The most important data in the report was that margins didn’t expand as much as the “Whisper number” thought they would. Firstly, what is the “whisper number?” Most readers will be aware of what is called “the street's expectation” – which is the forecasts that the sell side brokerage houses... Show More
Jack Lowenstein, co Chief Investment Officer at Morphic Asset Management has not taken the conventional path into professional investing. Having started his career as a journalist, Lowenstein has spent the last two decades investing in global equities. He describes himself as a ‘frontier investor’ willing to go where many are... Show More
The Theory of Reflexivity was postulated by guru hedge fund manager George Soros to describe investments whose success breeds even more success, and conversely whose troubles breed even more troubles. Such self-perpetuating success stories are rare, but one industry abounds with them: banks. We used to own shares in Wells... Show More
In the spirit of lighter reading into Xmas season, this week's blog by Jack Lowenstein here at Morphic looks at a recent academic publication that examines if there is a link between the cars that Fund Managers chose and the risks they take in their fund. Turns out there is... Show More
If the product is good, it must be a good company, right? The paradox of investing is that great investments often have little in common with great companies. This week we examine the bull case for Tesla, as espoused by one stockbroker and find it, shall we say, somewhat lacking.... Show More
After last weeks 'mea culpa' , enough navel gazing and time to look to where in the world money can be made from the reality of this new situation. Markets don't care much for 'why' things happened, they care more about 'what it means'. And it's a fascinating set-up. Most... Show More
Last week our digital marketing person asked if we could write about Trump this week. Why, I asked, since everyone has already written on it? "Umm, turns out people aren't as interested in the Asian airline sector as us". In a world of President-elects on twitter at 3am abusing the... Show More
Want to make a small fortune? Start with a large one and invest in an airline. There are no shortages of jokes about the remarkable ability of the sector to destroy shareholder value. Even the great man himself (Warren Buffet), managed to lose money in airlines with his investment into... Show More
One of the things about working in markets, is that you spend a lot of your time being wrong. This can be difficult to accept for many people who, by their nature, want to be right or have been told they are right. Markets don't care much for your opinion... Show More
Brunch and the hashtag "#angryavos" has swept through the Australian press this week after Bernard Salt suggested forgoing $22 brunches was the solution to the millennials housing woes. The response article on the Guardian, pointing out that it would take 175 years of forgone brunch to save a deposit, has... Show More
Continuing our theme of writing on shorts, this week we publish a little "pilot episode" of some of the characteristics that we find attractive in certain types of shorts, for which have borrowed the phrase from the unlisted market: Unicorns. We outline why each of these of characteristics matter to... Show More
Well that escalated quickly. Whilst we always knew that publishing the names of our short positions would likely attract more attention (for better or worse), the narrative on the Platinum (PTM) leg of the MFG/PTM pair moved quicker than we expected. The last 3 weeks provide evidence to our assertion... Show More
We needed a break from talking about Platinum, after all it's just one of many long and short positions within the fund. So this week we decided to blog about a restructuring story - Alstom. Restructuring stories or business reorganizations are often a fertile area to look as markets tend... Show More
Part one of our Perspective series examined the dire situation facing active managers as their legacy business is under threat from the rise of passive investment strategies. This concluding piece examines why active will continue to exist and actually how passive strategies need active strategies for passive to function properly.... Show More
The Morphic Perspectives Series is designed to highlight topics and subject matter that we think is particularly relevant to investors and then provide a more in-depth analysis on those topics that goes further than our regular blog posts. This quarters piece looks at the rise of passive investment strategies and... Show More
A lot of the blogs and links we post focus on the macroeconomic angle as, we're told, readers have the most interest in those stories. Yet the reality of our weekly life is that looking at stock stories and understanding why we should want to own those businesses account for... Show More
Hot on the heels of us provocatively prodding the bears yesterday, today we release our half yearly review. We have chosen not to do the traditional quarterly letters to investors, deciding that 6 months gives more depth of view and timeline to reflect on. Want to know what we think... Show More
The first blog on the road was from Texas. The second week looks at San Francisco, a city arguably at the peak of its power with money and power flowing to the many new technology stocks based there. We review some of the interesting themes that emerged from the Merrill... Show More
Jack Lowenstein, Joint-CIO at Morphic provides a review of the quarter just finished and Morphics outlook for global equities and why Emerging markets may be at a turning point. Morphic provides investors exposure to a differentiated portfolio of small and mid sized stocks globally that are often not found in... Show More
A little reference for all the NCAA basketball fans out there, but also an apt title for a blog looking back at the global equity rally in March. Australian investors perhaps didn't get a sense of the scale given the Australian dollars rise offset a large chunk of the move;... Show More