In December I published an article concluding that Google’s Waymo autonomous car division was well ahead of the competition. I stand by that assessment, and its hardly controversial. But I underestimated how much Tesla’s promotion of its own efforts were confusing customers and potentially investors about their place in the... Show More
The last four months of 2018 were brutal for investors everywhere. October was particularly painful, with most managers off by -5 to -10%. So it caught my eye when I saw one posting +7% for October. This same fund has finished CY18 up 42.9%. Show More
Autonomous transport still seems like science fiction: we know it is bound to come eventually, yet it is difficult to imagine in our daily lives. But self-driving cars are becoming a reality rapidly and this month Alphabet (Google) took us a step closer to that future. Waymo, Alphabet's autonomous car... Show More
As volatility has picked up in recent months, many investors who thought they were protected in a down-market have quickly discovered otherwise. Asset consultants have discussed the value of finding genuinely uncorrelated returns, while also acknowledging the difficulty of finding them. Show More
WHEB Asset Management is a UK based fund manager at the forefront of the growing movement in Impact Investing, they are also leaders in measuring the impact associated with their investments. For example, if you invested $100,000 with WHEB over 2017 you would have avoided the CO2 emissions created by... Show More
In market sell-offs like we’ve experienced this week, it’s hard to find anything that’s unaffected by the selling. The ASX200 was down 4.9% before trading opened on Friday, but the pain for momentum and technology stocks has been even worse. Show More
Elon Musk, the divisive entrepreneur, has recently made headlines with the below tweet. In a subsequent blog post, Musk made clear his reasons for wanting to take his electric vehicle company, Tesla, away from the stockmarket. He expressed his frustration at the distraction caused by wild swings in the Tesla... Show More
For many years, Tesla has defied conventional financial wisdom, and betting against Elon Musk has been a loser’s game. However, we believe right now the market is witnessing peak Iron Man, and that the time has finally come for the great Tesla short. Show More
Tesla shares have bounced back toward all-time highs to put them up 17-fold over eight years. While debate rages over the balance sheet and the delivery of the Model 3, Catherine Wood, CEO and CIO at ARK Investment Management (ARK), calls these a “this year issue”, and sees a significantly... Show More
By definition, the largest companies by market cap are the most valued by investors in absolute terms. Over the past decade the composition of the world's most valuable companies has undergone significant change. You can blame it on technology, globalisation or even call it disruption, the reality is that companies... Show More
The first thing you learn about being contrarian is that humans don't normally like to act this way. As the cartoon suggests, we're a social animal. We like to stick together. When we were all living in the jungle and someone yells, "Run! Lion!" it’s the contrarians that get eaten.... Show More
Tesla’s commitment today to buy lithium which it won’t get for three years, and from a project still subject to feasibility studies, speaks volumes about the demand set to hit WA lithium producers. Plus, Sipa’s cracking JV with Rio Tinto highlights the immense potential of its base metals project. Show More
The share price of tech market darling, Tesla, rose inexorably more than ten-fold between early 2013 and early 2018. One manager not convinced by the hype was Jacob Mitchell from Antipodes Partners, who presented his short thesis on the stock at Livewire Live as early as July 2017. Show More
Shareholders and bondholders have bought the Tesla growth story. However, my column in The Australian notes that Tesla's significant debt, negative free cashflow and losses loom large. Flagged higher production of the Model 3 hasn't materialised. Where to now for investors? Show More
Expectations of accelerated interest rate rises sent equity markets into a tailspin in February, impacting the first quarter and setting the tone for the calendar year. The good news is that it’s not all doom and gloom and investors can look to the media and retail sectors for opportunities over... Show More
During the month of January, equity investors showed little apparent concern for value. As we write this report, the market is becoming increasingly concerned with nascent inflationary signs and rising interest rates. The momentum of investor fuelled, low volatility / low interest rate trade that has grossly inflated pockets of... Show More
Disruption is everywhere these days. Whether it’s Amazon and Kogan disrupting traditional retail, Facebook and Google disrupting print and television advertising, or Netflix disrupting pay TV, it’s impossible to avoid. Incumbents face the dilemma of disruption: adapt to new ways and risk hurting their existing business, or stick to their... Show More
This week the news was overrun with announcements by car makers expanding their electric vehicle ambitions. Elon Musk presented SpaceX's plans for colonisation of Mars, as well as rockets that could allow commuting to anywhere on Earth in an hour - for the price of an economy ticket. And Google... Show More
This week there was a major sell-off in tech - including Facebook and the rest of the FAANGs, Instagram announced it has reached 800 million users and at this pace could be larger than Facebook, and Tesla has new competition in the Electric Vehicle market from Dyson. Show More
This week we saw Apple’s share price suffer a hangover from the launch of the iPhone 8 and iPhone X. Tesla surprised the market with the rumour that it is partnering with AMD for an autonomous driving chip, knocking Nvidia’s shares. Google bought HTC’s Pixel hardware team. And amusing (and... Show More
