Art Of Asset Allocation

The ongoing corona virus pandemic has rattled equity markets across the world and these may continue to be volatile in the near term as well.

Ankur Garg and Juhi Garg,

Directors, Diva Jyote Portfolios Pvt Ltd

However, this is not the first time an equity market is experiencing an economic or medical crisis. It has weathered significant financial as well as economic events in the past, including terror attacks, natural calamities, global financial crises, sovereign defaults, virus epidemics, etc. But despite all such events, equity as an asset class has continued to generate relatively better returns for the investors over the long term.

Instead of fretting over the Sensex and Nifty levels, we should try to understand the valuation of these two indices. Stocks have two values – intrinsic value i.e. real value and market value i.e. the current price. For an investor the value that matters the most is the intrinsic value. If the current market value is less than the intrinsic value, then you should definitely invest. And how does a person understand this? The easiest way to gain insights is through the various valuation metrics that try to estimate the value of a stock.