Investing Education
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Who holds the keys to health?
Ben MacNevin
December 8, 2014
Having recently returned from a comprehensive tour of healthcare companies with our friends at UBS, we gleaned a highly important understanding of where the bargaining power lies in the industry. From this tour, it was abundantly clear whose interests matter most.
In essence, every element of the health care sector is dependent upon the doctors – this is across hospitals, health funds, pathology, service providers and medical device distributors. continue…
by Ben MacNevin Posted in Health Care, Insightful Insights, Investing Education.
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Is it true: are we always better off with lower prices?
Roger Montgomery
December 6, 2014
Sadly, we live in a country where the overwhelming belief is that people are almost always better off with lower prices. It’s short-term ideology that fails to recognise the long-term damage suffered by Australian businesses when they simply cannot match the prices offered by better-resourced and more competitive foreign businesses. And it’s ideology again that suggests these businesses should be left to fail.
The result of course is that local businesses do go broke or are bought out by foreign businesses. And as we have seen with Ford and Holden, selling out to foreign enterprises does not secure jobs nor does it guarantee ongoing ‘investment’. We should think of this is we sell off our land, our farms and our infrastructure. continue…
by Roger Montgomery Posted in Consumer discretionary, Insightful Insights, Investing Education.
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Does a lower price mean the shares are cheap?
Russell Muldoon
December 5, 2014
Following on from our recent blog post here and our Head of Research, Tim Kelley’s video blog – on the changing supermarket industry landscape – we are naturally watching the developments in the sector closely (from the sidelines), taking a keen interest in the half year result reported this week by Metcash Limited (ASX:MTS).
To quickly summarise: their half year results showed continued deterioration to which the market has reacted accordingly, with their share price down circa 27 per cent since. continue…
by Russell Muldoon Posted in Companies, Consumer discretionary, Insightful Insights, Investing Education.
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What is the machine teaching us?
Tim Kelley
December 4, 2014
Alert readers will recall that in June this year we set out to explore the merits of applying machine learning technology to stock selection. We went through a process of “training” a learning algorithm called a Support Vector Machine (SVM) to pick stocks, and then in mid-June we asked it to nominate a top 20 and a bottom 20 from the ASX200. continue…
by Tim Kelley Posted in Companies, Investing Education.
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A good year for active fund managers?
Tim Kelley
December 3, 2014
The ASX has gone nowhere this year. After strong performances in 2012 and 2013, 2014 is looking decidedly lacklustre going into the home straight.
One of the features of the year to date has been the very poor showing by resources companies. The Australian equity market has a heavy weighting to resources, and when commodity prices decline, the Australian equity market can lag those of other nations. Clearly this can be a positive as well – in boom times a strong resources market will drive the ASX higher. continue…
by Tim Kelley Posted in Energy / Resources, Insightful Insights, Investing Education.
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Is Vocus about to light up?
David Buckland
December 1, 2014
Russell and I attended the Vocus Communications Limited (ASX: VOC) Annual General Meeting last week. While the company could not give anything away on their proposed merger with Amcom Telecommunications Limited (ASX: AMM), we continue to be incredibly impressed with the calibre of the Vocus Board of Directors, especially in the context of its $600m market capitalisation.
In the four years to June 2014, the company’s revenue line has increased from $31m to $92m, while its EBITDA has climbed from $10m to $33m. And in the four years to November 2014, the Vocus Communications’ share price has responded in kind by quadrupling from $1.50 to the current $6.00. continue…
by David Buckland Posted in Companies, Insightful Insights, Investing Education, Technology & Telecommunications.
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How powerful is ISLM analysis?
Roger Montgomery
November 28, 2014
Be sure to watch this video from March 2013 (almost two years ago) and then read on…
It only takes three or four minutes to learn about the forces of supply and demand and their effect on prices. It usually takes an entire semester to explain the forces of supply and demand to a first year university student so consider the few minutes you spend here a value-investing opportunity.
This week our friends at the ABC reported a painful situation in one of Australia’s important industries: “Activity in the resources sector continues to tumble, with a new government report showing investment commitments to major projects are now at the lowest level in more than a decade.” continue…
by Roger Montgomery Posted in Energy / Resources, Insightful Insights, Investing Education, Value.able.
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What’s Next for the Reject Shop?
Roger Montgomery
November 28, 2014
The Reject Shop (ASX: TRS) has previously presented as a compelling investment opportunity but the company has not been a holding of The Montgomery Fund for quite some time.
With the shares down nearly 60 per cent this financial year – an experience we are fortunate to have missed – some investors are asking whether it’s time to wade back in? It is important to keep in mind that a company’s shares are not cheap because the price has merely fallen. If the price falls but the intrinsic value falls even further, there may be no value to be found. continue…
by Roger Montgomery Posted in Companies, Consumer discretionary, Insightful Insights, Investing Education.
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The end of “old school” value investing?
Tim Kelley
November 26, 2014
Students of value investing will know that in past times, value investors paid great attention to accounting book values. One of the better-known strategies employed by the spiritual father of value investing, Ben Graham, was to try to acquire companies at market prices that were below their conservatively-estimated liquidation value.
This was not a strategy for the timid – companies that found themselves in this position frequently did go into liquidation. However, a diversified portfolio of companies that fitted this description could do well on average. continue…
by Tim Kelley Posted in Insightful Insights, Intrinsic Value, Investing Education.
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Is Aldi a real threat to Woolworths & Coles?
Russell Muldoon
November 26, 2014
In recent weeks you have probably noticed a dramatic increase in the volatility of Woolworths Limited (ASX:WOW) share price and wondered: what has changed recently? The answer is that something has caused the market to re-think the longer-term prospects of the business.
The detail is found in a very insightful conference call we had recently with the former head of Aldi UK, Paul Foley. continue…
by Russell Muldoon Posted in Companies, Consumer discretionary, Insightful Insights, Investing Education.