Posted by u/electricp0ww0w 14 hours ago
Google street view should be one of your first things to check when you think about investing in a stock.
Forget the balance sheets, the financials , the ceo, the board etc. Before I do *any* of this, I tap the head office address of the company into Google and look at it on streetview.
It might sound simple, but bear with me...
If you get chance to watch The China Hustle on Netflix, do it. It's about how Chinese companies performed security fraud to get listed on the NYSE/DAQ with nothing but lies about how big, good and profitable they were. Basically, they said they were billion dollar companies. Nobody from the SEC or the US bothered to check and took their word for it.
The documentary spoke to a short seller who uncovered the fraud. The very first alarm bell was when he looked at the road leading up to a paper plant that claimed it was running thousands of tonnes of high quality paper in and out daily. The road leading up to the site was a crappy dirt track road that could no way, take the number of trucks the company said they were running.
Now, they physically went out to check the site, but theres a lot from Google Street View you can learn. I find this more so with chinese companies.
As an example, I looked at a chinese company earlier that had a market cap of around 3 billion. Don't ask me what, i've checked so many today >_>
Anyway, their head office, as listed on their website and SEC filings was nothing more than a shop in a line of other shops. It looked total garbage. I nope'd out straight away. The one thing I learned from the documentary, even more so about Chinese companies, is they present to the SEC/Banks whatever they want, and *NOBODY* checks it. They are 'auditors', as in they 'audit' what is presented. They are not physically checking if a company is trash or not. That's your job i'm afraid. Nobody will protect you, especially the banks or brokers, because they take your money.
Now, bear in mind this might not be flawless, as companies might have holding adresses or something, but I find most of the time it's all good.
This just doesnt apply to China. Check Europe or the US. Is the company that is "growing, expanding and breaking out" still running its office out of some fucking ghetto with some cops in the background of streetview clearing up some bodies? Or do they have plush offices in an affluent area which probably cost a small fortune to upkeep.
This is by no means flawless, but if you wanted to buy a house, you'd want to look at it first. Same for a car. You wouldnt just read the stats/dimensions on paper. Why should stonk be any different?
I think streetview is a very under valued tool when it comes to doing some DD and can give you a fairly good impression of if what they present on paper could be mirrored with what they present in real life.
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***Edit - I just wanna clear a few things up here since this kinda exploded.***
Firstly, I'm NOT saying "oNly iNvEsT iN bIg CoRpOrAtE oFfICeS" which is what some people think I'm saying. Doing DD is a full process. It's a jigsaw, and what i'm suggesting here is one piece of that Jigsaw. Yes, companies sometimes have a mailing address. Yes sometimes companies use multiple adresses. This is what DD is about. Why are they using multiple adresses? Go and look into SEC filings and research those adresses. Is it because they are being dishonest, or is there a legit reason for it?
Secondly, it appears the documentary i referenced isnt open on Netflix to US users. Some people here have suggested Amazon or Hulu.
Thirdly, yes Google Maps only covers a small region in china. Use map.baidu.com - It's all in chinese but the format is the same and its easy to figure out. Be aware, it's slow and laggy but better than nothing. Also be aware, that there have been reports of the Chinese government censoring some buildings out of the views. I doubt this will cause a big issue if you're looking at small/medium cap companies but just in case... Something to bear in mind.
Forthly, people saying "iF U nEeD tO Do Dis tHe CoMpANy iS obvS TrAsH". *Christ*. If you think i'm telling you to go and google the Facebook or Berkshire headquarters, then you're wrong. I'm talking about DD on stocks you are looking at investing in. Check out all the top movers today on Finviz. I gurantee that you would have heard of a couple of them at most. I'm talking about people who want to invest in a stock that they hope is going to make big returns, not someone who is content with earning 2% every 3 months on Apple or Amazon.
Fifth, goddam i'm gonna repeat the first point again. I'm not saying this is the basis for solid DD. Yeah, Amazon started selling books from a garage, i get it. What i'm saying is to help you build a bigger picture of your entire DD before you plump your hard earned money into something. You need all the facts. You wouldn't buy a house and look in great detail at every room except one. You wouldnt buy a car and study the detailed pictures and 0-60 times without having a look at the miles per gallon (euro scrub here, we pay 70% tax on fuel so it matters). If you're dead set on a company but on Google it looks like its run from a shed, then you might still be happy with this. If you're 50/50 about a stock, it might tip the balance for you one way or the other.
And 6th, I shouldnt really need to address this because I thought everyone knew it, but yes - some map data is old. Check the date on the map data. If its very old, try the Sat image because it might be newer. I thought we all knew this... We all check our own houses out every few months to see if there's an update, right?
I cant stress enough, this is *one tool* to use while making your entire DD picture. It'll work for some, it won't work for others. If someone has a tactic that makes all DD work perfectly all of the time, then give Buffet a call and get off Reddit.
Love you all x
*Edit #2* = I appreciate the awards but seriously guys, spend that money on stocks or something :)
It might sound simple, but bear with me...
If you get chance to watch The China Hustle on Netflix, do it. It's about how Chinese companies performed security fraud to get listed on the NYSE/DAQ with nothing but lies about how big, good and profitable they were. Basically, they said they were billion dollar companies. Nobody from the SEC or the US bothered to check and took their word for it.
The documentary spoke to a short seller who uncovered the fraud. The very first alarm bell was when he looked at the road leading up to a paper plant that claimed it was running thousands of tonnes of high quality paper in and out daily. The road leading up to the site was a crappy dirt track road that could no way, take the number of trucks the company said they were running.
Now, they physically went out to check the site, but theres a lot from Google Street View you can learn. I find this more so with chinese companies.
As an example, I looked at a chinese company earlier that had a market cap of around 3 billion. Don't ask me what, i've checked so many today >_>
Anyway, their head office, as listed on their website and SEC filings was nothing more than a shop in a line of other shops. It looked total garbage. I nope'd out straight away. The one thing I learned from the documentary, even more so about Chinese companies, is they present to the SEC/Banks whatever they want, and *NOBODY* checks it. They are 'auditors', as in they 'audit' what is presented. They are not physically checking if a company is trash or not. That's your job i'm afraid. Nobody will protect you, especially the banks or brokers, because they take your money.
Now, bear in mind this might not be flawless, as companies might have holding adresses or something, but I find most of the time it's all good.
This just doesnt apply to China. Check Europe or the US. Is the company that is "growing, expanding and breaking out" still running its office out of some fucking ghetto with some cops in the background of streetview clearing up some bodies? Or do they have plush offices in an affluent area which probably cost a small fortune to upkeep.
This is by no means flawless, but if you wanted to buy a house, you'd want to look at it first. Same for a car. You wouldnt just read the stats/dimensions on paper. Why should stonk be any different?
I think streetview is a very under valued tool when it comes to doing some DD and can give you a fairly good impression of if what they present on paper could be mirrored with what they present in real life.
-----------------------------------------------------
***Edit - I just wanna clear a few things up here since this kinda exploded.***
Firstly, I'm NOT saying "oNly iNvEsT iN bIg CoRpOrAtE oFfICeS" which is what some people think I'm saying. Doing DD is a full process. It's a jigsaw, and what i'm suggesting here is one piece of that Jigsaw. Yes, companies sometimes have a mailing address. Yes sometimes companies use multiple adresses. This is what DD is about. Why are they using multiple adresses? Go and look into SEC filings and research those adresses. Is it because they are being dishonest, or is there a legit reason for it?
Secondly, it appears the documentary i referenced isnt open on Netflix to US users. Some people here have suggested Amazon or Hulu.
Thirdly, yes Google Maps only covers a small region in china. Use map.baidu.com - It's all in chinese but the format is the same and its easy to figure out. Be aware, it's slow and laggy but better than nothing. Also be aware, that there have been reports of the Chinese government censoring some buildings out of the views. I doubt this will cause a big issue if you're looking at small/medium cap companies but just in case... Something to bear in mind.
Forthly, people saying "iF U nEeD tO Do Dis tHe CoMpANy iS obvS TrAsH". *Christ*. If you think i'm telling you to go and google the Facebook or Berkshire headquarters, then you're wrong. I'm talking about DD on stocks you are looking at investing in. Check out all the top movers today on Finviz. I gurantee that you would have heard of a couple of them at most. I'm talking about people who want to invest in a stock that they hope is going to make big returns, not someone who is content with earning 2% every 3 months on Apple or Amazon.
Fifth, goddam i'm gonna repeat the first point again. I'm not saying this is the basis for solid DD. Yeah, Amazon started selling books from a garage, i get it. What i'm saying is to help you build a bigger picture of your entire DD before you plump your hard earned money into something. You need all the facts. You wouldn't buy a house and look in great detail at every room except one. You wouldnt buy a car and study the detailed pictures and 0-60 times without having a look at the miles per gallon (euro scrub here, we pay 70% tax on fuel so it matters). If you're dead set on a company but on Google it looks like its run from a shed, then you might still be happy with this. If you're 50/50 about a stock, it might tip the balance for you one way or the other.
And 6th, I shouldnt really need to address this because I thought everyone knew it, but yes - some map data is old. Check the date on the map data. If its very old, try the Sat image because it might be newer. I thought we all knew this... We all check our own houses out every few months to see if there's an update, right?
I cant stress enough, this is *one tool* to use while making your entire DD picture. It'll work for some, it won't work for others. If someone has a tactic that makes all DD work perfectly all of the time, then give Buffet a call and get off Reddit.
Love you all x
*Edit #2* = I appreciate the awards but seriously guys, spend that money on stocks or something :)
This is actually the easiest 30 second addition to the DD process I've ever seen posted here. I have been involved in about $125M of commercial real estate projects, and have ALWAYS used this. But, never dawned on me to use it for companies.
after the big short, I am skeptical about everything and even companies I like to be honest. Unless i see a sign outside that directly relates to a company I wont invest. The one that's the biggest mind fuck for me is NIO(been watching it since the low 2's) i believe its a great company but MY FUCKING BRAIN MAN! I'm not even sure how to explain it dude this shit drives me fucking nuts.
I always check out the web site, look in career pages and if a technology company claims to be growing, I should see related openings there. I check products and try to understand what the company produces If web site is crappy and doesn’t even have https, that’s another flag. I eliminate from buying list if any of the above raises suspicions. I will add google street view to my research. Thanks! EDIT: Why do all these? Because it is possible to find a multi bagger in micro cap stocks. Reward is great if proper DD is done
Check out their Glassdoor ratings too
I worked at a public company for a while (500m market cap). I asked how the company got its name. Apparently they used to be called something else but they noticed when submitting bids that their competitors looked way bigger because the street they were on was named after the company. For example, Oracle Lane or Apple Drive. So they just named the company after the street they just so happened to be on.
*Martin Luther King Pharmaceuticals, how may I direct your call?*
There are tons of services that allow you to run your business out of a specific address, many of them fancy in appearance. A company I was associated with rented a virtual address at one of the tallest buildings in Philadelphia. We could verify the address with Google since we can get mail there and so if you searched "company name address" this fancy skyscraper would show up. If you decided to go to the building and attempted to visit our offices the receptionist at the main entrance would stop you and ask who your there for then say that we aren't currently in and that they need to call us directly to make an appointment but will take down your info to pass along to us. The cost of this service? Under $50 per month lol China specifically is alot worse at that than the U.S is but there are still plenty of U.S companies that do this.
Okay it's definitely underhanded and deceptive and generally not cool, but holy shit that's genius.
This is pretty good advice. I've read that a number of hedge funds go even farther then this. They constantly spy on the parking lots/etc. through daily satellite views of the factories/etc. of businesses they're invested in, or thinking of investing in. They try to estimate based on how many trucks are going in and out just how many sales are being made, so they know if the next earnings are likely to be a success or a disappointment so they can act accordingly.
I had an ex gf that worked for a company that did this. It was really wild, they were developing software that would read millions of satellite images and know when a business was experiencing higher than normal business - be it customers in the parking lot or deliveries or any traffic. They didn’t even have to be searching for a specific company, it would just “discover” something, somewhere, being busier than usual and alert them. Pretty wild stuff.
I was scouring some pennystocks the other day and found one with a promising financials. I dug deeper, and found their corporate address is literally a house. Red flag #1. I'm like, "okay, maybe it's just a family business who knows what they are doing." Then I sent their OTC filings to a friend of mine who has done some forensic accounting, and she said "either this company's books are a mess or something shady going on." Red flag #2. I dug deeper, and it turns out it's a pump-and-dump shell company run by certain groups of people who also run other p&d companies with no real operations behind them. Noped out.
Which stock was it?
Microsoft appears legit
I bought 100 shares of Mike Rosoft. I read their next Widow 11 will be great 👍
Reminds me of IGC the India company hoping on the cannabis bandwagon few years ago. Some one Googles their office and it is a child care facility. Stock crashed from that alone.
Damn, IGC was my first real lesson in the market. Bought at 1.50 sold at 2.50 kept going. Up about bout back around 7 and lost most of it within a few days it seemed.
1. Didn’t know what was happening or what I was doing
2. Chased profits after I’d already did fine.
And I know step 3 is supposed to be PROFIT!
But for me step 3 was giving back my gains plus some.
That one wall street sub had a field day with the Google Street View of the Robinhood headquarters well after they went mainstream. It looked like an office that would be staffed by one low-compensation adult and 10 interns. Turns out, it was exactly that XD
No it was a location that got renovation done in the millions. Actually looked like one of the coolest places to work in the inside. Do your DD.
Good advice. If I did that with sphs I wouldn’t have lost $100,000.
Rip
Why wouldn’t you wanna know the building your money is going to, bet if it’s a garage shits gunna be fire.
Facts right here. Amazon started as a couple packing books in their garage and taking them to the post office.
Hmm maybe I should make a list of chinese companies and start shorting them
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Don't forget to check Google TRENDS also!!
Smart. Can you go into this more. Do you just go to Google trends and search a ticker and see how the results are? Are the results in the graph in millions?
Check the date tho. Google StreetView is *very* outdated in many areas. In Germany the images are from ~2008.
BTW if anyone was actually looking for this documentary. It looks like its on Hulu not Netflix
I found it on Prime too. Starting it tonight.
Robinhood: https://goo.gl/maps/nbp3W3sgVeo85Li48
They are right near where all the venture capital/private equity firms are. Actually gives them cred to be there.
[Nikola Factory Site](https://youtu.be/726qFwogw2I) Skip ahead to 10:30
Reminds me of the old adage that the time to sell a stock is when they build a fancy new headquarters.
>the time to sell a stock is when they build a fancy new headquarters.
Why is that? Facebook/Tesla/Amazon/Microsoft/Google all built fancy headquarters or corporate campuses that people didn't think would work. Ford, Xerox and GE created at their time amazing business parks.
What’s the address of Tesla and Bitcoin look like?
Tesla in the Bay Area isn’t too fancy. But it’s also expensive AF here so even if it was in the boonies, real estate would be pricey.
2 years ago i threw $8k at a weed stock that went from like $20 to like $300 in a few days, i got in at the tip and lost half that $8k in matter of hours once everyone said the headquarters was actually a shack in the woods lol
I posted this exact tip OP is stating on r/pennystocks a while back and got absolutely **flamed** for it.
“This is not real DD” people were saying.
I was like ok go ahead and invest in this publicly listed company operating out of an office space on top of a convenience store.
Glad to see this advice being received well but also very surprised it’s being so upvoted in this sub
y’all *invest*? you mean you don’t just scalp options & short meme stocks?
By no means am I saying this is a terrible idea, this is brilliant. Many companies do keep there “head office” in a state other than their manufacturing plant(s) or office building(s) because of certain states corporate/ state income tax laws. Sometimes there office is just one guy behind a desk in Delaware who flies there from Boston for 3 days a week.
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Which are you thinking?
Is there any recourse for companies that are caught doing this?
All of mine are at WeWork, this checks out right?
Good advice. You would amazed at how many penny stocks have addresses (suite #'s, etc.) that are nothing more than P.O. Boxes in a UPS Store. I've been so invested in companies, meaning for example, I bought the stock at .25 cents and it went to say $8 bucks, that I've hopped on a plane and flown across country to see what I actually owned (and if I should continue to hold) Bottom line: you should know what you're buying (investing in) and why you own it.
This just reminds me of that scene in Billions where they checked the Chinese company only to see them faking it basically, lol.
This literally just happened! One of the companies announced they have singed a deal with Korean company to work on zero emission delivery trucks. Take a look at the company website - http://www.blfcorporation.com/ Email address on gmail domain, when you google their address it shows a building next to carwash, with some small restaurant in front. 4 followers on fb etc.
Interesting technique. Though sometimes the company is so busy investing in itself they may not spend funds on building up their headquarters into palatial estates.
So in retrospect, if you are about to make a company make sure your curb appeal is on point.
As a German I feel the need to note that you should always check in what year the images on Google Street View had been captured. Most of the ones here in Germany are from ~2008, so tons of companies that are huge today didn't even exist back then or were super small.
Most of the times, the images from the street view are outdated by years, unless it's some really famous place like a tourist attraction spot
This could be very deceiving. As an auditor, I've seen insanely profitable businesses run out of shitbox offices because the owner or CEO was dirt cheap. Shitbox offices = lower overhead. Chillax guys, we have auditors here in North America. Imagine considering buying Berkshire Hathaway based on their Google street view? They're located in a grey cement building in Omaha with small windows.
He's not saying to *solely* base your investment decisions off of street view.
too long did not read Whats the ticker for Google Street View? Im going all in!!!!! GGSV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great documentary. Changed my mind about a few companies I had money in.
Just watched it today
I interpreted the title as you should invest in google street view, and then got confused
This is such great confirmation bias. I don't know much about investing, even less in August of 2019 which is when I bought my first stock. One of the things I used to do was exactly this. I thought I was being silly but it made sense at the time. Thank you for this!
Crazy how the barest basics will always tell the truth
Well, I am not so sure about that, I was working for a company in Asia around 6 years ago and the building was a totally crap, but the company was listed on the stock and they have costumers like Military Defense of that country and runs other businesses too as well, and all of them very profitable, I remember when the first time I moved to Asia and went to the interview I was in shock and actually I didnt like the place to work, it wasnt fancy clean tech style I need for my brain to properly work. So, at the end I just see numbers, numbers and numbers, sometimes intuition and deals but everything well formuled algorithm.
I love it, and have used it in my process. I also tend to look at the board members and company executives and their track records. A good board and strong leadership sets the tone for a successful company. Trash begets trash. With the internet being what it is nowadays, some DD is easy. The balance sheets, however, well I’m not an accountant and have a hell of a time with that stuff. Thanks for posting this, it was a great reminder and hopefully learned some people a new skill.
This right here is why I have Nikola puts
Lol this is why institutional investors like private equity perform “site visits” for any company they acquire as a check the box item. Unfortunately its not really possible for retail traders to fly out for every potential company who’s stock they buy. Google street view can be a decent little replacement though for uncovering outright fraud.
Check their job listings too. More than once. I had decent confidence in $MDVL, and then saw they are hiring all over the country. Glad I bought.
Careful though sometimes street view can be outdated in some areas. I'm sure places where it's densely populated and busy it gets updated often though.
There's 300+ comments so haven't checked all of them but some Google Street views can be 12+ years old, especially in USA (you can check bottom right corner with capture month/year). As well as helpful this can also be misleading
https://goo.gl/maps/sKgKsnxLftRVHgTA9
How did you use Google Street View for Chinese roads?
google street view doesn't work on China thou?
How are you checking Chinese companies on Google Street View when its coverage in China is pretty much non-existent?
I would argue if you need to use Google Street View to ensure the company you're investing in is what it says it is, you're probably investing in companies that are too risky...
Great info. I don't get all the hate. Maybe they are mad they never thought it lol
> We all check our own houses out every few months to see if there's an update, right? Wait do people do this? I for one have looked at my house on google maps exactly once, when I was in the buying process Edit: I have now looked at my house on google maps exactly twice, and discovered that either my neighbor stole a bench from my property before I moved in, or my seller stole the bench from my neighbor and the neighbor reclaimed it before I moved in.
I'm glad to see this here because I am just getting into stocks and the first thing I did before looking up anything for the companies I decided to research was look them up in google maps and street view. I thought maybe I was being weird.
First of all, if you "invest" in companies that you need to check on google maps whether they even exist, then the joke is on you.
Such a solid idea. Thanks for sharing.
Doing this stopped me from buying into a company last week.
Smart, this is actually a good idea for verify a lot of services and investments. Very well put.
Great tip. Thank you
This is by far the best read of the day
The paper dragon strikes again!
Thank you for sharing another tool for me to use and I feel a tiny tiny less retard
I read once about a broker who somehow got access to up to date satellite photos of certain areas and would do this and make a ton of money shorting companies he found to be lying about size and capacity.
I’m trying to check NIO’s headquarters but they don’t have the streetview for it. It looks like total shit on google earth though.