Ron Woodroof was told he had 30 days left.
Ron, a cowboy living in Texas, is seen to be in shock.
He decides to look for alternative treatments and drugs.
Many of these are not approved for use in the USA. Ron decides to fight the system.
He becomes a smuggler – he smuggles these drugs into the country. He forms a network of other patients who need these drugs.
The network is called the ‘Dallas Buyers Club’.
That’s also the name of the movie.
The movie is based on a real-life story. The character of Ron Woodroof is played by the actor Matthew McConaughey.
He won best actor awards from the Golden Globe and the Academy Awards, among several others.
The movie cemented Matthew’s
image as an actor who could play an incredibly demanding role. He had made immense sacrifices for this role – like losing weight to look weak enough for the character.
It was something he was just not known for.
Early Success
What was he known for?
We have to go back to 1993 – his first movie, Dazed and Confused. He was only 23 years old – and was playing a character roughly that age.
It was a comedic movie.
It was a bunch of young people on the last day of school, challenging each other to perform dares. The movie was a success in its own way.
And the young Matthew caught the eye of the directors in Hollywood.
He soon started landing roles in different kinds of movies. Not all were movies where he played the lead. Many of them had him playing supporting roles.
But even in those, he excelled.
Towards the early 2000s, he tried a new kind of movie – feel-good romcoms or romantic comedy movies.
Romcom
Matthew is a young, charming, and good-looking man. He was a perfect fit for that genre. In 2001, his first romcom was released – The Wedding Planner. It was a hit.
And with that, began Matthew McConaughey’s career as a romcom hero.
It was followed by a string of other romcom movies like ‘How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days’, ‘Failure to Launch’, ‘Fool’s Gold’, ‘The Wedding Planner, and several others like it.
It became a safe choice for Matthew. It was an easy to do role. It usually worked. He knew how to do it well. And it made him money.
But as an actor, Matthew was unhappy with his work. He was not getting a chance to test the limits of his skills.
Romcoms were a repeating pattern. But he wanted to explore his talents further. And that was not happening.
He approached a few directors for different roles. They turned him down. They thought his image as a romcom ‘hero’ was too evident.
Fed up, Matthew decided to stop.
“The devil’s in the infinite yeses, not the nos” – he later said in a podcast.
He would always have a string of offers from various romcom directors. And he could always keep saying ‘yes’ to doing those movies.
But if he really had to try something new, he would have to say ‘no’ to anything he did not want to do.
He was living in California. He decided to leave and move back to his house in Texas. He would say no to any romcom movie offer.
It was a steady life. He was earning millions of dollars per movie. There was nothing wrong with it.
New Start
Matthew’s first movie after his transformation was called ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ (2011).
It’s the story of a defense lawyer who works from the back seat of his car.
The movie did okay – but was not a box office super hit.
But it did help Matthew get started on a new kind of role. The next was a movie called ‘Mud’ in 2012.
And then came the movie that was appreciated by all – ‘Dallas Buyers Club’.
Matthew made another unconventional move – he went into the world of TV and starred in a series called ‘True Detective’.
And with those roles, Matthew the actor was reborn.
A series of fantastic performances followed both in leading and supporting roles – Wolf of Wall Street, Interstellar, and several others.
And today, we know of Matthew McConaughey as a superstar – and not a romcom hero.
Investing
Almost all persons of note have had a journey similar to this.
Not that all of them take a break and restart. But that none of them have a smooth journey.
A lot happens. And there are periods of dullness, of highs, and lows. And sometimes, there are lots of flats – not bad but not good.
Rafael Nadal, LeBron James, Muhammad Ali and several other sports stars have seen their share of ups and downs.
We see a similar movement in companies too.
For nearly a decade, investors made no returns on their investments in the Amazon stock. It was a period when Amazon was considered a loss-making company with no future.
Amazon was re-investing heavily in its own business – and expanding operations.
For nearly 14 years, Microsoft failed to compete with new competitors. It missed the smartphone revolution. And it was very late to the cloud computing industry.
A change in CEO and massive structural changes led to the company becoming a hot commodity all over again.
For a few years after its IPO in 2012, the Facebook stock did not move. But as 2014 approached, the company’s ad revenue started to soar. And with it, its stock price.
Not just with stocks, we can see such trends with entire stock markets too.
We know that 2008-2010 was a terrible period.
But the 2011-2014 period was also quite flat. 2015 - 2017 was another flat year. Mid 2021 to 2023 was similar.
And there were bad years – like 2020.
But then, there were very good years.
It is the average of the bad and good times that give us the returns we see.
It is never a smooth ride.
Some images in this newsletter may have been generated using AI tools.
Quick Takes
+India’s forex reserves rose by $15.3 billion to $653.96 billion in the week that ended on 7 March.
+The UK's annual GDP growth rate fell to 1% in Jan (down from 1.5% in Dec). The GDP also experienced a month-over-month contraction of 0.1% in Jan.
+Equity mutual funds experienced a net inflow of Rs 29,303 crore in Feb (compared to Rs 39,688 crore net inflow in Jan). On the other hand, debt funds saw a net outflow of Rs 6,526 crore (compared to a net inflow of Rs 1.28 lakh crore in Jan): AMFI.
+Monthly SIP investments declined to Rs 25,999 crore in Feb (from Rs 26,400 crore in Jan). The total value of SIPs also fell to Rs 12.38 lakh crore in Feb (compared to Rs 13.20 lakh crore in Jan): AMFI.
+Passenger vehicle sales in India rose 1.9% year-on-year to 3.77 lakh units in Feb: SIAM.
+India’s annual inflation rate fell to 3.61% in Feb (vs 4.26% in Jan). Food inflation fell to 3.75% (vs 5.97%). Housing inflation rose to 2.91% (vs 2.82%): MoSPI.
+India’s industrial production rose by 5% annually in Jan (vs 3.2% in Dec). The mining, manufacturing, and electricity sectors saw 4.4%, 5.5%, and 2.4% growth respectively: MoSPI.
+Jio added 39 lakh wireless subscribers to its network in Dec. Airtel gained around 10.33 lakh, Vodafone-Idea (Vi) lost 17 lakh, and BSNL lost around 3 lakh: TRAI.
+The NSE launched the ‘Nifty Chemical Index’ to track the performance of the top 20 stocks in the chemicals sector.
+The Maharashtra government imposed an additional 6% motor tax on EVs priced above Rs 30 lakh. It also increased the tax on CNG and PNG 4-wheeler vehicles by 1%. The changes will be effective from 1 April.
+Japan’s GDP grew 2.2% annually in the Oct-Dec 2024 quarter (vs 0.1% growth in the same quarter previous year).
+Detected GST evasion stood at Rs 1.95 lakh crore in the current financial year’s April-Jan period. For the previous financial year 2023-24, the detected GST evasion was Rs 2.30 lakh crore.
+Mumbai will build a 3rd airport near Vadhvan Port, which will be operational by 2030. Currently, the city's 2nd airport in Navi Mumbai will likely be operational by the end of 2025: Deputy CM, Maharashtra.
6-Day-Course
Theme of the week: under-valued stocks
We’ve reached the end of this week’s course that started on Monday. Here’s a test you should take. Get pen and paper!
Question 1:
What metric helps to assess undervaluation of a stock by comparing price to earnings?
-PE ratio
-Dividend yield
-Cash flow
Question 2:
A company investing heavily in a new factory might experience _____________.
-Immediate revenue drop
-Future growth surge
-Dividend increase
Question 3:
Under peer group analysis, tech stocks can’t be directly compared with bank stocks, because of different industries.
-True
-False
Question 4:
A stock is often overvalued if it pays regular dividends.
-True
-False
Question 5:
A stock with strong YoY earnings growth is most probably undervalued.
-True
-False
Answers:
Q1: PE ratio
Q2: Future growth surge
Q3: True
Q4: False
Q5: False
The information contained in this Groww Digest is purely for knowledge. This Groww Digest does not contain any recommendations or advice.
Team Groww Digest