196. Gwertheney
Gwertheney gets memes, but also knows how to produce rich investment content. He often writes comprehensive posts where his thoughts and reflections are genuinely well-reasoned.
He seems like a curious and even resourceful fellow who constantly wants to develop himself. His posts show that he is a pragmatic realist, which can bring a suitable down-to-earth attitude and patience to investing, which in turn probably prevents the worst cases of FOMO.
Gwertheney’s highlights, writings, and reflections are valuable to the Forum because they offer knowledge and perspectives for the enjoyment and help of other investors as well. However, he doesn’t improve the Forum solely with his investment content; good manners, a constructive way of discussing, and an excellent sense of humor contribute to raising both the quality of the discussions and the team spirit of the entire community. 
1. Tell us who you are in fifty words.
I am a thirty-something (pun intended) family man and husband living in Northern Ostrobothnia. In my working life, I’m an ordinary screen-grinding tech sector worker. In my free time, I am a curious self-improver. I am my family’s and relatives’ primary go-to person and workhorse for many things. My biggest problem in my free time is the lack of available time. All in all, I feel that for an office worker, I am surprisingly versatile, resourceful, and capable at tinkering.
2. Tell three things that few people know about you.
I have participated in world championships. I didn’t get a result.
For a long time, I thought that “Puolan Markku” (Markku of Poland), who is well-known from forum discussions, was actually “Puolangan Markku” (Markku of Puolanka). It was simply because I once read the word hastily. I always wondered who on earth listens to Markku of Puolanka when making investment decisions.
I eat oatmeal every morning. It keeps hunger at bay and blood sugar levels stable. There are other things in that breakfast too, but oatmeal is the main component.
3. What interests and hobbies do you have besides investing?
Reading and exercise. When it comes to exercise, any sport goes, but e.g., the gym is a year-round thing. For exercise, I favor seasonal sports, such as skiing in the winter and tennis in the summer. This also allows for being outdoors. Being outdoors in general and cycling are workable hobbies. When reading, I try to keep several books going at the same time so that I don’t get stuck on a boring book or passage. I am an omnivore when it comes to books, but I consume considerably more non-fiction.
My problem with fiction has partly been that when reading books, I don’t have the same patience for world-building as I do when watching television series. In series, I enjoy well-made slow, lingering scenes where people might not even be visible and it’s purely about creating a mood. When reading, I might have quite a short time available, for example, 10–20 minutes, and in that time I don’t manage to read fifty pages. If this whole time is spent describing the environment or setting the mood, it can leave a somewhat strange feeling when the story didn’t actually progress at all. Of course, this could then be taken as unwinding in the moment, but if I continue a week later, do I even remember this created mood anymore?
4. What is a normal weekday like for you?
Work structures everyday life and weekdays. Work provides the framework of schedules according to which we play. A weekday is surely similar to many others. Waking up, breakfast, going to work, family life, exercise, free time. The traditional rat race, but one that you have the energy for and enjoy yourself. I recommend everyone to shape their everyday life to be enjoyable, if at all possible. Vacations are rare, anyway, unless one throws themselves at the mercy of their portfolio to live.
5. What kind of an investor are you?
I like growth companies, or at least those that are trying to grow. The companies don’t have to be any of the most popular growth rockets, but especially regarding earnings, high single-digit growth works wonders in a few years.
In addition, it would be good for the company to have money coming in so that there is leeway to do things. I steer clear of companies that pay out a large (90%+) part of their earnings as dividends. I also otherwise avoid the idea that a company locks itself into a certain dividend payout level, where a change in it causes major stock price reactions. Therefore, for example, the dividend payout ratio would optimally be at most 80%. It is also sensible to keep a moderate rising dividend that starts from a low enough level, so that you don’t have to break the upward trajectory at the first sign of trouble. I like versatility. There don’t need to be fast and flashy moves, but for example, Evolution AB’s 2 billion euro share buybacks and suspension of dividend payments were to my liking.
6. What is your investment history?
As a relatively young guy knowing nothing, I invested my summer job money into company X without a deeper understanding of pretty much anything. I probably looked at the dividend yield and stated that hey, this is free money coming in annually. A year must have passed and we were sitting at -50%. This drained the enthusiasm to put more money in, but I poked around in something anyway. Fortunately, these tuition fees weren’t large, but if even these pennies had been put into the S&P 500 fund with low fees, the pennies would have multiplied.
Fast forward a few years and I found Nordnet, ETFs, and monthly savings. It certainly would have been smartest to shove everything into an index, but the main emphasis has always been on direct stocks. OMXHGI is far behind, but the Nasdaq and S&P 500 are ahead. Just as important as investment history is the investment future. I have also evolved in 2026 and am constantly evolving as an investor. With time one learnsto know oneself better and to find one’s own style of doing things. A surefire way would at least be to invest monthly in a low-cost index fund, but hobbies have to cost something, after all.
7. What kind of portfolio do you have? How have you thought about your portfolio’s diversification?
My portfolio is quite concentrated, and the three largest holdings account for about 40% of the portfolio. This has worked so far because these have been good choices. Diversification is provided by a fund / ETF share of about 25%. First North has eaten into returns over the years because I have always had at least one stock from there 
.
8. Which two stocks did you sell last, and what were your reasons for selling?
Valmet and Huhtamäki. I bought both on margin in early summer 2026 and felt that I had made enough profit during the price surges following the earnings reports. The reasoning for the sale is quite interesting, actually. Sales usually have to be based somewhat on gut feeling. Or one can always set some numerical targets.
If new news, profit warnings, or whatever comes up regarding a holding, you always have to rethink how the matter affects the company and on what time horizon I am involved. Nowadays, movements in the market are big in both directions. All in all, I have valued the companies in my portfolio and strive to let winners win, and if someone starts to lose, I would rather cut losses than wait for a miracle. I have managed to follow this quite well, but mistakes are made, of course.
9. What does your stock-picking process normally look like step by step?
First, you have to spot a new or old acquaintance, and I usually start researching led by the price. I try to buy cheap (like everyone?), which brings the danger of value traps and falling knives. Regarding old acquaintances, you can proceed more on a gut feeling of whether the stock is cheap or expensive. With a cheap price, I aim for it to be cheap enough so that I feel there is a sufficient margin of safety. By this, I mean that a price increase no longer necessarily requires a fairy-tale turnaround in the company’s events, but a basic performance or even a modest performance is enough.
For new companies, I also look at valuation multiples and price right at the very beginning. As a rule, I don’t even start looking at a good, high-quality company any closer if the stock price has already baked in several years of successful or expected future development. However, if the valuation seems interesting, I open the hood and start looking at the company’s engine and innards more closely. For a severe price drop or special situations, I can buy a small position in the stock without researching it much more, but if I intend to start growing a larger and more long-term position, I usually read through at least the company’s own materials.
When researching a new company, I try to slightly avoid comments from strangers and armchair analyses from forums and the internet. I do this because I try to avoid the sensitive FOMO and herd mentality that happens during initial excitement. If you get too excited, you might buy hastily so the price doesn’t run away. Usually, bulls paint a rosy future in the euphoria of a rally. Because of this, sleeping on it overnight works really well, too.
10. If you could only use four valuation multiples, which ones would you choose and why?
I would choose the following, as together they form, in my opinion, a comprehensive picture of a company’s earnings power, actual cash flow, sustainability of profit distribution, and price tag relative to growth:
P/E (Price/Earnings)
P/E is the most common basic metric in stock investing. It vividly tells how many years it would take for a company to pay back its market value if its reported net income stayed at the current level. With the help of this multiple, it is easy to make a quick relative comparison between companies in the same industry and the general price level of the market. It doesn’t work in all situations, but it often does.
P/FCF (Price / Free Cash Flow)
P/FCF is a vital choice because accounting earnings can be “fudged,” but the pure cash arriving in the company’s account not so much. This multiple reveals the company’s true ability to finance dividends, debt repayments, and growth investments without continuous external additional financing. This valuation multiple can bring one back down to earth in many situations.
Payout ratio
The payout ratio might not be a pure valuation multiple, but it is an irreplaceable tool in assessing a company’s risk level and capital allocation. It directly shows the sustainability of the dividend and reveals how much buffer or money is left for the company to create new growth. Too high of a payout ratio limits investment opportunities and exposes the dividend to a cut if earnings take a dive.
PEG (Price/Earnings to Growth)
The PEG multiple brings a dynamic dimension to the static P/E figure by relating the stock price to the company’s expected earnings growth. It prevents an investor from making the mistake of dismissing high-quality growth companies just because their traditional P/E looks expensive at first glance. With the help of the PEG figure, it is easy to grasp whether the market is paying a justified price or an overprice for the company’s future growth. In my opinion, it works well in the case of MAG7, for example.
11. Your profile says: “Investment strategy: I try to keep my swimming trunks on.” <span lang="EN-US">What do you mean by this?
<span lang="EN-US">This strategy refers to Warren Buffett’s saying: “You don’t find out who’s been swimming naked until the tide goes out”.I think the saying is a fun figure of speech. In other words, basically when an overheated economy or stock market starts to head into a recession or bear market, that’s when you see who has been driving with too much leverage or with companies that take the hardest hit in a downturn.
I want to use leverage myself when possible and be involved in all kinds of companies, but one must always remember risk management as well. The market easily adopts a “stonks only go up” mentality.
12. How do you track the performance of the companies you own after purchasing them, and what factors prompt you to revise your original investment thesis?
Sometimes the problem has been having too many different companies in my portfolio. In that case, tracking easily remains superficial because life involves jobs and other things besides following the media and reading interim reports. I have also noticed that it’s better for me to focus more on the companies I actually have the energy to follow. This has also paid off, because I am much more in tune with the companies whose interim reports I read myself, at least for the most part.
Sometimes I have also owned multiple companies in the same sector, thinking that if I follow that particular sector, wouldn’t that make complete sense? This hasn’t worked out, because if one takes market share from the other, for example, I get the profit and the loss in the same package.
For long-term investments, I create an investment thesis. In the Alphabet thread, I mentioned that my investment thesis was Google Cloud—meaning cloud services becoming profitable. When I bought in, cloud services were heavily loss-making, but I felt the turnaround was clearly ahead. Many companies are already so large and broad that analyzing all of their business operations could be challenging. Because of this, for many companies I try to find some angle that I believe could mean the current price is a bargain, or that the company’s earnings will grow faster than the market, for example.
Puuilo has also been a successful investment, and in this case, I believed in the concept. When the company went public, it was relatively unknown compared to Tokmanni, for example. This was natural, because the number of stores was completely different. I, on the other hand, had even visited the original and first Puuilo back when there was only one store. The concept was familiar and I liked it, so the company was considerably more familiar at the IPO than practically many other IPOs where you might not have even heard of them before browsing the materials.
13. Tell us about these companies in 100 words per company as investment targets:
- Alphabet
Alphabet (Google’s parent company) is a global tech giant and one of the world’s largest companies. Search services are its core business and they dominate the digital advertising market, generating massive, regular cash flow for the company. Alphabet is heavily investing in future growth, such as Google Cloud services and artificial intelligence (AI). Cloud is the third largest cloud service after Azure and AWS. The company’s own TPU chips also act as a growth driver.
The company has regularly bought back its own shares and also paid a nominal dividend. The biggest risks for an investor right now are likely massive investments and the associated return expectations, as well as regulatory and monopoly lawsuits that could threaten its moat. Despite its large size, individual competitor AI news or personnel changes can sway the stock price by several percentage points in either direction.
- Puuilo
Puuilo is one of the most successful (if not the most successful) discount store chains on the Helsinki Stock Exchange, with profitability higher than its competitors. Puuilo’s concept relies on an efficient store network, low prices, private label brands, and a wide selection of do-it-yourself products, making it defensive even in a weak economic downturn. The company pays a dividend and hopefully, when growth eventually slows down, will buy back its own shares.
The company has mostly been rather tightly priced, but rapid earnings growth has quickly digested the valuation multiples. The company is soon opening its first store in Sweden, but competition there is extremely fierce and the brand is unknown. The challenge is tough, but if successful, growth would yield yet another Finland’s worth of business or even more. The company’s new store openings become profitable exceptionally quickly.
- Verve
Verve (Verve Group, formerly Media and Games Invest) is a growth company focused on digital advertising technology. As an investment target, it is a high-risk and high-expected-return option. The company has grown very strongly both organically and through aggressive acquisitions. Its valuation multiples have traditionally been low relative to its growth profile.
However, the company faces many risks, such as rapid technological changes in the industry, tightening data privacy, and management’s ability to turn reported growth into stable, predictable free cash flow. The company’s CEO, Remco Westermann, has bought shares at various price points and is indeed the company’s main shareholder. This comes with its own risks, but it also supports the narrative. The company has not yet managed to convince investors of the narrative.
14. What are the most common things that cause you to change your mind about a company you own or give up on it entirely?
I am quite a hodler when it comes to the cornerstones of my portfolio. This has been both a good and a bad thing. My biggest mistake has been failing to hit the sell button, and I have tried to mentally practice this. In my opinion, profits or winners shouldn’t be cut short, but sometimes it’s better to take at least some profits off the table, especially if changes occur in the company or the narrative, or if valuation multiples reach a point where they can no longer be rationally justified.
**15. How much do you analyze companies’ figures yourself, for example in Excel? How do you prepare your own forecasts, or do you mainly rely on analyst estimates?**I do very little analysis of company figures myself in Excel. Nowadays, there are so many analysts and people making analyses that you can get analyses made by others almost in a heartbeat. I don’t try to squeeze the last percentage out of the price one way or the other. If a stock is roughly at buying price, I make the purchase. It’s better to buy quality at a high price than bad at a low price. I have also used AI to bounce ideas around regarding valuation.
16. If you could teach one thing to the investors on the Inderes Forum with the push of a single button, what would it be and why?
Try not to FOMO. If emotions take over and the urge to jump into something is too strong, you lose the ability to see the big picture and the warning signs.
17. If you had to choose three people from the Inderes staff and three from the Forum to manage your portfolio for ten years, who would you choose and why?
Sauli Vilén, Atte Riikola, and Juha Kinnunen. Almost the current model portfolio team, but not quite. No special justifications. I have probably read their output the most, and they have stuck in my mind the most. Nice-seeming guys on the videos. Out of the forum members, I can’t name just three, there are too many strong candidates to choose from.
18. What kind of goals do you have in investing? How do you plan to utilize the wealth you accumulate through investing?
I don’t really have an endgame figured out regarding investing. I very much like the FIRE thread or similar stories on the forum, but as one quickly realizes from the threads, making the decision when push comes to shove is surprisingly challenging. My portfolio doesn’t allow for early retirement, nor is it relevant in any way. And I don’t even know if I aim to drop out of work completely, for example.
I value time very much, and a short-term dream would be an increase in leisure time in my life at the expense of monthly income. In my own mind, I could justify this with the wealth in my investments. Year by year, new investment capital is increasingly overshadowed by returns through the power of compounding. Investing is primarily a hobby for me. I enjoy following companies’ affairs very much (the forum is a great tool) and getting acquainted with the subject matter in general.
TLDR: More leisure time at the expense of accumulated wealth.
19. Alokas needs high-quality analyses to support him, so researching domestic companies is considerably easier with the help of Inderes than foreign ones. How do you research foreign companies and search for information about them independently, for example, without Inderes’s support?
Now that’s a good question. Sauli Vilén has well articulated how Inderes’s reports are real time-savers when someone who has been familiar with the company and industry for a long time reads through the interim reports and does the analysis. Inderes doesn’t follow Alphabet, for example, but then again, a few million other analysts or people who feel like analysts do.
It’s difficult to find any angle on the world’s largest companies that would give you the upper hand in the market, but I have read interim reports for years and follow, for example, Google’s own blog, which tells about new products or how current products are doing. In addition, transcripts and subtitles of various webcasts are good if you don’t have time to listen all the way through. Even though my English listening comprehension is at a good level, it’s often difficult to listen to these on headphones on the go, for example, when you also need to think and analyze things. Because of this, subtitles are quite good.
Quick mini-analyses can be found on X, for example, but like on any forums, you always have to be careful when reading texts on the net, and a high level of source criticism must be maintained. Valuations and analyses can very easily be skewed in the direction you want. Here I can specifically thank those who dare to be objective bears on the forum. It’s not a rewarding job and the warning flag might easily swing.
20. What would you like to thank Inderes and its Forum for?
I want to generally thank for all the information and effort that the community produces for the forum. The Finnish retail investor scene is definitely doing better thanks to the forum, because you get good information and analysis related to companies there. In addition, new news comes to the forum very quickly. Inderes as a company naturally pursues a profit, but does a good job by bringing information to retail investors for free as well.
Many thanks for the excellent answers!
Gwertheney combines good humor with well-reasoned investment content; furthermore, as a curious and down-to-earth guy, he enriches the Forum with knowledge, perspectives, constructive discussion, and a good vibe. 
Brothers, let us listen to Mr. G:
16. If you could teach one thing to the investors on the Inderes Forum with the push of a single button, what would it be and why?
Try not to FOMO. If emotions take over and the urge to jump into something is too strong, you lose the ability to see the big picture and the warning signs.
Have a nice weekend!