There can be little doubt in any professional fund manager’s mind that prices for many companies listed on major developed exchanges around the world can only be justified by assuming rates of growth that few companies have ever sustained. Show More
With the economy chugging along nicely, and equity markets grinding higher, it’s been pretty smooth sailing for investors in recent years. But there’s one important risk that has the potential to derail the rally: President Trump. Though the potential problems are well known by markets, Troy Angus, Head of Large... Show More
Online travel agent Webjet (WEB) has been a phenomenal performer with the share price up over 300% in the last three years, compared to the ASX Small Ords Accumulation Index which is up 60% (obviously not a return to be baulked at either!). Show More
What would you nominate as the most under-appreciated risk in the market today? There seems to have been an endless carousel of macro ‘bogeymen’, yet markets keep inching higher. So which risks really matter, and which ones have investors overlooked? Show More
Concerned that the nine-year bull run has overstayed its welcome, many strategists have highlighted the narrow leadership of the US stock market as it has bucked weakening trends elsewhere in the world. Through June, the so-called FAANG stocks had accounted for 75% of the S&P 500’s 2.64% total return, in... Show More
Zenith Energy (ASX:ZEN) builds, owns and operates (BOO) remote energy power stations for a range of industries including the resources industry. Clients include Newmont Mining, Chevron, Northern Star, Independence Group, Incitec Pivot and Dacian Gold, among others. The group currently has an owned installed generation capacity base of 183MW in... Show More
Hard landing? Not even close. China's GDP growth is stabilising. The country is riding on the dual trends of a growing tech and consumer culture. From almost nowhere, its private companies are becoming world-beaters in high-growth tech sectors, from smartphones to civilian drones, e-commerce to ride-sharing. Show More
Value investing has a long and illustrious history, championed by none other than Benjamin Graham, the man who arguably invented scientific stock analysis in the 1930s. Show More
...Or that is what some equity pundits masquerading as bond experts want you to believe. They predict that a ‘bondcano’ of rising interest rates will lead to collapsing prices for bonds and bond-like proxies. Show More
In Australia, the outlook remains mixed, labour market and confidence metrics have remained solid early in the year and this is expected to continue. Yet other activity indicators continue to suggest a more modest pick up in growth may be expected with limited price pressures. Show More
For the last few years the Australian economy has been meandering between 2-3% growth. This remained the case through last year with December quarter GDP up just 0.4%, and annual growth of 2.4% as a bounce a year ago dropped out. In the quarter growth was helped by consumer spending... Show More
Growth vs value is a well-documented discussion in stock investing. It describes two fundamental approaches or styles to investing where in a basic sense, the growth approach seeks to invest in companies that exhibit strong growth characteristics (whether this be in the sales, earnings and/or cash flow of a company),... Show More
Stephen Koukoulas writing for FIIG Securities says that financial markets which usually yawn on budget night will be a little more focussed this year. They'll be looking for any signs of policy loosening, any debt and deficit risks and other policy changes aimed at sweetening the electorate: Show More
Although confronted with a maturing growth cycle and the likelihood of more modest returns, the catalysts typically leading to past downturns appear largely absent - such as sharply tighter monetary or fiscal policy and financial crises. Notwithstanding our sense that 2018 is a year to stay positive, we have highlighted... Show More
Given recent headlines and speculation with respect to commodity prices, I thought it worthwhile to outline my views on the near-term picture. Overall, I remain very optimistic with respect to prices and demand. In particular, recent positive Chinese commodity demand data and outcomes from the recent Chinese Communist Party Congress,... Show More
According to forecasts from earlier this year by the World Bank, the global economy is expected to average a Real GDP growth rate of 2.8% between 2017-2019. This infographic from Visual Capitalist looks at individual countries between 2017-2019, based on their individual growth projections from the World Bank, to see... Show More
The International Monetary Fund has built a reputation as an unbiased forecaster. The IMF has a pretty optimistic outlook for the Australian budget for the next couple of years. They believe that the Australian budget deficit will decline from 2.7% of GDP in calendar 2016 to 2.2% of GDP in... Show More
The market is expecting US growth to rebound from its temporary hiatus in the March quarter, and for China's growth to slow only modestly this year. If both of those things happen the equity train can stay on the rails for a while longer, with growth being neither too hot... Show More
How are Australia’s states and territories performing? Each quarter CommSec attempts to find out by analysing eight key indicators: economic growth; retail spending; business investment; unemployment; construction work done; population growth; housing finance and dwelling commencements. Show More
We recently attended the well supported Capital Economics (CE) Conference on The Outlook for Global Growth. In total there were more than 90 slides and charts presented. At the risk of over-simplification, 6 key points stood out to us: Show More
