原文信息：

- 标题：What Do We Mean By Reinvestment?
- 作者：Chuck Arke
- 发表时间：2014-10-20
- 链接：[Akre Capital](https://www.akrecapital.com/what-do-we-mean-by-reinvestment/)
- 中文翻译参考：机器翻译
- 整理：无
- 校译：Ponge

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The three legs of our investment stool represent the essential ingredients for a business to compound: an extraordinary business model, exceptional people, and abundant reinvestment opportunities.  Elsewhere, we address the importance of a strong business model and exceptional people.  Here the topic is reinvestment.

我们的投资理念「三角凳」展示了一个公司实现复利成长的三大基础要素：

1. 一个非凡的商业模式；
2. 杰出的人才；
3. 丰富的再投资机会。

我们之前已经讨论过强大的商业模式和杰出人才的重要性，今天我们来聊一聊再投资。

The people running a successful business are regularly faced with the decision: what to do with the cash earnings?  At the most basic level, there are two possibilities.  First, they can retain the cash and invest it with the aim of increasing the value of the business. This is what we call reinvestment. Second, they can pay out some or all of the cash to shareholders as a dividend.

一个成功企业的管理层经常需要做出这样的决策：赚来的现金要如何配置？追根究底，企业有两种方式配置它们：

1. 企业可以留存收益，并进行投资，目的是增加企业的价值。这就是我们所谓的再投资；
2. 企业可以将部分或全部收益作为股息支付给股东。

Right away, we can begin to understand why reinvestment is so critical.  **The ability to earn earnings upon earnings is essentially the definition of compounding**.  In the long run, we feel strongly that the rate at which the value of a business compounds will approximate its returns on reinvestment.

了解了这个，我们就可以明白为什么再投资是如此关键。**复利成长的定义从本质上来说就是收益本身再创造收益的能力**。从长远来看，我们强烈地感受到，企业价值复利增长的速度将接近其再投资回报率。

With an outstanding reinvestor at the helm, even an ordinary business can become a remarkable compounding machine.  There are abundant examples, including of course Berkshire Hathaway, which began its compounding journey as a struggling textile mill.

即使一个平庸的企业，一旦拥有了杰出的再投资人（reinvestor），也能成为一个了不起的复利机器。这样的例子比比皆是，伯克希尔·哈撒韦就是其中的一员，在享受复利成长之初，它只是一家陷入困境的纺织厂。

And yet, we so often observe dividends being prioritized by investors and pundits.  **The reality is that dividends are the route to average returns, and our goal is decidedly to seek above-average returns**. Excellence in reinvestment is the route to such returns.

然而，我们经常看到投资者和专家们把股息率放在首位。 **现实情况是，股息是获得平均回报的途径，而我们的目标显然是要寻求高于平均水平的回报**。卓越的再投资收益率是获得这种回报的途径。

This is simply because markets recognize and put a high price on businesses with high returns on invested capital.  The price a shareholder pays for a wonderful business is typically a substantial multiple of the actual capital invested in that business.  And, unfortunately for the dividend-centric investor, it is this ratio of market price to invested capital that dictates the returns available to shareholders on any earnings paid out as dividends.

为什么股息只能够获得平均回报？因为市场能够发现投资资本回报率（ROIC）高的企业，并在估值上给予溢价。 股东为一个优秀企业支付的价格通常是该企业实际投入资产的好几倍（*译者注释 1*）。而且不幸的是，对于那些最关心分红的投资者来说，正是这种市场价格与投资资本的比率决定了股东的股息回报率（*译者注释 2*）。

To illustrate: If a business has an underlying 21% return on capital, but an investor paid a market price of 3x capital to acquire the stock, then a 100% dividend of all earnings would only yield the investor a 7% pre-tax return (the arithmetic: 21%/3 = 7%).  This is very much an average return, even though the underlying business has excellent returns on capital.  While the underlying business model may be outstanding, and while the business may be run by exceptional people, the lack of reinvestment opportunity and a decision to pay out 100% of earnings will cause shareholder returns to be just average.

举个例子：

假设有一个企业，其 ROE 达到了 21%，但投资者不得不以 3 倍 P/B 购买该公司的股票。即使该企业将全部收益拿来分红，投资者也只能获得 7% 的税前回报率（计算方法：21%/3=7%）。公司拥有很高的 ROE，但对投资者来说，只能获得 7% 的平庸回报。尽管公司的商业模式可能很出色，尽管公司可能由杰出的人经营，但缺乏再投资的机会并决定将全部收益分红给股东的做法只能让股东获得平均回报。

On the other hand, if it were possible that all earnings could be retained and reinvested at the same 21% rate, the shareholder would receive no dividend, but the capital and earnings of the business would both grow at the rate of 21% per annum.  Over the long term, if the stock is purchased at a reasonable multiple, its market price would grow more or less in parallel with the rate of growth in capital and earnings.  The shareholder, in this example, would build capital gains at a rate in the neighborhood of the underlying 21% growth rate, for so long as the runway of excellent reinvestment opportunities persisted.  To top it off, the shareholder would enjoy tax deferral on the gains.  If you know of any businesses that can retain 100% of earnings and reinvest them at a 21% rate, please give us a call!

换个思路，企业如果有可能把所有的收益留存下来，并进行再投资（假设依然会获得 21% 的投资回报率），这时股东不会得到任何股息，但企业的净资产和收益都会以每年 21% 的速度增长。从长远来看，如果买入公司股票时的估值是合理的，其股价上涨幅度将或多或少地与净资产和收益的增长速度同步。在这个思路下，只要优秀的再投资机会持续存在，股东将获得差不多 21% 年化资本回报率。最重要的是，股东将享受收益的税收递延。

当然，如果你知道有什么企业可以保留 100% 的收益并以 21% 的收益率进行再投资，请马上给我们打电话！

Within our portfolios, different businesses we own have different strategies for reinvestment.  Some are expert at acquisitions, and others rely primarily on organic reinvestment such as the purchase of fixed assets and inventory that may be required to expand sales and earnings.  Some have a reinvestment strategy that enables them to be opportunistic across a variety of asset classes and industries where these management teams constantly assess where the best opportunities lie to reinvest capital and grow book value per share.  As written in one company’s 2013 shareholder letter: “…each day, we get to choose from a varied menu as to how to allocate capital to continue to build the value of your company.”  Their varied menu includes capital to support insurance underwriting, the purchase of public equities, the purchase of private equities, acquisitions, and share buybacks. And some have never paid a dividend.

在我们的投资组合中，不同企业有不同的再投资策略。一些企业擅长收购，另一些企业则主要依靠内生的再投资机会，如购买可能需要的固定资产和原材料，以扩大销售和利润。有些企业的再投资战略使他们能够在各种资产类别和行业中把握机会，这些管理团队不断评估哪里有最好的机会来进行资本再投资，使每股账面价值增长。正如某家公司 2013 年股东信中所写的那样：「……每一天，我们都要从不同的选项中选择如何分配资本，以持续增加贵公司的价值。」他们不同的选项包括将资本配置于保险承保、股票、私募股权、并购和股票回购。而且，在我们的投资组合中，有些公司从来没有支付过股息。

Alongside a strong business model and exceptional people, abundant reinvestment opportunities are the key to high rates of compounding returns.

除了强大的商业模式和杰出的人才外，丰富的再投资机会是获得高复利回报率的关键。

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译者注释 1：作者这里用的是投入资本（IC），更常见的方法是用净资产，用净资产来理解这句话是说，高 ROE 的企业往往表现为高 P/B。

译者注释 2：这里需要理解一个核心公式：

$$ DR = \frac{D}{M} = \frac{b \times E}{P/B \times B} = \frac{b \times ROE}{P/B}$$

其中：

- $DR$：股息率；
- $D$：股息；
- $M$：市值；
- $b$：分红率，100% 是全部分红；
- $E$：净利润；
- $P/B$：市净率；
- $B$：净资产；
- $ROE$：净资产收益率。

这句话的意思是说，虽然一个公司的 ROE 较高，但往往这类企业的 P/B 也高，导致最终股息率表现很一般。