Candies and airplanes

See's Candies is a role model

If you want to know how to recognize a great business, you could do worse than look at See's Candies. More than half of its profits have been paid to its owners, with the remaining amount being retained (some people will spin this by saying it was reinvested).

Compare its net profits in the 1970s against its profits in the 1990s and ask how much capital was required to generate all these profits.

It is even more relevant to note that the candy industry is not unlike the airline industry in that almost half of the businesses in this industry are unprofitable. So this is not a case of a high tide lifting all boats. The tide has been out for some time with no promise of returning.