NEWS
17 Mar 2022 - Australian Equities - At The Crossroads?
Australian Equities - At The Crossroads? Airlie Funds Management 08 March 2022 |
After varying lengths of ever-lower interest rates, RBA asset-buying and benign inflation - all three are reversing course, resulting in increasingly volatile equity markets in 2022. Airlie Portfolio Manager, Matt Williams and Equities Analyst, Will Granger explore what this means for Australian equities. The pair analyse the latest February earnings season and provide insight into the Airlie Australian Share Fund (AASF) portfolio. Timestamps: Funds operated by this manager: Airlie Australian Share Fund |
17 Mar 2022 - Geopolitical volatility and stagflation fears
16 Mar 2022 - Performance Report: Paragon Australian Long Short Fund
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Fund Overview | Paragon's unique investment style, comprising thematic led idea generation followed with an in depth research effort, results in a concentrated portfolio of high conviction stocks. Conviction in bottom up analysis drives the investment case and ultimate position sizing: * Both quantitative analysis - probability weighted high/low/base case valuations - and qualitative analysis - company meetings, assessing management, the business model, balance sheet strength and likely direction of returns - collectively form Paragon's overall view for each investment case. * Paragon will then allocate weighting to each investment opportunity based on a risk/reward profile, capped to defined investment parameters by market cap, which are continually monitored as part of Paragon's overall risk management framework. The objective of the Paragon Fund is to produce absolute returns in excess of 10% p.a. over a 3-5 year time horizon with a low correlation to the Australian equities market. |
Manager Comments | On a calendar year basis, the fund has only experienced a negative annual return once in the 9 years since its inception. Over the past 12 months, the fund's largest drawdown was -27.05% vs the index's -6.35%, and since inception in March 2013 the fund's largest drawdown was -45.11% vs the index's maximum drawdown over the same period of -26.75%. The fund's maximum drawdown began in January 2018 and lasted 2 years and 7 months, reaching its lowest point during March 2020. The fund had completely recovered its losses by August 2020. The Manager has delivered these returns with 11.37% more volatility than the index, contributing to a Sharpe ratio which has fallen below 1 five times over the past five years and which currently sits at 0.49 since inception. The fund has provided positive monthly returns 68% of the time in rising markets and 46% of the time during periods of market decline, contributing to an up-capture ratio since inception of 90% and a down-capture ratio of 82%. |
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16 Mar 2022 - Performance Report: Cyan C3G Fund
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Fund Overview | Cyan C3G Fund is based on the investment philosophy which can be defined as a comprehensive, clear and considered process focused on delivering growth. These are identified through stringent filter criteria and a rigorous research process. The Manager uses a proprietary stock filter in order to eliminate a large proportion of investments due to both internal characteristics (such as gearing levels or cash flow) and external characteristics (such as exposure to commodity prices or customer concentration). Typically, the Fund looks for businesses that are one or more of: a) under researched, b) fundamentally undervalued, c) have a catalyst for re-rating. The Manager seeks to achieve this investment outcome by actively managing a portfolio of Australian listed securities. When the opportunity to invest in suitable securities cannot be found, the manager may reduce the level of equities exposure and accumulate a defensive cash position. Whilst it is the company's intention, there is no guarantee that any distributions or returns will be declared, or that if declared, the amount of any returns will remain constant or increase over time. The Fund does not invest in derivatives and does not use debt to leverage the Fund's performance. However, companies in which the Fund invests may be leveraged. |
Manager Comments | The Cyan C3G Fund has a track record of 7 years and 7 months and has outperformed the ASX Small Ordinaries Total Return Index since inception in August 2014, providing investors with an annualised return of 12.29% compared with the index's return of 7.99% over the same period. On a calendar year basis, the fund has only experienced a negative annual return once in the 7 years and 7 months since its inception. Over the past 12 months, the fund's largest drawdown was -18.68% vs the index's -9.15%, and since inception in August 2014 the fund's largest drawdown was -36.45% vs the index's maximum drawdown over the same period of -29.12%. The fund's maximum drawdown began in October 2019 and lasted 1 year and 4 months, reaching its lowest point during March 2020. The fund had completely recovered its losses by February 2021. The Manager has delivered these returns with 0.26% more volatility than the index, contributing to a Sharpe ratio which has fallen below 1 five times over the past five years and which currently sits at 0.71 since inception. The fund has provided positive monthly returns 85% of the time in rising markets and 39% of the time during periods of market decline, contributing to an up-capture ratio since inception of 67% and a down-capture ratio of 64%. |
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16 Mar 2022 - Performance Report: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund
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Fund Overview | In a typical environment the Fund will hold around 70 stocks comprising 35 pairs. Each pair contains one long and one short position each of which will have been thoroughly researched and are selected from the same market sector. Whilst in an ideal environment each stock's position will make a positive return, it is the relative performance of the pair that is important. As a result the Fund can make positive returns when each stock moves in the same direction provided the long position outperforms the short one in relative terms. However, if neither side of the trade is profitable, strict controls are required to ensure losses are limited. The Fund uses no derivatives and has no currency exposure. The Fund has no hard stop loss limits, instead relying on the small average position size per stock (1.5%) and per pair (3%) to limit exposure. Where practical pairs are always held within the same sector to limit cross sector risk, and positions can be held for months or years. The Bennelong Market Neutral Fund, with same strategy and liquidity is available for retail investors as a Listed Investment Company (LIC) on the ASX. |
Manager Comments | The Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund has a track record of 20 years and 1 month and has outperformed the ASX 200 Total Return Index since inception in February 2002, providing investors with an annualised return of 13.11% compared with the index's return of 8.1% over the same period. Over the past 12 months, the fund's largest drawdown was -20.36% vs the index's -6.35%, and since inception in February 2002 the fund's largest drawdown was -27.86% vs the index's maximum drawdown over the same period of -47.19%. The fund's maximum drawdown began in September 2020 and has lasted 1 year and 5 months, reaching its lowest point during February 2022. During this period, the index's maximum drawdown was -15.05%. The Manager has delivered these returns with 0.09% less volatility than the index, contributing to a Sharpe ratio which has fallen below 1 five times over the past five years and which currently sits at 0.76 since inception. The fund has provided positive monthly returns 64% of the time in rising markets and 62% of the time during periods of market decline, contributing to an up-capture ratio since inception of 5% and a down-capture ratio of -128%. |
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16 Mar 2022 - 3 stocks to benefit from energy increases
3 stocks to benefit from energy increases Datt Capital 03 March 2022 Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions against it enforced by the Western world have enormously affected energy and broader commodity markets. The important Asian LNG benchmark, the JKM index, is currently trading ~US$35/MMBtu; significantly higher than in recent months. Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC) Written By Emanuel Datt Funds operated by this manager: |
Disclaimer: This article does not take into account your investment objectives, particular needs or financial situation; and should not be construed as advice in any way. The author holds no exposure to the stock discussed |
15 Mar 2022 - Performance Report: Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund
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Manager Comments | The Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund has a track record of 12 years and 4 months and has outperformed the ASX 200 Total Return Index since inception in November 2009, providing investors with an annualised return of 10.64% compared with the index's return of 7.91% over the same period. Over the past 12 months, the fund's largest drawdown was -10.54% vs the index's -6.35%, and since inception in November 2009 the fund's largest drawdown was -26.09% vs the index's maximum drawdown over the same period of -26.75%. The fund's maximum drawdown began in February 2020 and lasted 9 months, reaching its lowest point during March 2020. The fund had completely recovered its losses by November 2020. The Manager has delivered these returns with 0.55% more volatility than the index, contributing to a Sharpe ratio which has fallen below 1 five times over the past five years and which currently sits at 0.65 since inception. The fund has provided positive monthly returns 95% of the time in rising markets and 7% of the time during periods of market decline, contributing to an up-capture ratio since inception of 120% and a down-capture ratio of 97%. |
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15 Mar 2022 - Investing in infrastructure: what's changed and where are the opportunities?
Investing in infrastructure: what's changed and where are the opportunities? Magellan Asset Management February 2022 The last two years has seen international travel upended, domestic transport challenged, 'essential services' redefined and a growing interest in the role infrastructure can play in decarbonisation. With this backdrop, does the case for investing in global listed infrastructure still stack up? |
Funds operated by this manager: Magellan Global Fund (Hedged), Magellan Global Fund (Open Class Units) ASX:MGOC, Magellan High Conviction Fund, Magellan Infrastructure Fund, Magellan Infrastructure Fund (Unhedged), MFG Core Infrastructure Fund |
15 Mar 2022 - Inflation is here. Set quality to max.
Inflation is here. Set quality to max. Loftus Peak March 2022 It was a bad month for markets all around, as the US Federal Reserve finally leaned into its job - getting inflation out of the system. Its mechanism for doing this is to raise rates to curtail demand. This impacts share markets in two key ways. First, relatively higher interest rates will be less stimulative for economic growth, which feeds its way through to corporate profits and therefore valuations. Second, higher interest rates mean higher costs of capital to business (debt and equity). All else equal, higher costs of capital will reduce the present value of a company's cashflows and therefore its share price. And the further out (in time) those cashflows are, the more they are discounted, meaning that share prices of companies which are not profitable now are very badly hit. The chart below shows -23.8% underperformance of the Russell 2000 against the S&P500 over the past year. Just over half of that underperformance was notched in the past three months. The Russell 2000 is an index of small to mid cap US companies which generally carry less financial strength - and so may be of less quality - than the larger companies that dominate the S&P500. This is a big divergence in outcomes for higher quality companies compared with lower quality companies, but it's even worse than that for some funds and many companies, some of which are down -50% or more. Economic growth is only part of the storyIt is more than likely that rising interest rates will temper some of the stellar growth we are seeing in companies - this is of course incrementally negative for share markets. However economic growth is not the only ingredient for success in the companies that Loftus Peak holds. We believe a larger part of the success of our holdings is driven by secular trends resulting from changing business and consumer behaviour towards better, more efficient tools and solutions. So higher interest rates might change the pace, but not the destination. It is even conceivable that some of these trends accelerate and become more ingrained during a period of depressed growth as companies look to boost profitability by cutting costs, including by automation, moving to the cloud and cutting ineffective legacy advertising. Quality takes centre stage - profitability, cashflows, balance sheetsWe never shy away from highlighting the quality of the portfolio. Irrespective of macroeconomic conditions, this has always been an integral part of the portfolio construction process, and was a decision informed by the numerous corrections and crashes the investment team has witnessed over their lifetimes. Loftus Peak invests in disruptive companies; businesses driven by secular trends and structural change. The portfolio is therefore heavily tilted towards companies with differentiated, non-commoditised products and services, resulting in business models with relatively higher margins and better profitability. In an inflationary environment, which it appears we are heading into, greater differentiation and higher margins means the ability to pass on or even absorb increased input costs. The same cannot be said for many traditional businesses that are capital intensive and run on razor-thin margins. A key component of a quality company is one that is generating positive cash flows and has additional cash on the books for good measure. Why is this important? As monetary policy tightens and interest rates go up, economic growth will temper at the same time the cost of capital begins to increase. This can be a lethal combination for companies that haven't yet established their business models or a path to profitability, because plugging the hole with debt and equity raisings is going to become much more difficult (and costly). It is for this exact reason that a majority of Loftus Peak's holdings are in quality companies - those with established business models, strong balance sheets and cashflows, with a much lower allocation to 'riskier' companies. This has always been the case, but in more recent months we have increased the tilt to quality even more than usual. The portfolio's quality tilt
We realise that our focus on quality might mean we sacrifice some additional upside when things are going well, but it also ensures our investors are protected on the downside as the dust settles and the market begins seeking out companies that are strategically positioned, with solid fundamentals, positive cashflow generation and strong balance sheets. Despite the short-term volatility and underperformance of a select few names, we believe the Fund is well positioned for a period marked by slowing economic growth and rising costs of capital because of the inherent characteristics of disruptive companies and our portfolio construction process, which leans heavily toward strong balance sheets and business models, so is high on quality. Despite macro headwinds, disruption marches on… For Tesla, competitors are comingTesla is currently valued at more than double that of the entire global car industry (excluding itself, or course). While not wishing to in any way minimise Elon Musk's inestimable impact on these car makers (and the fossil fuels on which they run) it is simply not credible that the existing industry will not fight back. The table below shows the market share of the top ten car makers by production of electric vehicles. Generally, these sales represent only a small fraction of the car companies' overall output across internal combustion engines, but the takeaway is simple - Tesla has just 20% of the total market share in EV's worldwide. Take VW as an example, which since we wrote in our piece title "VW's car accident; don't waste a crisis" in Sept 2015, now has 10% of the battery electric vehicle market share. The company has not one but two battery technology pioneer companies in its orbit - Quantumscape and its US 24M, the latter of which is reportedly capable of energy density (kilowatt hours/kilogram) around 50% higher than Tesla. As we said in our piece . Another data point: The Wall Street Journal in January carried a review of BMW's new electric 4 series. "After a couple hundred kilometers soaring across Bavarian fairyland, here's my capsule review: glorious. Sweet, swift, swank, swell, fast as hell, hushed as a chapel, cool as marble. With its front and rear e-motors providing a digitally mastered 536 hp to the wheels, the i4 M50 accelerates like Derby Lane's electric rabbit-0-60 mph in 3.7 seconds. It's too bad earlier generations of car reviewers have squandered the phrase "corners like it's on rails," because the i4 M50 really does." December quarter earnings highlight the resilience of secular trendsLast month we wrote extensively on the importance of semiconductors as the bedrock for much of the disruption and secular trends we are witnessing. Since then, many of our semiconductor companies have reported strong results driven by robust demand in their respective end markets (consumer - phones, cars, other devices - industrials and more). Many of our other core holdings - still beneficiaries of semiconductor advances - such as Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft all reported results that beat the market's subdued expectations. It is positive results like these that add to the conviction we have in the long-term secular trends we are exposing our clients to. Although the short term might remain volatile and uncertain, we believe that over the medium and long term the safest place to be is in quality companies riding secular tailwinds. As a reminder, those secular tailwinds include 5G and the Internet of Things, cloud computing, digital advertising, ecommerce, streaming, electrification and importantly the semiconductors underpinning it all. We do not believe the strong results will end here. Funds operated by this manager: |
14 Mar 2022 - Performance Report: Surrey Australian Equities Fund
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Fund Overview | The Investment Manager follows a defined investment process which is underpinned by detailed bottom up fundamental analysis, overlayed with sectoral and macroeconomic research. This is combined with an extensive company visitation program where we endeavour to meet with company management and with other stakeholders such as suppliers, customers and industry bodies to improve our information set. Surrey Asset Management defines its investment process as Qualitative, Quantitative and Value Latencies (QQV). In essence, the Investment Manager thoroughly researches an investment's qualitative and quantitative characteristics in an attempt to find value latencies not yet reflected in the share price and then clearly defines a roadmap to realisation of those latencies. Developing this roadmap is a key step in the investment process. By articulating a clear pathway as to how and when an investment can realise what the Investment Manager sees as latent value, defines the investment proposition and lessens the impact of cognitive dissonance. This is undertaken with a philosophical underpinning of fact-based investing, transparency, authenticity and accountability. |
Manager Comments | The Surrey Australian Equities Fund has a track record of 3 years and 9 months and therefore comparison over all market conditions and against its peers is limited. However, the fund has underperformed the ASX 200 Total Return Index since inception in June 2018, providing investors with an annualised return of 6.98% compared with the index's return of 8.33% over the same period. On a calendar year basis, the fund hasn't experienced any negative annual returns in the 3 years and 9 months since its inception. Over the past 12 months, the fund's largest drawdown was -15.32% vs the index's -6.35%, and since inception in June 2018 the fund's largest drawdown was -26.75% vs the index's maximum drawdown over the same period of -26.75%. The fund's maximum drawdown began in February 2020 and lasted 6 months, reaching its lowest point during March 2020. The fund had completely recovered its losses by August 2020. The Manager has delivered these returns with 4.87% more volatility than the index, contributing to a Sharpe ratio which has fallen below 1 three times over the past three years and which currently sits at 0.4 since inception. The fund has provided positive monthly returns 81% of the time in rising markets and 7% of the time during periods of market decline, contributing to an up-capture ratio since inception of 110% and a down-capture ratio of 112%. |
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