Aims and Objectives
The STAR Hub has been created to reflect the interests and investment priorities of all investors who subscribe to the ethos encapsulated in the STAR acronym – Serious, Targeted, Active and Responsible. It is intended to act as a virtual hub for all investors who are keen to learn more about ways of improving their ability to select profitable share portfolios.
Serious - but also Interesting and Profitable
By serious we mean that investment decisions should be backed up by evidence-based research into as many key factors as possible that will have an impact on the future valuation of the underlying business and hence the share price of the company. In the guidance notes that form the main component of this website we cite examples of various successful ways in which investors have analysed, evaluated and selected profitable equity investments over the past decades but we wish to stress that there is no single route to investment selection that is always successful.
We prefer to advocate that you should employ a disciplined method that best suits your individual preferences and we emphasise that success is closely related to those who build up a detailed knowledge of their investment selections. The guidance notes in the next section present an overall framework that you may test and adapt to relate to your personal objectives, risk profile and the prevailing investment conditions – what we term the “Investosphere”
We would also like to add that learning more about specific businesses can be interesting in itself while also having the added advantage of often being profitable.
Investment Targeting Pays
The investment notes that follow involve targeting specific companies and sectors using key growth and value indicators. Testing the algorithms employed by the STAR rating system and other proven share selection metrics demonstrates that carefully monitored targeting of specific investments pays off for the investor most of the time.
Active Investment
By active we do not mean that you are regularly trading shares but rather that you use a screening approach to monitor the relative value of your investments as their fortunes change and as other investors move the share price relative to the market.
Responsible investment selection is growing in popularity
Investment is, by its very nature, a forward-looking activity. Over past decades the major sources of economic growth and profits have evolved, grown and often subsequently declined. In the case of domestic UK businesses the economic focus has shifted from manufacturing through traditional high street retailing to service sector activities such as banking and insurance. More recently the shift has been to high tech sectors such as biotech and artificial intelligence. We can now add to this list the desire of the investment community to invest in products and services that meet ever stricter environmental, sustainable and governance (ESG) requirements.
This is not only essential from the ethical perspective but businesses that meet these criteria tend to be in the van of economic progress and profitability. These ESG criteria are considered as additional metrics for incorporation to the screening methods described in the next section.