Clientele Effect

You’re only as good as the company you keep, the old saying goes. The clientele effect is a theory that tries to explain a sudden price change in a stock that is a result of investors’ reactions to a change in company policy.

Perhaps certain investors like stocks in companies that issue high-paying dividends (like Warren Buffett), don’t incur a lot of debt, or are considered to be high growth (such as the technology sector). But if these companies start borrowing a lot of money, quit offering a high-paying dividend payout ratio, or take a much more conservative approach to growth, their loyal investors may decide to bolt. And if a lot of investors are selling within a short period of time, that can greatly affect the stock price.

Stan the investing man likes high-growth companies that will hopefully provide some big capital gains. He values this much more than getting small quarterly dividends. One of his favorite companies is We’re Growing for the Moment Inc. because they reinvest all their profits back into the company. Their stock has been appreciating nicely over the years, but last week they sent out a notice saying they are going to start paying a dividend and cut back substantially on reinvesting their profits. So Stan decides to find another high growth technology company and sells his shares of We’re Growing for the Moment.

If you multiply Stan by the thousands (if not millions) of investors, that’s most likely going to have a clientele effect on their stock price.

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Finance: Who is Warren Buffett?16 Views

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finance a la shmoop who is Warren Buffett

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no that's Warren Buffet that guy always over does it on the crab legs there in [Guy eating a crab leg and throws the scraps back onto the buffet]

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Vegas this is Warren Buffett world's most successful investor he bet big on [Buffett talking to Obama]

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the insurance industry arguably the greatest legal industry on the planet [Chips being put on the insurance industry]

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how does that work while keeping it simple you've bought term life insurance

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you pay 50 bucks a month at age 25 to get half a million dollars in policy for

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your family if you die they make Bank that is their policy pays them a half a [Guy collapses and a grave stone appears]

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million bucks if you die but you don't usually die it's not each month you keep

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going along so this month passes your 50 bucks goes to Warren and co it's called [Grim reaper at the door then he says he is at the wrong house]

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Geico and they count it that's it they just stick it in their pocket very high [Someone counting money and then putting it into a jeans pocket]

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margin yes they have to leave some money for the million dollar death

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that'll happen way down the line or in some random a case where a guy got hit [Guy waiting at a bus stop]

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by a bus or something like that so it does happen but generally the insurance [Guy is hit by the bus that arrives]

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industry is a very high margin lucrative industry Buffett saw that and bet big on

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it he also bet big on the stock market and [Even more chips being placed on the insurance industry and some being put on the stock market]

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called the great market swings of our era almost perfectly his style almost

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never trade he buys and holds forever ish he has run a massively concentrated

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portfolio for a very long time with tens of billions of dollars just in a few [Examples of Buffetts holdings appear]

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where he has just a dozen big bets big Brunswick's down there his personal life [Someone bowling]

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not so happy rough marriage ignored kids for whom he

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has openly apologized for being a lousy father his work was really his family [A worlds best dad mug with worst written on it]

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which is kind of sad for the guy who could buy pretty much everything but

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didn't here's where he lives in Omaha named after a Peyton Manning NFL signal

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call he famously Shops at Walmart spends little money on himself and will end up [Buffett shopping with only a few basics in his basket]

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giving away virtually all of his fortune to the Gates Foundation yes that gates [Buffett opening a vault full of money for Bill Gates]

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Uncle Bill ever wonder who picks up the dinner tab but when they go out to eat [People arguing over the bill]

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billion zone yes a hundred billion dollars of charitable money [Big piles of money being merged together]

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billion and change they're gonna fight to cure cancer malaria aids tuberculosis

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Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)