On October 15, value investor Duan Yongping wrote on Xueqiu that “If you don’t understand business, no one can teach you,” while referring to remarks he made about Apple more than a decade ago.
His comment came in response to a user identified as @Never798, who wrote: “Buying a stock is buying a company, and buying a company is discounting its future cash flows.” The user said they had read nearly all of Duan’s content in recent years but remained confused about “how to judge future cash flows,” asking whether there were additional study suggestions beyond different circles of competence, or whether investing is “a kind of talent.”
Duan replied with two rhetorical prompts—“Look at what I said about Apple more than ten years ago” and “Are you looking for a formula?”—before reiterating, “If you don’t understand business, no one can teach you.” He did not outline a specific valuation formula in the post, instead emphasizing the importance of understanding the underlying business.
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