Shopping centres will survive peak Amazon

Original article by Vesna Poljak
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 24 : 13-Nov-17

The Australian real estate investment trust sector has responded more proactively to the threat posed to retail trade by Amazon than many have given it credit for, according to Pete Davidson of BT Investment Management. REIT stocks currently favoured by BTIM include Westfield, Mirvac and Charter Hall, along with Arena and Folkestone, which both have interests in childcare centres. Other stocks that BTIM like include Precinct Properties and Vital Healthcare.

CORPORATES
AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, BT INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LIMITED – ASX BTT, WESTFIELD CORPORATION – ASX WFD, MIRVAC GROUP – ASX MGR, CHARTER HALL GROUP – ASX CHC, ARENA REIT – ASX ARF, FOLKESTONE LIMITED – ASX FLK, PRECINCT PROPERTIES, VITAL HEALTHCARE PROPERTY TRUST, MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, SCENTRE GROUP – ASX SCG, MITCHELL MONTAGU

Future Fund’s Apple bite triples

Original article by Vesna Poljak
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 31-Oct-17

The Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and the ANZ bank remained the top holdings of the Federal Government’s $A134.5bn Future Fund in 2016-17. National Australia Bank replaced Telstra as the sovereign wealth fund’s fourth-largest holding, while Apple rose from 86th to eighth position in the list of its top 100 holdings. New entrants to the list in 2016-17 include GGP, Amcor, Sydney Airport and JP Morgan.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FUTURE FUND MANAGEMENT AGENCY, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, APPLE INCORPORATED, GGP INCORPORATED, AMCOR LIMITED – ASX AMC, SYDNEY AIRPORT – ASX SYD, JP MORGAN AND COMPANY INCORPORATED, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, EQUITY RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES TRUST, INSURANCE AUSTRALIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX IAG, MAGELLAN GLOBAL FUND, SCENTRE GROUP – ASX SCG, SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS COMPANY LIMITED, VISA INTERNATIONAL

Brexit shut one door, opened another for Auscap

Original article by Glenda Korporaal
The Australian – Page: 17 & 21 : 24-Oct-17

Auscap Asset Management, which was founded by Tim Carleton and Matthew Parker in 2012, boasts about $A450m worth of funds under management. Carleton says Auscap saw Britain’s vote to leave the European Union as an opportunity to buy several Australian stocks with exposure to the UK at a healthy discount to their pre-Brexit share price. Likewise, the firm capitalised on bearish sentiment toward retail stocks following the Federal Government’s 2014 Budget to buy oversold stocks in the sector.

CORPORATES
AUSCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, GOLDMAN SACHS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, ANSELL LIMITED – ASX ANN, JB HI-FI LIMITED – ASX JBH, CALEDONIA INVESTMENTS LIMITED, COTA CAPITAL, THORNEY INVESTMENT GROUP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, COLONIAL FIRST STATE GROUP LIMITED, BLACK DOG INSTITUTE, VICTOR CHANG CARDIAC RESEARCH INSTITUTE LIMITED, MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS RESEARCH AUSTRALIA LIMITED, JUVENILE DIABETES RESEARCH FOUNDATION INTERNATIONAL

ASX’s $100b rally could be far from over, analysts predict

Original article by Jessica Sier, Patrick Commins
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 27 : 19-Oct-17

The Australian sharemarket had been range-bound since May, but a rally in the last nine trading sessions has increased its capitalisation by about $A100bn. JP Morgan’s Jason Steed says the near-term outlook for the local bourse will depend to a large extent on financial and mining stocks, which dominate the market. However, Steed adds that investors are looking for greater political certainty, particularly with regard to issues such as energy policy and regulation of the banking sector.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, TOKYO STOCK PRICE INDEX, DEUTSCHER AKTIEN INDEX

Why Coppo says to buy banks now

Original article by Philip Baker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 30 : 6-Oct-17

Richard Coppleson of Bell Financial Group says investors should consider buying Australian bank stocks in October for their dividend yield. He says historical analysis shows that bank stocks have not posted gains during the month of October in just four years since 2000, and three of those occasions were due to the global financial crisis. He attributes the generally strong performance of bank stocks during October to the fact that they among the few stocks that trade ex-dividend in November.

CORPORATES
BELL FINANCIAL GROUP LIMITED – ASX BFG, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT. AUSTRALIAN TRANSACTION REPORTS AND ANALYSIS CENTRE, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, LONG-TERM CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Small caps ‘offer best opportunity’

Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 24 : 27-Jul-17

Allan Gray Australia’s Simon Mawhinney is upbeat about the outlook for small-capitalisation stocks, forecasting that they are set to outperform their larger peers. Smaller Australian companies have tended to have lower returns over the last several decades, but Mawhinney expects non-S&P/ASX 100 companies to outperform over the next five years. Allan Gray particularly likes stocks such as Capral, Mineral Deposits and HT&E.

CORPORATES
ALLAN GRAY AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 100 INDEX, CAPRAL LIMITED – ASX CAA, MINERAL DEPOSITS LIMITED – ASX MDL, HT&E LIMITED – ASX HT1, ALUMINA LIMITED – ASX AWC, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, NEWCREST MINING LIMITED – ASX NCM, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, METCASH LIMITED – ASX MTS, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 300 ACCUMULATION INDEX

CLSA slaps a buy on listed retail landlords

Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 28 : 20-Jul-17

Shares in Australian-listed real estate investment trusts have fallen sharply in 2017, with Westfield Corporation and Vicinity Centres shedding 16.7 per cent and 13.7 per cent respectively. The A-REIT sector has fallen by about 10 per cent in the last month, but Sholto Maconochie of CLSA is upbeat about the outlook for the sector, and retail property trusts in particular. CLSA favours Scentre Group and Vicinity Centres, and the firm’s rating on the latter has been upgraded to "outperform".

CORPORATES
WESTFIELD CORPORATION – ASX WFD, VICINITY CENTRES – ASX VCX, SCENTRE GROUP – ASX SCG, CLSA AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, CBRE PTY LTD, CHADSTONE SHOPPING CENTRE, DEXUS PROPERTY GROUP – ASX DXS, INVESTA OFFICE FUND – ASX IOF

Active management still delivers: Ophir

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

Overreaction presents chance to buy on dip

Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 27 : 13-Jul-17

Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index reached an intra-day low of 5,665.6 points on 12 July 2017, before closing one per cent lower. The domestic bourse has shed 0.8 per cent so far in July, which may be a timely opportunity for investors to buy into the market. Meanwhile, although investors remain concerned about the political risk associated with US President Donald Trump, Citigroup believes that impeachment is unlikely despite the revelations concerning a meeting between Trump’s son and a Russian lawyer.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, REPUBLICAN PARTY (UNITED STATES)

New financial year ‘reset’ for investors

Original article by Myriam Robin
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 27 : 4-Jul-17

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 3.4 per cent in May 2017 and 0.1 per cent in June, due to factors such as tax-loss selling in the lead-up to the end of the financial year. Ophir Asset Management’s Andrew Mitchell is upbeat about the outlook for local equities in July, noting that fund managers will begin reweighting their portfolios. Institutional investors may also buy into stocks prior to the reporting season in August.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, OPHIR ASSET MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, TPG TELECOM LIMITED – ASX TPM, ACONEX LIMITED – ASX ACX, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, APN OUTDOOR GROUP LIMITED – ASX APO, DOMINO’S PIZZA ENTERPRISES LIMITED – ASX DMP, AVEO GROUP – ASX AOG