Episode 8: Macro outlook, Microcap investing & Scorecard review

Consisting of over 2100 individual companies, the Australian share market has a few interesting features. One of the first things a curious investor might notice is the significance of the major banks. There are only 21 businesses on the ASX classified (loosely) as banks, but the ‘Big 4’ — CBA, NAB, ANZ and Westpac — are the clear standouts. Combined, […]

There’s a UK small-cap fund manager, now retired, called Harry Nimmo. In a recent talk for The Library of Mistakes, he gave a masterclass in small-cap investing. He knows what he’s talking about too. The fund he ran, the Aberdeen UK Smaller Companies Fund, delivered a 1,979% return over 25 years and was recognised as the second-best performing UK fund […]

At a recent value investing conference, money manager Mohnish Pabrai, a self-described “shameless cloner” of Buffett and Munger, sat down for a fireside chat. In it, he shared wisdom that, while far from original, bears repeating. Indeed, the fact that Pabrai’s wisdom is essentially repackaged lessons from Berkshire’s dynamic duo is precisely one of his key messages. In investing, while […]

This week, we discuss Paragon’s (ASX:PGC) profit downgrade, Nearmap’s (ASX:NEA) stellar performance and why Kip McGrath (ASX:KME) is Claude’s second largest position. Plus, Matt takes us through how he likes to prepare for earnings season, and why it matters.

Ian Cassel absolutely nails it with this tweet On the ASX alone there are over 2,000 individual stocks. There’s something like 10,000 across all US equity markets. It’s impossible to have a thorough understanding of every single one. The good news is, you don’t need to. In fact, you shouldn’t even try. Having a take on every company doesn’t make […]

PayPal and Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel has some interesting takes, not all of which you may agree with. But he said something back in 2015 which was bang on: “I’m always sceptical of sectors and trends. People always ask me what some trends are that I see happening in the future, and I have never liked the question because I’m […]

There’s an old (and quite unscientific) investment principle called the ‘rule of five‘ which states that for every five stocks in your portfolio, one will significantly outperform the market, three will more or less match it, and one will…well, it’ll suck. Badly. Overall, that makes the whole business of portfolio management seem rather futile. If the end result is pretty much a wash, […]

In a recent conversation on the Excess Returns podcast, NYU Professor Aswath Damodaran talked about his latest book, “The Corporate Life Cycle“, which argues that businesses, like people, age. They start young, grow with vigor, reach middle age, and then — no matter how hard they fight it — begin to slow down. This natural cycle, he argues, should guide how […]