Global titans: 3 fundies share their top stock picks for 2025

At the recent Pinnacle Summit, three leading global managers from Hyperion, Antipodes and Plato, shared how they’re positioning portfolios for a rapidly shifting market. 

From Hyperion’s focus on “new world companies” driving innovation, to Antipodes’ call for a reset in alpha mindset as leadership broadens beyond the US, and Plato’s disciplined risk management and shorting edge, each offered distinct strategies for navigating 2025.

Hyperion Asset Management has built its reputation by getting behind what it calls “new world companies”. That is, innovators with disruptive technologies or strategies, sustainable competitive advantages, and strong earnings growth potential.

“We’re really trying to avoid ‘old world’ companies,” Hyperion’s Jolon Knight said, citing banks, miners, and commoditised businesses that lack innovation. Instead, Hyperion seeks “natural monopolies, businesses able to grow organically and steal market share from older incumbents.”

A major focus remains the U.S., which Hyperion describes as a very fertile place for investment in innovation.

“The US is miles ahead of the pack and what we've come to the conclusion is that America innovates, China replicates and the EU regulates.”

They highlighted that U.S. earnings power remains multiples ahead of Europe and Asia, justifying higher valuations.

Key stock calls

• Axon Enterprise (NYSE: AXON): Creator of the Taser and police body‑worn cameras. “Axon is completely dominant around the world, growing at around 24% over the past five years,” with its software suite delivering major productivity gains for law enforcement.
• NVIDIA (NYSE: NVDA): Recently added to the portfolio after deep market analysis. “Nvidia is currently selling around 5 million CPUs and GPUs. We think that could probably double over the 10‑year period,” driven by data centres, robotics, and handheld AI adoption.
• Hemnet Group (STO: HEM): Dubbed “the realestate.com of Sweden,” processing nine out of ten home sales. “It looks like realestate.com.au 10 or 15 years ago - a really innovative business.”
• Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA): "Everyone's favourite topic, it seems," Knight drily noted. Hyperion sees full self‑driving as a game‑changer. Their robotaxis are also starting to launch in Austin, Texas, with costs per mile far below traditional taxis.

After trimming positions in Alphabet, Airbnb and Kering, Hyperion continues to forecast an internal rate of return of ~21% over the next decade, underpinned by “earnings per share growth - the real driver of returns on stock markets.”

"We are leveraged to innovation. We are leveraged to stronger earnings per share growth, and we're leveraged towards optimism," Knight concluded.

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Hyperion Global Growth Companies Fund - Active ETF

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Changing your alpha mindset

For Jacob Mitchell, CIO of Antipodes Partners, “Value investing is all about finding the silver lining, and today that is insights on how to navigate a very long-duration bull market.”

Mitchell believes investors need to reset their alpha mindset as global equities transition beyond US exceptionalism. 

He stressed that Antipodes’ pragmatic value approach is not about hugging benchmarks but “paying the right multiple relative to growth and business resilience.”

Mitchell sees leadership broadening beyond the Magnificent Seven. “Europe and EM are significantly outperforming,” he noted, with Europe leading. 

The team is overweight Europe and Japan, targeting world‑class multinationals trading at cheaper valuations than US peers. Emerging markets also feature strongly, with quality names such as Tencent highlighted as significantly undervalued relative to US comparables.

Key calls and themes

• AI adoption: The next phase is moving from enablers to adopters. “Broad corporates with rich data sets, like Capital One (NYSE: COF) will be able to capture the benefits of deploying AI in their business without paying hype multiples.”
• Europe and Japan: Overweight positioning. “We’re finding world‑beating multinationals at cheaper valuations.”
• Emerging markets: Quality names like Tencent (HKEX: 0700) are trading at significant discounts compared to US peers.
• Defensives: Anchoring portfolios with utilities and healthcare.

Mitchell cautioned that risks remain high, particularly around debt. “Roughly 20% of the US workforce is employed by corporates funded by private credit…at least six times debt to EBITDA. That’s where the risk is.”

Ultimately, Antipodes is backing a broadening market. “Diversification does matter,” Mitchell said. “This is a once‑in‑a‑generation shift as economies reorient from consumption‑led to investment‑led.”

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Antipodes Global Value Active ETF (AGX1)

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Alpha today, an edge for tomorrow

While many managers struggle to generate consistent alpha on the short side, Plato Investment Management has turned it into a strength.

“The majority of our outperformance has actually come on the short side,”  noted Dr David Allen, crediting their system of 150 red flags spanning governance, accounting, and balance sheet risks. “If a company has eight or more red flags, it will underperform the market by 20% on average over the next 12 months.”

An example Allen cites is Opthea (ASX: OPT), with 18 red flags. "That was a name we never would've touched. And equally on the short side, this is a huge driver of the tremendous short alpha that we've been able to generate."

The strategy aims for “all‑weather performance,” with a downside capture of 65%. 

“Providing a smooth journey for investors is absolutely critical…our philosophy is like Don Bradman: don’t go for the big kill, just keep working the singles every day.”

Stock highlights

• BYD (SHE: 002594): “BYD has 50% higher free cash flow, a 90% lower valuation, and a less polarising CEO [than Tesla]. It just overtook Tesla as the best‑selling EV company in the world.”
• Rolls-Royce (LON: RR): A big winner from Europe’s defence spending surge. “It’s up over 500% since we bought it.”
• JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM): “Arguably the best‑run bank in the world,” trading at half the multiple of CBA.

Risk management is central to Plato’s process, accounting for a third of their approach.

The firm runs 96 daily stress tests to model scenarios such as tariff shocks, US regional bank contagion, a collapse in Chinese property, surprise OPEC decisions, or unexpected election results.

“Just as a bank will stress test their mortgage book, we stress test the alpha in our portfolios,” Allen notes, emphasising their proactive approach to quantifying and managing potential risks.

“We don’t want to be tied to the fortunes of whether value or growth is in favour. Our edge is balancing the best value, best growth, and best quality companies, while avoiding landmines.”

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Plato Global Alpha Complex ETF (PGA1)

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