When the Evidence Changes

The last decade or so of stock market experience testifies to the truth of the admonition: “never fall in love with a stock”. I confess that I have done that to my ultimate disadvantage more than once.

In essence, the rule tells us that it is perilous to ignore changed conditions; to hold fast to prior decisions when the premises of those decisions change.

Roughly a year and a half into the active life of The Receivables Exchange we’re now getting some information on some longer-term Sellers that allows us to chart the trajectory of their operations and financial condition over a few comparable periods.

(As an aside: I wrote last year suggesting that TRE make an arrangement with a credible academic institution to try to isolate and study the impact of the TRE facility on the financial health of its Sellers and I still think that would be a very useful long-term project!)

My point today, though, is to suggest a TRE analog to the stock market maxim. That is: “never fall in love with a Seller”. And to suggest the inverse, of course: “never hold to a negative conclusion when the evidence turns positive.”

As easy as it might sound, it’s still hard to do!

After analyzing a Seller. And concluding that buying from that Seller is a sound decision. And then actually buying a number of auctions from that Seller. And after getting paid properly for those auctions. It is difficult to look at new information that shows a deterioration in that Seller’s financial condition and conclude that the buy-decision needs to change!

In fact, for me, it is more difficult to “let go” of a deteriorating Seller than it is to re-evaluate one that I’ve previously found too weak. It feels a little disloyal. After all, everything’s gone well…..so far!

But one of the advantages that I’ve suggested the TRE model provides is that new information can be acted on immediately. I CAN stop buying from a Seller just as soon as new information suggests that’s the right course. And I CAN recognize positive changes in the condition of a Seller and immediately move them onto the “buy list”.

I just have to be willing to act dispassionately based on all of the information in hand.

I have “let go” of a couple of Sellers recently: reluctantly, I’ll admit.

And I have recently bought from a couple of Sellers that were previously on my “don’t buy” list.

So far, I haven’t seen any pattern in the follow-on financial statements of longer-term TRE Sellers. The business of some active Sellers has gotten better over the past year or so and that of others has deteriorated. But it’s far too early in the life of the Exchange, and the economic environment of the past 18 months has been far too tumultuous, to draw any BROAD conclusions at this point.

But the evidence does suggest that consistent re-evaluation is necessary as new information becomes available.

And that we can't assume that today's evidence will necessarily support the same conclusion as yesterday’s.