Back in May, we wrote about potential investment merit in Qantas, noting that, while airlines do not readily fit into the “exceptional business” category, we could see good reasons why an investor might be attracted to Qantas (ASX:QAN) at the mid-$3 price that prevailed at the time.

Most readers will know that Alibaba operates the largest e-commerce platform in China, with its Taoabao and Tmall marketplaces. Some will know that Alibaba also operates China’s largest cloud computing platform, Alicloud.

Those companies which record the largest retreat in profitability during a recession often see the biggest rebounds in subsequent years. Company reports and consensus Earning Per Share (EPS) estimates for the US S&P500 market points to a similar experience for this cycle.

News of a potentially highly effective COVID-19 vaccine has provided a welcomed boost for so called ‘out and about’ stocks which are viewed as key beneficiaries of an economic re-opening scenario. Over the past few months, the Montgomery Small Companies Fund has been busy seeking ‘vaccine insurance’ to position the portfolio further towards the re-opening trade.

While small capitalisation companies generally involve more risk because of their lower liquidity, their greater sensitivity to managements’ influence, and their greater sensitivity to economic conditions, they have proven over a long time horizon to be a rewarding asset class to allocate capital – preferably for patient investors who grasp the power of compounding.

In this week’s video insight Roger discusses companies set to benefit from the news of a vaccine. Some of the companies that were beaten down during the pandemic – those we believe would inevitably recover once a vaccine was announced – have bounced, but they are yet to fully reflect a return to normal, or in some cases even a return to subnormal.  One company to clearly benefit from higher levels of activity is Qantas, while another, Megaport recently reported high levels of connection activity following a COVID inspired slowdown in June and July.

At Montgomery we have always kept an eye on the residential property market. While it’s important to many as an investment market in its own right, it also influences consumer behaviour and its significance in terms of the nation’s wealth makes it critical from a fiscal and monetary policy perspective.

In a year full of big moves and volatile share prices, last Tuesday saw one of the biggest disparities in the share price performance of the so called “growth vs value” stocks.

Wesfarmers’ (ASX:WES) trading update for the first four months of FY21 showed the robustness of its retailing businesses. Sales growth for its two best-known brands, Bunnings and Officeworks, was particularly strong, as was the performance of its online channel, Catch. In brief, sales growth for WES’s core retailing operations remained strong through to the end of October.

With all the noise in recent days over new antitrust initiatives in the Chinese technology space, the stellar ongoing performance of Tencent’s many businesses seems to have been lost in the mix. By way of reminder, Tencent can be viewed as a Chinese market-leading platform of multiple digital software-based platforms.

Macquarie Telecom (ASX:MAQ) is a leading Australian telecom and datacentre provider. Its datacentre business is booming as more and more organisations shift their computing architecture to the Cloud.   Now, a major new expansion project promises to propel the business to even greater heights.

Wow, what a week! Pfizer announces it has a vaccine almost set to go, and hasn’t the market reacted! Happily for our investors, The Montgomery Fund has already pivoted towards a post-pandemic world: we’ve cut cash to a record low and invested in some businesses beaten down by enforced lockdowns.