The external fund manager backed by Berkshire Hathaway's Charlie Munger, Li Lu, makes no bones about it when he says 'The biggest investment risk is not the volatility of prices, but whether you will suffer a permanent loss of capital.' So it seems the smart money knows that debt - which is usually involved in bankruptcies - is a very important factor, when you assess how risky a company is. As with many other companiesSingapore Airlines Limited(SGX:C6L) makes use of debt. But should shareholders be worried about its use of debt?Generally speaking, debt only becomes a real problem when a company can't easily pay it off, either by raising capital or with its own cash flow. If things get really bad, the lenders can take control of the business. However, a more usual (but still expensive) sit

I remember when I was a rookie investor back in 2005. After reading a few investment books on value investing and Warren Buffett, I believed I had sufficient knowledge to dip my toes into the stock market. As with most beginners, I had limited capital as I was new to the corporate world. I proceeded to load up on smaller, fast-growing companies such as C&O Pharmaceutical, Sembawang Kimtrans, Global Voice, Olam International Limited (SGX: VC2) and offshore and marine support firm Ezra Holdings. The prevailing thought I had back then was that these fast-growers could multiply my capital quickly. A nasty surprise But what I had conveniently neglected was that such companies were also inherently riskier. Pharmaceutical distribution companies can be squeezed by larger players while commodit

$Alibaba(09988)$ $Alibaba(BABA)$ Is the worst finally over for Chinese technology giant Alibaba ? After a year of pain, BABA stock looks to have bottomed at $76.76 a share on March 15. Since then, the stock has risen 40% to now change hands at $107.68, giving hope to investors and analysts who still believe in the potential of Chinese securities. However, despite the recent move higher, BABA stock remains down 30% over the past six months and is currently 56% lower than its 52-week high of $245.69, reached in April 2021. This demonstrates just how big the collapse in Alibaba’s share price has been over the past 12-months. Government Crackdown The rise in Alibaba’s share price since mid-March coincides with rep

SoFi(NASDAQ:SOFI) CEO Anthony Noto has been on a buying spree this year, and the purchases haven’t stopped in June. So far, Noto has purchased SOFI stock onfive separate occasionsthis month. Year-to-date (YTD), he has purchased shares 16 times.Last week, it was revealed the fintech company is potentially considering areverse stock split. In a proxy statement, it was disclosed that shareholders will be able to vote on whether or not to allow the company’s board to initiate a reverse split in the next 12 months. The results of the vote will be shared at Sofi’s annual stockholder meeting on July 12.The potential split would reduce outstanding shares by a factor in a range between 1-for-2 and 1-for-10. The company noted that a higher stock price would make SOFI more attractive to institutional