PriceSmart Announces a $75 Million Share Repurchase – Buyback Wednesdays

Key Insights:

• PriceSmart, Inc. (PSMT), “Latin America’s Costco”, is the largest operator of membership warehouse clubs in Central America, the Caribbean, and Colombia serving over 3 million cardholders.
• The Company currently operates 51 warehouse clubs in 12 countries and one U.S. territory.
• Currency fluctuations in Colombia will likely translate to margin compression in the second half of the fiscal year.

Investing is filled with regrets. There are missed opportunities where you pass on a great investment, selling prematurely  just before a company you own goes on a massive run, not selling a losing investment soon enough and the cardinal sin of averaging down on losers.

Costco (COST) for me belongs in the missed opportunities bucket. When the stock was trading at $50 several years ago, I analyzed the company, wrote an article comparing both Costco and Safeway and then failed to buy Costco. A few months later, Buffett and Munger picked up Costco for Berkshire Hathaway (the price was around $80 if I remember correctly) and yet I failed to get over my anchor bias and buy the stock.

It certainly felt strange when I watched a video of Charlie Munger last year talk about how Costco was still an excellent company to own if you had a long enough time horizon of 30, 40 or 50 years. The stock was trading around $500 at that time.

Only plus or premium subscribers can access this post. Subscribe today.