Investor Insights

Retail stocks were on the nose for some time amid fears of recession, the impact of rising interest rates, the cost-of-living crisis and inflation’s impact on the cost of doing business.   The recent HY24 reporting season, however, revealed much of the fear was misplaced. Aggregate revenue growth tended to beat estimates despite moderating slightly.

New spending figures published by the Association of Superannuation Fund of Australia (ASFA) define what it means to be comfortable in retirement. And while their numbers are well above the current age pension payments, I am not sure even those elevated numbers realistically measure up to what many, if not most, people would describe as comfortable.

Predicting private credit will become a much more important part of investors’ portfolios and an asset class in its own right has been easy. Who wouldn’t want higher yields with low volatility?

In the ever-changing landscape of financial markets, 2023 defied expectations, with highly anticipated recessions in Australia and the U. S. failing to materialise. But the macroeconomic insights of Gavekal Research, from all the way back to 1978 – that innovative growth stocks with pricing power do well amid disinflation and positive economic growth –, has proven consistently prescient.

It’s unlikely you’ve heard of Audinate (ASX:AD8), a holding in the Montgomery Small Companies Fund. Audinate is a company with shares listed in the small cap sector of the Australian stock market. It might have flown under your radar by virtue of its size.

ASX listed Life360 (ASX:360), a family safety app that allows GPS location sharing is one of the larger and more exciting companies held by the Montgomery Small Companies Fund. In the two business days since Life360 announced its results for the year to 31 December 2023, the share price has jumped 46 per cent from $8. 30 to $12.

After highlighting the Vaughan Bowen and Michael Simmons lead Uniti Corporation and the several bolt on acquisitions from early-2019 (and then seeing the takeover from Morrison & Co at $4.

As we sift through the results from our companies over the first reporting season of the year, we watch with great interest as the market is reminded that company fundamental results still matter.

In this weeks video insight, David takes us through Altium Limited’s (ASX:ALU) 25-year listed history, marked by a recent bid from Renesas Electronics Corporation valuing it at AU$9. 1 billion. From highs of $6. 70 per share in 2000 to a record low of $0. 09 per share in 2011, Altium has experienced significant fluctuations.

Megaport (ASX:MP1) announced its half-yearly results on Tuesday. As the numbers were largely pre-reported at the company’s previous second-quarter announcement on 30 January, they were considered ‘in-line’ with expectations. Megaport’s total revenue for the first half of FY24 came in at $95. 1 million, up $24. 4 million or 35 per cent, compared to the prior corresponding period.

Altium Limited (ASX:ALU) was floated on the ASX in August 1999 at $2. 00 per share, and the market bought into the excitement by driving up the share price to $6. 70 by March 2000. 11 years later, the company was going through enormous pain, and this saw the Altuim share price crash to $0.

Deterra Royalties (ASX:DRR) was established through a strategic demerger from Iluka Resources Ltd (ASX:ILU) in 2020. At the core of Deterra Royalties portfolio lies long-life, Mining Area C (MAC), a premier iron ore mining operation in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, operationally managed by BHP.