ASSET ALLOCATION – AUSTRALIA

Active management still delivers: Ophir

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Original article by Damon Kitney
The Australian – Page: 20 : 14-Jul-17

Ophir Asset Management’s co-founders Andrew Mitchell and Steven Ng are upbeat about the outlook for active fund managers. They argue that the active investment style is more effective at picking stocks that offer good value, as passive managers tend to allocate capital to sectors based on a market’s weightings. Ophir’s Opportunities Fund has achieve a total return of 352.2 per cent since it was established, while the Ophir High Conviction Fund has returned 62.5 per cent since inception.

CORPORATES
OPHIR ASSET MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, UNISUPER LIMITED, COLONIAL FIRST STATE GROUP LIMITED, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 20 INDEX

Super funds slow to shake off ‘home bias’

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Original article by Jonathan Shapiro
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 35 : 28-Jun-17

A report by Vanguard shows that Australian superannuation funds continue to favour local shares over international equities. This is particularly so in the case of self-managed super funds. Australia’s dividend imputation tax system is a major contributor to this "home bias". However, Vanguard notes that the domestic sharemarket is much more heavily weighted toward banks and mining stocks, and investors can reduce portfolio volatility by increasing their exposure to international equities.

CORPORATES
VANGUARD INVESTMENTS AUSTRALIA LIMITED, PROVIDENCE FUNDS MANAGEMENT, STATE STREET GLOBAL ADVISORS AUSTRALIA LIMITED, BLACKROCK INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, COLONIAL FIRST STATE GLOBAL ASSET MANAGEMENT, IFM INVESTORS PTY LTD

Tech boom still has long way to run, says disruption fund

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Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 34 : 27-Jun-17

Evans & Partners’ executive chairman David Evans says digital disruption will affect sectors such as banking, insurance, health and retailing. Evans & Partners aims to capitalise on this with the launch of a global disruption fund, which will invest in US technology stocks such as Apple and Netflix, as well as Chinese technology stocks. The new fund will have an annual fee of 128 basis points and aims to initially raise $A100m from investors.

CORPORATES
EVANS AND PARTNERS PTY LTD, APPLE INCORPORATED, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, ACTIVISION BLIZZARD INCORPORATED, ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING LIMITED, BAIDU.COM INCORPORATED, TENCENT HOLDINGS LIMITED, NETEASE.COM INCORPORATED, ALPHABET INCORPORATED, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, MICROSOFT CORPORATION, ZILLOW.COM, PAYPAL INCORPORATED, MASTERCARD INTERNATIONAL INCORPORATED, VISA INTERNATIONAL, MAGELLAN ASSET MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, GOLDMAN SACHS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, CARSALES.COM LIMITED – ASX CAR, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, SEEK LIMITED – ASX SEK, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES

ETFs could threaten A-REIT share prices

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Original article by Su-Lin Tan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 31 : 26-Jun-17

Australian-listed real estate investment trusts have become increasing popular with exchange-traded funds in recent years, according to Angelo Scasserra of Credit Suisse. Scentre, Stockland, Goodman and Mirvac are among the A-REITs to have attracted funds from ETFs, which Scasserra says are a very passive category of investors. He also says ETFs are very "reactionary", leading to potential share price volatility within the A-REIT sector.

CORPORATES
CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, SCENTRE GROUP – ASX SCG, STOCKLAND – ASX SGP, GOODMAN GROUP – ASX GMG, MIRVAC GROUP – ASX MGR, VICINITY CENTRES – ASX VCX, DEXUS PROPERTY GROUP – ASX DXS, GPT GROUP – ASX GPT, VANGUARD AUSTRALIAN PROPERTY SECURITIES INDEX ETF – ASX VEU, BLACKSTONE REAL ESTATE ADVISORS LLC, ISHARES INCORPORATED, BETASHARES CAPITAL LIMITED, STATE STREET BANK AND TRUST COMPANY, INVESCO, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, LYXOR ASSET MANAGEMENT, RUSSELL INVESTMENT GROUP, CUSHMAN AND WAKEFIELD INCORPORATED

Bond’s grandson bets big on future of cobalt

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Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 16 : 14-Mar-17

Terra Capital’s main resources fund delivered an annualised return of 21 per cent from its formation in 2010 up until 31 January 2017. The fund avoids large stocks like BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, preferring to focus on smaller stocks in the resources sector. Founder Jeremy Bond, who is a grandson of the late Alan Bond, says cobalt stocks have become part of its portfolio recently, due to cobalt being a major component of the type of batteries used in electric cars.

CORPORATES
TERRA CAPITAL PTY LTD, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX ALL ORDINARIES INDEX, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 300 RESOURCES INDEX, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX SMALL RESOURCES INDEX, ECOBALT SOLUTIONS INCORPORATED, EQUATOR RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX EQU, BATTERY MINERALS RESOURCES LIMITED

Bullish Goldman likes resources

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 34 : 9-Dec-16

Investment bank Goldman Sachs is upbeat about the outlook for the Australian sharemarket in 2017, noting indications that the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is experiencing an earnings upgrade cycle. Goldman Sachs expects market trends that have emerged toward the end of 2016 to continue in 2017, albeit at a slower pace. The firm has adopted an "overweight" position with regard to banking, resources and cyclical stocks, while it remains bearish about so-called bond proxy stocks.

CORPORATES
GOLDMAN SACHS AND PARTNERS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, ALUMINA LIMITED – ASX AWC, SOUTH32 LIMITED – ASX S32, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, LEND LEASE GROUP LIMITED – ASX LLC, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, SKYCITY ENTERTAINMENT GROUP LIMITED – ASX SKC, BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED – ASX BSL, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, TPG TELECOM LIMITED – ASX TPM, CALTEX AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX CTX, APA GROUP – ASX APA, SYDNEY AIRPORT – ASX SYD, SCENTRE GROUP – ASX SCG, QUBE HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX QUB, HOTEL PROPERTIES INVESTMENTS – ASX HPI, CHARTER HALL GROUP – ASX CHC

Perennial pair target ‘unloved, undervalued’ bunch of five

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Original article by Jonathan Shapiro
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 & 31 : 2-Dec-16

Value investing has fallen out of favour in recent years, but the August 2016 reporting season was a catalyst for renewed interest in value stocks. Stephen Bruce, a portfolio manager at Perennial, says stocks that have been dubbed "expensive defensives" began to be sold down in the wake of the reporting season, while value stocks received support due to financial results that were better than expected. Bruce and colleague John Murray identify BHP Billiton, QBE Insurance Group, AMP, Lend Lease and Macquarie Group as their top picks among value stocks.

CORPORATES
PERENNIAL VALUE MANAGEMENT LIMITED, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, QBE INSURANCE GROUP LIMITED – ASX QBE, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, LEND LEASE GROUP LIMITED – ASX LLC, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, CSL LIMITED – ASX CSL, TRANSURBAN GROUP LIMITED – ASX TCL

Trade out, quality in as blue chips re-emerge

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Original article by Jessica Sier
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 31 : 24-Nov-16

Australian-listed small-capitalisation stocks have outperformed the broader sharemarket over the last 18 months or so. However, this outperformance has been reversed in the last month, and particularly in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidential election win. There has been renewed support for bank and resources stocks, due to factors such as a rise in government bond yields and commodity prices.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, PERPETUAL INVESTMENTS, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Credit won’t predict next crisis, but gives protection

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Original article by Jonathan Shapiro
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 17 : 7-Nov-16

Alexander Funds Management MD Chris Black notes that credit markets anticipated the global financial crisis well before equity markets. He says the GFC was primarily a credit-driven event, but this will not be the case with the next financial market crash. He adds that credit will be a safer asset class when the next financial market downturn comes. Alexander Funds has delivered a return of 16.64 per cent since it was founded as Laminar in 2009, but Black cautions that investors should not expect returns similar to those in the years immediately after the GFC.

CORPORATES
ALEXANDER FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, CROWN RESORTS LIMITED – ASX CWN

Cashed-up fund cools on property

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Original article by Daniel Palmer
The Australian – Page: 24 : 1-Nov-16

The Future Fund has posted a return of 1.5 per cent for the September 2016 quarter. Its cash holdings rose by 0.4 per cent to 22.1 per cent, compared with just 15.1 per cent for the same period in 2015. The sovereign wealth fund lifted its portfolio’s weighting toward equities by 0.6 per cent to 29.4 per cent, while its exposure to property and private equity fell. MD David Neal says the Future Fund is likely to maintain its risk-adverse profile. Its assets under management totalled $A124.65bn at the end of the quarter.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FUTURE FUND MANAGEMENT AGENCY, PORT OF MELBOURNE