If I told you that your best chance of finding an investment fund that is going to outperform in the future would be to screen for the worst performing funds in the past, you might think I was crazy. But one of the things we like to see when we’re... Show More
January this year brought the sad news that Jack Bogle had died. Mr Bogle, the founder of the Vanguard Group, was the great pioneer of passive investing. Since he began to promote index-tracking funds in the 1970s, there’s been a huge increase in their use. This increase accelerated with the... Show More
We take our monthly look at the returns of Australian Microcap Funds. The majority of funds endured double-digit and drawdowns in the Dec 18 quarter. This large drawdown in the last quarter also pulled the majority of the funds negative for the calendar year. Show More
We take our monthly look at the returns of Australian Microcap Funds. While most funds avoided the large drawdowns seen in October the majority still posted small negative absolute returns for November. We can only hope for a late Santa Clause rally to put some gloss on what looks to... Show More
Well, October 18 was a brutal month for microcaps with the S&P/ASX Emerging Companies Index closing down 10.9% for the month, Yikes! Although things have stabilised in November there has been no major recovery of the losses in October. Not that the larger cousins escaped without injury, the S&P/ASX All... Show More
The debate on active versus passive has gone on for years, with many investors loyal to one camp of the other. But… Why not use both? Christian Obrist, Head of iShares in Australia echoed these sentiments when we asked about the biggest trends in ETFs today. Show More
Q1FY19 was a challenging quarter for microcap managers but the majority of managers navigated the market well with the average manager posting a return of +2.6% for the quarter. This was in contrast to S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Accumulation Index which returned +1.9% for the period. The performance of large stocks... Show More
Most broad-based equity indices around the world predominately comprise mature, old-world industrial businesses, highly geared companies including banks, low quality commodity-based businesses, capital intensive businesses and speculative stocks. For many of these companies the long-term return on capital and organic revenue growth outlook is modest at best. This low-quality equity... Show More
BuildingIQ (BIQ: ASX) Is a stock that is completely off the wider investment radar for a reason that will become obvious in due course. That doesn’t mean though it’s not an interesting investment proposition. Show More
Well, the first quarter of FY19 is behind us and it has been tough for microcaps. As I alluded to in my newsletter last month, reporting season overall was pretty insipid as far as microcaps were concerned. This is reflected in the performance of the index with the S&P/ASX Emerging... Show More
MedAdvisor (MDR: ASX) operates in the healthcare IT space, specifically in improving the interaction between pharmacies, patients, drug manufacturers, doctors, and government. MDR provides a fully digital end to end experience for handling medical scripts for prescribed medication, primarily targeting chronic conditions which require ongoing medication management. Show More
At a recent technology conference, I attended there was a whole panel discussion on the opportunities around the use of technology and innovation in the education sector. While not as sexy and almost ubiquitous as FinTech or platform businesses like Facebook and Netflix etc. Education globally is still a huge... Show More
FY18 was a strong year for both microcap and small caps indexes. Once again, microcaps significantly outperformed large caps. The S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Accumulation Index returned 13.7% for FY18 a healthy return. In contrast, the S&P/ASX Emerging Companies Index posted a stellar return of 23.2% for FY18. Leading to an... Show More
This month we outline four microcaps to watch, and discuss some research from Goldman Sachs on coverage at the small end of the market. We also talk to a high performing microcap fund, and discuss one of the more interesting stocks from their portfolio. Show More
Energy Action (EAX: ASX) has had a very chequered past in recent times. Following a successful IPO and relatively successful early days post IPO the performance under the tenure of the previous CEO Scott Woodridge was a torrid affair from a shareholders point of view. The share price fell from... Show More
Much has been made of the increased popularity of passive investing, and rightfully so. Markets have generated excellent returns over the long term, and index tracking Funds or ETF’s provide very low-cost exposure to highly diversified portfolios. However, in this wire, we explain what it has in common with investing... Show More
We are on the home stretch of FY18 and microcap and small caps indexes have continued to demonstrate strength. Once again, microcaps significantly outperformed large caps. The S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Accumulation Index returned a -3.69% for the Q3FY18. In contrast, the S&P/ASX Emerging Companies Index posted a -1.85% return in... Show More
There’s a pithy marketing one-liner that has almost single-handedly produced a multi-billion dollar index-fund and ETF industry. It goes something like this; ‘Most active fund managers underperform the index.’ Show More
Chris Cuffe recently shared his views on the future of active management in this exclusive video with Livewire. Acknowledging the pressures on the industry, Chris makes the case that there will always be a role for good active managers that can generate real alpha over the long-term. Show More
In part one we showed how being contrarian can produce huge returns, while in part two we explained how buying companies with owner-managers can also give you an edge. Show More
