英文早读第29篇,选自巴菲特年度信,友才翻译。
Our second category consists of "work-outs". These are securities whose financial results depend on corporate action rather than supply and demand factors created by buyers and sellers of securities. In other words, they are securities with a timetable where we can predict, within reasonable error limits, when we will get how much and what might upset the applecart. Corporate events such as mergers, liquidations, reorganizations, spin-offs, etc., lead to work-outs. An important source in recent years has been sell-outs by oil producers to major integrated oil companies.
第二个范畴包含套利类。这些股票的财务成果取决于公司运作而不是股票买卖双方的供需因素。换句话说,这些股票有我们可以预测的时间表,在合理的错误范围内,何时我们获得多少收益以及哪些情况可能会打乱计划。公司行为类似合并、清算、重组、独立等将导致套利。最近这些年一个重要来源是原油生产上出售给大型合成油企业。
This category will produce reasonably stable earnings from year to year, to a large extent irrespective of the course of the Dow. Obviously, if we operate throughout a year with a large portion of our portfolio in work-outs, we will look extremely good if it turns out to be a declining year for the Dow or quite bad if it is a strongly advancing year. Over the years, work-outs have provided our second largest category. At any given time, we may be in ten to fifteen of these; some just beginning and others in the late stage of their development. I believe in using borrowed money to offset a portion of our work-out portfolio since there is a high degree of safety in this category in terms of both eventual results and intermediate market behavior. Results, excluding the benefits derived from the use of borrowed money, usually fall in the 10% to 20% range. My self-imposed limit regarding borrowing is 25% of partnership net worth. Oftentimes we owe no money and when we do borrow, it is only as an offset against work-outs.
这一类将年复一年产生可观的稳定收益,很大程度上不受道琼斯指数的影响。很明显,如果我们基金运作一整年在我们投资组合中大量的套利类股票,我们将看起来相当出色在道琼斯指数下降的年份,或者相当糟糕如果道琼斯指数强力上涨的年份。在这些年,套利类是我们第二大范畴。在任何时间,我们或许有10到15支套利股票;一些仅刚开始,其他的处在他们发展的后期阶段。我相信可以使用借款来抵消套利类股票的资金,因为这一类有很高的安全度无论是最后的结果还是在市场行为期间。扣除使用借款的利息,结果常常在10%到20%的比例。我自己规定的限制是合伙基金净值的25%。大部分时间我们不欠钱,当我们借钱时,他只是用来弥补套利类。
The final category is "control" situations where we either control the company or take a very large position and attempt to influence policies of the company. Such operations should definitely be measured on the basis of several years. In a given year, they may produce nothing as it is usually to our advantage to have the stock be stagnant market-wise for a long period while we are acquiring it. These situations, too, have relatively little in common with the behavior of the Dow. Sometimes, of course, we buy into a general with the thought in mind that it might develop into a control situation. If the price remains low enough for a long period, this might very well happen. If it moves up before we have a substantial percentage of the company's stock, we sell at higher levels and complete a successful general operation. We are presently acquiring stock in what may turn out to be control situations several years hence.
最后一个范畴是“控制”的情况,我们控股公司或者占有非常大的席位,并尝试影响公司策略。这些操作将会在几年后才能评判结果。在某一年,他们或许没有任何产出,同时这也经常对我们有利当我们在获取这些股票时他们长期市场停滞。这种情况同样也和道琼斯指数行为很不同。很多时候,当然,我们买进一般类时有他可能发展为控制类的想法。如果价格保持长期足够低,这或许很可能发生。如果他在我们拥有较大比例的公司股票前上涨,我们会在高位卖掉股票来完成一次成功一般类的操作。我们现在正在获取一些今后几年可能成为控制类的股票。
32.upset:难过的;沮丧的;不高兴的;使生气;使烦恼;打乱;困扰;麻烦;腹泻;爆冷门
33.upset the applecart:打乱计划
34.spin off:(从现有公司中)剥离;独立;分离
35.irrespective:不考虑的;不同的;不受……影响的
36.self-imposed:自己强加的;自己规定的;资源负担的
37.offset:抵消;补偿;弥补
38.stagnant:停滞不前;停滞的;无变化的;不发展的;(水或空气)不流动而污的
39.in common with:与……相同;与……一样;和……一样