Investor Insights

In the June 2024 quarter, artificial intelligence (AI) remained the dominant narrative in markets. Companies perceived to be AI beneficiaries have seen their share prices markedly outperform those where the benefit appears less clear in the immediate term.

Patience is a virtue in the investment world. It can take two to three years, or even longer, for sentiment to shift the full 180 degrees from bearish to unbridled optimism. This is because scepticism, an uneven distribution of information, and inertia ensure the path to enthusiasm is not instant but takes time.

The Australian Eagle Asset Management investment team has had a long history with Treasury Wine Estates (ASX:TWE). The most recent holding was for several years prior to the pandemic with positive performance supported by growing profit and margins generated by the success of Penfolds in China.

The ScotPac SME Growth Index (1) has been a closely watched piece of annual research by the Aura Private Credit investment team, which tracks the adoption of non-bank lenders in the Australian small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) market. The 2024 report has recently been released which marks the 10th anniversary of the annual research.

Australian governments at all levels are not known for thinking beyond the electoral cycle. Take the fact that Australia took on 540,000 immigrants last year, whilst births exceeded deaths by 110,000. Hence an additional 650,000 Australians, or 2. 5 per cent of our population, at a time when our country is going through an unprecedented housing crisis.

In recent years, very few developments have captured investors’ imagination and curiosity as much as the emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI). Explore the transformative impact of AI and the investment opportunities it presents across various sectors globally in Polen Capital’s latest whitepaper.

The Magnificent Seven (Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Meta (NASDAQ:META), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), which rose by an average 111 per cent over calendar 2023, continued their strong upward trajectory, increasing a further 37 per cent, on average, over the six months to June 2024. This helped drag up the Nasdaq, which jumped 18.

  In this week’s video insight, I discuss the Baby Boomers looming retirement, and the importance of ensuring financial stability. With rising property costs and the need to replace lost income, finding reliable investments is essential. I highlight private credit as an option, offering the potential for returns with lower volatility.

Effective Tuesday 2 July 2024, the Aura High Yield SME Fund was renamed to the Aura Private Credit Income Fund. This does not impact client's investments in the Fund, and clients are not required to take any action as a result of this name change.

Since the beginning of the year, the Polen Global Growth Fund has traded, or adjusted positions in, a number of portfolio holdings and as some of the names are those you are likely familiar with, Polen Capital thought it would be more than a little interesting to shed some light on the reason for the changes.

Explore the investment opportunities presented by high-quality, growth businesses poised to capitalise on the global, secular shift of an ageing population.   Polen Capital’s International Growth team highlights the potential within the medtech sector driven by a rapidly ageing global demographic.

I have previously written here that one of the most repeatable ways to make money on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) is to buy into a retail store rollout story early.