The listed builders of detached dwellings are holding their own amid a stiffening housing downturn, with the ‘strength in adversity’ message emanating from their recent profit results. Show More
Using a party as an analogy for the current equity market, we think this ten-year ‘party’ is about to finish. While we don’t know what time the lights are going back on, what we do know is that the music is getting louder and the people are getting crazier. Show More
A swathe of microcaps put in some truly remarkable gains last year. The share prices of Bubs, Jervois, and MyFiziq increased 12, 16, and 30 times respectively, and there were scores more that tripled or quadrupled. Yet many of these stocks have business models at very early, or even conceptual,... Show More
There are lots of reasons why investors get excited about small cap stocks, particularly in Australia: the significantly larger opportunity set outside of the top 100 companies, the higher growth rates that small companies can achieve, and the myriad of successful individual stock stories that abound. Global academic research has... Show More
The market has favoured growth stocks in recent years, but that could all change according to Matthew Booker from Spheria Asset Management. In a cycle that’s been 10 years in the making, companies have grown large and attracted high valuations while burning large amounts of cash. Show More
Small-caps offer opportunities for outsized returns, however it’s also an area in which to be especially cautious. Simply buying a basket of smaller companies in recent years probably wouldn’t have yielded good results, as the chart below starkly reminds. You have to be selective. Show More
Broadband product developer, NetComm Wireless (ASX:NTC), bounced strongly after news filtered out NBN Co is set to announce an expansion of its Fibre-to-the-Distribution point (FTTdp) roll-out to one million homes, up from the 700,000 homes currently announced. Show More
May 2017 marked the first month since September 2016 that the Small Ordinaries Accumulation Index outperformed large caps. Livewire reached out to six small cap specialists to ask: “Is this a turning point”? The consensus seems, with some terms and conditions, to be: “Yes”. Read on for responses from Wilson... Show More
In the search for value, we are always on the lookout for companies that are either undiscovered, overlooked or just misunderstood by the market. Over the last few months we shared with Livewire readers our investment thesis in Freedom Insurance Group (FIG) and Mcpherson's Limited (MCP). Another core holding in... Show More
After a good run for small caps, the start of November 2016 marked the start of a period of under-performance: the Small Ords index has put in +2.4% vs. +10.1% for the ASX200 since then. We asked four small cap managers how they were thinking about this, and how things... Show More
After a soft patch for small caps, we think their outlook is now favourable relative to large caps. In this wire, we highlight five red flags to watch for, and discuss a small cap we like with a forward PE multiple of 8x, and a gross yield of 11%. Show More
Last week marked the busiest week of the current reporting season. With most of the smaller companies reporting there was no shortage of stocks to profile. We take a look at three of these businesses, how they have fared during the reporting period and what this means for the businesses... Show More
Pioneering milk business, The a2 Milk Company (ASX:A2M), performed well during the quarter despite being down 14.3% for the month of December on the back of concerns around the current predicament of its listed peer, Bellamy’s Australia (ASX:BAL) (-45.7% for the month of December). BAL issued a profit warning in... Show More
Not since the dark days of 2008 has the spectre of macro-economic trends and global events had so much impact on small cap portfolios. I’m reminded of a quote attributed to Warren Buffett’s mentor Benjamin Graham who is reported to have said “the market is like your mistress, you can’t... Show More
Some years ago, I had a relation of mine tell me he was selling some shares in a Microcap company he bought only six months earlier. I asked him what the reason for him selling was, and he responded that he made a 50% gain and was taking profits because... Show More
At the end of 2015, Livewire ran a survey asking readers and contributors for predictions on specific macro events. With a few months left of the year, it’s time to check in on how everyone is performing. So far, Livewire readers have struck an impressive three out of four. With... Show More
What if your business had a critical ‘churn event’? That is, a period in time when a large number of your existing customers switched from your product or service to a competitor’s. Rather than advertising continuously in an attempt to prevent churn; what if there was a product that enabled... Show More
This is the question most prospective investors of our managed funds and anyone interested in small cap investing ask us. Identifying investment ideas, whether it is ASX listed companies or global companies can come about many ways. It could be we stumble upon them by trawling through all the companies... Show More
The market is thirsty for yield and it's definitely there to be exposed. In this analyst opinion piece we look at the themes coming out of reporting season thus far and the likely implications for the remainder of the companies reporting their results. http://www.clime.com.au/investing-report-archive/reporting-season-whats-hot/ Show More
With August 2016 reporting season having now kicked off, investors will again focus on real numbers versus 'blue sky' technology promises. FLN sets itself well apart by having a genuine cash-flow positive business that has proven itself over an 8 year lifespan. Show More