬𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 & 𝘜𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵
𝘕- 𝘕𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘕𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘰 𝘜𝘯𝘰 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 & 𝘊𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 &
𝘒- 𝘒𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘺

As an investor our job is to find these SLAM DUNK stocks or rather businesses.

Ofcourse be prepared that the promises might fall short with headwinds right there or a bigger industry player blocking right at the end.

Or the player might not make it to the league even after so much promise or just get injured at the wrong time.

But even one SLAM DUNK stock could help our PF become a winner & bring a smile on our face :)

Samarth_Nagpal · November 11, 2025, 12:09pm

Start of November note- Thoughts as we entered November

Samarth_Nagpal · November 28, 2025, 4:55am

For Oct & November, I’ve been a net seller & taken some more profits off table. Have taken exposure in V2 Retail & Arvind Fashions but that’s minimal exposure. Have sold a lot of Shilchar now & on allocated capital it is no longer a top 4 holding.

Cash remains at elevated levels with minimal capital deployed since last year second half & more profit booking being done.

Taking a chance as I feel that even if I’m late, I won’t lose out much.

Below is my note at November end as I tend to write free flowing thoughts. It’s been a difficult journey last one year but glad to have been somewhat bearish & not going aggressive on allocating more cash.

I’ve been waiting patiently now & reading more & cleaning up PFs. No stock is a recommended & I’m not authorised to recommend.

Samarth_Nagpal · December 17, 2025, 5:56am

Cash remains at elevated levels. Since October end have been an aggressive net seller. The liquidity in small caps is disheartening. In November & December have added 4 new companies with allocations that are like testing the waters.

Had added some silver ETF too around 135-140 in October end & topped up in November as well.

V2 Retail Arvind Fashions added in November. With aggressive store expansions & a likely good winter season with clean strategy, they are also holding up quite well.

In December have added RACL Geartech & NRB bearings to own PF. Both have excellent managements & seem to be coming out of headwinds too.

Nothing much to do & still in the mode that can enter anytime without any regrets.

Disc: No recommendation & biased & not authorised to recommend.

Samarth_Nagpal · December 24, 2025, 6:06am

Dec end Note-

Being Stubborn just like you’ve been !

A short, but thought clearing post as December almost gets wrapped up. Sitting on sidelines waiting for Jan for market to reveal its earnings side. The silver line this month has been the resilience shown by 3-4 companies that have been recently bought, aside supremacy of silver that turned out to be super good trade taken in October end.

Two new companies just to add up from the ancillary space I’ve been quite bullish on to add to two retail companies bought in November. Now having said that have been stubborn to sit on ample cash just like the market has been stubborn when it comes to moving the prices of the scripts.

What keeps busy is an endless list of web series, some fiction & some concalls of watchlist companies that I had specifically procrastinated going through as the narrative of most things getting undervalued would’ve tempted to buy more than my stubbornness could afford.

When to buy aggressively? I don’t know

Time to sell more? I don’t think so, having gone all guns blazing in October end but then result season could make me make some decisions of course post results & commentary now.

As we enter January, the patience that I was fearing that I’d lose is back, courtesy some greedy buying as stated above.

I hope Jan & if not Feb & if not one of the months in CY26, makes me go all in. Till then Silver has been off late the silver lining in a struggling market :)

Disc: Just my thoughts. Not authorised to recommend & no recommendation