It Just Can’t Get Any Bigger

Peter Lynch said he remembers people telling him 25 years ago that Wal-Mart (WMT) just couldn’t get any bigger. That’s an argument against a stock you should always ignore. With capitalism, profits are like jello…there’s always room for more.
Check out this chart of Eaton Vance, the asset manager (EV):
Eaton Vance.bmp
Pretty spiffy, no? Thirty years ago, you could have picked up some shares for about $4 a piece. Adjusted for splits, that comes to 2.7 cents a share. In thirty years, the stock is up 1,000-freaking-fold.
So what’s Eaton Vance’s current market share of the mutual fund industry?
One percent.

Posted by on September 7th, 2006 at 1:16 pm


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