Forum Topics Musings on valuation
lankypom
a month ago

Some notes from my recent journal entries, which may interest some.

17/03/2024

The AI bubble is still in full swing, and seems to be supporting a more broad based bull market. My RL portfolio is looking very healthy, with annual returns nearly back up to 20%.  I think pre-Covid they reached 25%. Total value has increased by 18% in the past 8 months. Interestingly I could have done even better by not trimming my NVIDIA shares, these just keep going to the moon. I also gave serious thought to investing in Supermicro last June, when the share price was $260, but decided against it based on poor corporate culture. The company has been a major beneficiary of the AI boom, and is now trading at $1065!

23/03/2024

Roper Technologies is another example of a company I researched and liked, but held back from investing on valuation concerns. When I first started researching the company in May 2023 the share price was $460, now it is $556.

No doubt Roper is also benefiting from the AI bubble, but should I be placing less emphasis on valuation if I really like the growth prospects of a company?

Meanwhile NVDA is now a 10 bagger, at 16% of the total portfolio value. Despite my earlier attempt to trim this holding to 10%, a costly move in retrospect, I am now content to let this one run, as we are still in a very early innings of the AI boom.

Given my more than respectable returns, it is easier to be philosophical about the ones that got away, and about profits foregone from selling too soon.

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Bear77
a month ago

I agree with you @lankypom that you have to go US for good AI exposure - we haven't even got a decent IT sector in Australia, it's one of the smallest sectors in the Aussie market but one of the largest in the US. Interesting you passed on Supermicro due to poor corporate culture - there's a global fund that uses corporate culture as one of their main frontline filters - and they're doing reasonably well actually - see here: WCM Global Growth Limited (ASX:WQG) - Associate Global Partners

Good corporate culture and growing moats are their two main criteria - so they pass on any company with a poor corporate culture and they like ones with good corporate cultures and competitive advantages that are growing, not shrinking. And as is usually the case with any ASX-listed LIC or LIT that holds global rather than ASX-listed shares, they trade at a discount to their NTA:

WCM Global Growth (WQG) February 29 Fund Update

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Disclosure: I do hold a small amount of WQG here in my Strawman.com virtual portfolio, and have held them in the past both here and in real life. I am not currently holding any LICs or LITs in any of my real money portfolios, or any shares that are not ASX-listed. If I wanted global market exposure, I would probably do it through WQG or WGB at this point in time. WQG has the better track record of TSRs and portfolio performance, and their fees are quite reasonable; not the old 2 and 20, but instead 1.25 and 10, plus a 0.1%p.a. Admin fee, so more like 1.35 and 10, benchmarked against the MSCI All Country World Index (ex-Australia), and beating that benchmark over all but one timeframe (3 years). I have tried investing directly in US shares in prior years, but it's not for me, I've got my hands full with trying to follow my ASX-listed companies.

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@lankypom well done! what is your approach for international, like sourcing ideas and research and what is your overall strategy re global? if its not too much to ask. i have been thinking about writing mine up for SM but not too sure of the level of interest thnaks

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lankypom
a month ago

I get virtually ally ideas from - and do my research mostly in - Seeking Alpha, supplemented by Quartr for results announcements. You can get a surprising amount of info in the free tiers of both apps.

I aim for a 50/50 ASX/NDQ mix. Having said that I mostly only invest in companies which operate in a global market, regardless of the exchange they use. I mostly avoid companies that only derive their income from ANZ, as the competition for this small market tends to keep a lid on profit margins.

There are always exceptions of course. Netwealth is one of my longest held and highest conviction investments, with amazing 30% NPAT margin despite having HUB nipping at its heels.

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lankypom
a month ago

Reviews on Glassdoor for Supermicro are overwhelmingly negative. Even the best companies get some negative reviews from ex employees who feel hard done by, and there are incompetent managers everywhere, but I thought that in Supermicros case the negative vibe was so great that they would struggle to retain talent, and hence struggle to innovate and grow. I didn't foresee that they would become the predominant seller of shovels for the AI gold rush.

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