Weekend Reading

14 October 2017 | by Paul Perrino, CFA

A summary of this week’s best articles. Follow us on Twitter (@INTRINSICINV) for similar ongoing posts and shares.

We’re Going to Need More Lithium (Jessica Shankleman, Tom Biesheuvel, Joe Ryan, and Dave Merrill; @Jess_Shankleman@tbiesheuvel@JoeRyanNews@merrill_dave; Bloomberg Business Week)

The rise of electric vehicles has put additional pressure on the need for Lithium. “Starting about two years ago, fears of a lithium shortage almost tripled prices for the metal, to more than $20,000 a ton, in just 10 months.” But, the actual impact to the cost of batteries is minimal. “Even if the price of lithium soars 300 percent, battery pack costs would rise only by about 2 percent.” ”

Victoria’s Secret Is on the Right Runway (Sarah Halzack; @sarahhalzack; Bloomberg Gadfly)

The CEO of L Brands (the parent company of Victoria’s Secret) Les Wexner had to make some tough choices. This had some short-term consequences, but is expected to benefit the company in the long-run.

Mastering three strategies of organic growth (Kabir Ahuja, Liz Hilton Segel, Jesko Perrey; @AhujaKabir@JeskoPerrey, McKinsey&Company)

Most well run firms seek to grow their business through organic growth. The best approach to achieving this goal is through a diversified approach of strategies. Continuous investing and creating leads to the best results.

No, That Robot Will Not Steal Your Job (Ruchir Sharma, NYT)

The employment landscape looks very different now than it did in more than 25 years ago. “…McKinsey & Company, the consulting firm, has pointed out, about a third of the new jobs created in the United States were types that did not exist or barely existed 25 years ago.”

Hash Power – A Documentary on Blockchains & Cryptocurrencies (Patrick O’Shaughnessy, @patrick_oshag, The Investor’s Field Guide)

A 3 part podcast series that explores blockchains and cryptocurrencies.

Clients of Ensemble Capital own shares of L Brands (LB).

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