ISO 55001 Asset Management as a tool for Value Investing

 Value investing is the strategy of investing in stocks that trade at less than their intrinsic values. In other words, the goal of value investors is to determine companies that they believe are undervalued relative to the market or are trading at a discount to their intrinsic worth. 

 Therefore, this estimation of the intrinsic value is key when selecting companies to invest in, given the difficulty of calculating them and the uncertainty of the sectors, investors, exchanges, security, and the distortion of the process.

 Valuation of companies is mainly done by considering indicators such as the Price-to-Earning ratio (P / E ratio), Price-to-Book ratio (P / B ratio), Debt-to-Equity ratio (D / E ratio), Free Cash Flow (FCF), and  Price / Earnings to Growth ratio (PEG ratio).

 In addition to this, it should be considered that this investment strategy is based on the long term, so that a good administration by the management team will add value to the investor, while a bad administration will destroy it, regardless of the initial values of the indicators evaluated.

What's about physical Asset Management?

 Correct physical assets management has as its main function to coordinate the activities of an organization to obtain value from physical assets, that is, that these assets must be capable of generating value, whether by their use, ownership or custody.

 But in addition, these assets have an intrinsic value, which can be determined as their sale value at a given time, correct management will be able to maintain and even increase this value.

 Physical assets management, according to ISO 55001, considers that these assets must have objectives that must be completely aligned with the objectives of the organization; and it must extend to the entire life cycle of the physical assets.

 The life cycle includes CAPEX, understood as the costs of design, acquisition, installation, and commissioning; OPEX, which covers operating, maintenance, and risk costs; and renovation, disassembly, and disposal.

 The management of physical assets increases the value that this generates by improving the Overall Equipment Effectiveness - OEE, which is an indicator that combines the availability of equipment, its performance and the quality of products or services produced.

OEE = Availability * Performance * Quality

 In addition, it increases the intrinsic value of the physical asset by optimizing its life cycle and controlling its obsolescence.

The analysis and evaluation of the management of the physical assets of a company are fundamental for Value investors since this management has a direct impact both on its capacity to generate value and on its intrinsic value throughout its life cycle.