Macpac dresses up Super Retail Group
My daughter needed a new winter jacket. It had to be from Macpac, the New Zealand-based outdoorwear maker Super Retail Group bought earlier this year.Like many teenagers, my daughter is growing quickly and is easily influenced in fashion. Others her age deemed Macpac the brand of choice and the rest was history. Buying the jacket meant…
In a disruptive world ‘Big Brands’ offer protection
Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith teared up when he heralded the closure of his 19-year-old locally sourced all-profits-to-charity Dick Smith Foods because the German discount chain Aldi, which only entered Australia in 2001, has “destroyed us”. Smith said, when announcing the closure in July, that he had written to Coles, Metcash and Woolworths to warn them that Aldi’s…
Iron Ore Stocks for Risk Takers
The adage that time heals all wounds often applies to stocks left for dead in the wake of some calamitous economic event. Such appears to be the case with the much-heralded death of the iron ore mining boom here in Australia. Risk tolerant investors aware the world has yet to produce an alternative to steel…
Top ASX Telecom Stocks – Buy, Hold, or Stay Away?
Once one of the most aggressive growth stocks on the ASX, TPG Telecom (TPM) fell on hard times in mid-2016, with the share price spiraling downward until its announcement of a proposed merger with Vodaphone Hutchinson Australia, a 50% joint venture with ASX listed Hutchinson Telecommunications (HTA). Growth investors get nervous once a favored stock reaches the…
Gold Juniors’ Second Quarter 2018 Fundamentals
The junior gold miners’ stocks have been thrashed in August, plummeting to brutal multi-year lows. Such carnage naturally left sentiment far more bearish than usual in this forsaken contrarian sector. But these extremely-battered gold-stock prices certainly aren’t justified fundamentally. Junior gold miners’ collective results from their just-completed Q2’18 earnings season prove their stock prices need…
Mobile Purchase and Payment Stocks to Watch
It is hard for today’s younger generations to imagine a world without digital devices from personal computers to tablets to smartphones. Yet the oldsters among us well remember a time when bill payments from personal and mortgage loans to credit card payments went to the traditional banking system via Australia Post. The personal computer ushered…
ASX Most Innovative Companies
One of history’s all-time great investors – US based Warren Buffett, of Berkshire Hathaway – coined the term “economic moat” to characterize a company’s competitive advantage in its operating sector. High on the list of business practices that constitute a competitive advantage are cutting-edge technologies. For the past seven years, the Australian Financial Review’s Most Innovative…
Value Investing 101
The moment you invest in the stockmarket, you sign up to participate in what is known as a ‘zero-sum game’ – in essence, for you to make a gain, somebody else has to suffer a loss. That simple idea has some profound implications. It means, if you want to outperform the wider market, it is…
No international investor can ignore Asia
The investment world’s slow awakening No international investor can ignore Asia; it is home to some of the world’s largest markets, fastest-growing economies, largest middle classes, and most innovative companies. In short, it is full of opportunities. Yet the investment world’s view can easily distort our perspective of the region. Asia accounts for 36 per…
New IPOs with Innovative Technologies Behind Them
The father of value investing, Benjamin Graham, advised against investing in IPOs. His advice was based on his belief that the initial investment in an IPO left little or no opportunity for buying a stock at a discounted price; the cornerstone of value investing. Companies choose to go public for a variety of reasons, chief…
