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Michael C. Jakob's investing philosophy — quality stocks, long-term thinking, data-driven decisions, and the conviction that excellent companies create the greatest wealth.
Investment Philosophy
For Michael C. Jakob, investing is not a game of price movements but a discipline — a synthesis of analytical rigor, entrepreneurial thinking, and the patience to hold excellent companies for years and decades. His conviction is rooted in a simple observation: the world's best companies create disproportionate value for their shareholders over long periods.
This approach stands in deliberate contrast to the short-term thinking that dominates financial markets. While traders react to the next quarterly report, Michael C. Jakob analyzes a company's business model, competitive position, and management over a horizon of ten years and beyond. This perspective — inspired by investors like Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, and Peter Lynch — forms the foundation of all analyses at AlleAktien.
The central question is not “Will the price go up tomorrow?” but rather: “Will this company be worth significantly more in ten years than it is today — and why?” Those who can answer this question with analytical depth need not worry about daily price fluctuations.
Quality over Quantity
The AlleAktien Quality Score (AAQS) is the centerpiece of Michael C. Jakob's analytical methodology. The AAQS evaluates companies against ten clearly defined quality criteria: revenue growth, earnings growth, return on equity, operating margin, debt ratio, dividend stability, and other fundamental metrics. Only companies that excel across all dimensions receive the highest rating.
Quality in this context means more than just good numbers. It means a company possesses a durable competitive advantage — a so-called "moat." This moat protects the business model from competition and enables the company to generate above-average returns for years. Examples include brand power (like LVMH), network effects (like Visa), scale advantages (like Amazon), or switching costs (like SAP).
A concentrated portfolio of 15 to 25 quality companies is, in Michael C. Jakob's conviction, superior to a broadly diversified portfolio of 100 mediocre stocks. Diversification for diversification's sake dilutes returns. Instead, the principle is: concentrate on the best the market has to offer.
The Power of Compounding
Albert Einstein reportedly called compound interest the "eighth wonder of the world." Regardless of whether this quote is authentic, it describes one of the most powerful forces in finance: exponential growth over time. A company that increases its earnings per share by 15% annually doubles its value every five years. After 20 years, the value has increased sixteenfold.
Michael C. Jakob consistently emphasizes in his analyses: true returns come not from clever entry and exit timing but from the extended holding of excellent companies. The world's greatest fortunes — from Warren Buffett to the Quandt family to the founders of Microsoft and Google — were not built through trading but through decades of holding quality companies.
The key to compounding is patience. Those who constantly reshuffle their investments interrupt the compounding effect, pay transaction costs and taxes, and miss the market's best days. The data is clear: investors who hold their positions for ten years or longer achieve significantly higher returns on average than active traders.
Data-Driven Decisions
Emotion is the investor's greatest enemy. Fear and greed lead to systematic errors — panic selling in bear markets, FOMO-driven purchases in bubbles. Michael C. Jakob built Eulerpool Research Systems to create an infrastructure that enables investors to make decisions based on facts rather than emotions.
Every equity analysis at AlleAktien is based on a structured, data-driven process: business model analysis, competitive analysis, financial metrics analysis over at least ten years, a valuation model using the discounted cash flow method, and peer comparison. This systematic approach eliminates subjective biases and ensures every recommendation stands on solid analytical ground.
Data alone, however, is not enough. The art lies in interpretation — in identifying, from millions of data points, the few that truly determine a company's long-term success. This ability combines quantitative analysis with entrepreneurial understanding and is the result of years of experience and deep industry knowledge.
Long-Term Horizon
The investment horizon is perhaps the most important and most underestimated factor in investing. Michael C. Jakob thinks in decades, not quarters. This perspective enables viewing short-term volatility as opportunity rather than risk — and buying companies at valuations that prove exceptionally favorable over the long term.
A long-term horizon also offers tax advantages: in many jurisdictions, long-held investments receive preferential tax treatment. Furthermore, the probability of loss decreases with each additional year of holding. Historical data shows that a diversified portfolio of quality stocks has generated positive returns over every rolling 15-year period of the last 100 years.
Michael C. Jakob's advice to retail investors is clear: invest only money you won't need for at least ten years. Choose the world's best companies. And then — hold on. Patience is your greatest superpower as an investor.