U.S. Mid Cap Equities: Tech, Regional Banks, and Valuation | EP140
A look at the strategy a year on and why we think valuation should be more top of mind for investors.
The Art of Boring™ was created for curious and passionate investors. We share strategies, frameworks, and insights to help readers and listeners make better investment decisions. Our aim? To provide some bottom-up, long-term investing signal to cut through the short-term noise.
A look at the strategy a year on and why we think valuation should be more top of mind for investors.
How we approach finding new ideas in the widest investment universe.
Unpacking one of our key mental models around investing and managing risk.
Market drivers that stood out this quarter, where inflation is at, and an asset mix update.
Top highlights from the team’s recent research trips and a few business models we’re excited about.
A deep dive into key themes we’ve been focusing on, recent additions to the portfolio, and a few changes.
We need to understand where we are in the debt super cycle to inform our investment decision making.
Why management teams matter, energy companies rarely meet our investment criteria, and JPMorgan and State Street differ from many regional banks.
Recent AI breakthroughs are underscoring the power of the centaur model—humans + machines—creating something more potent than either model operating independently.
Why genuine knowledge building and the ability to learn effectively in investing is difficult, and how we try to work around those challenges.
The major themes of the quarter, where we are in the interest rate hike cycle, and our thoughts on the recent banking crisis.
This episode, we discuss our seven-point management assessment framework (with examples), our risk management approach, and overall thoughts on energy.
In our view, market participants systematically underestimate the importance of vulnerabilities while correspondingly overestimating the importance of triggers. Why?
A look at the strategy a year on and why we think valuation should be more top of mind for investors.
How we approach finding new ideas in the widest investment universe.
Unpacking one of our key mental models around investing and managing risk.
Market drivers that stood out this quarter, where inflation is at, and an asset mix update.
Top highlights from the team’s recent research trips and a few business models we’re excited about.
A deep dive into key themes we’ve been focusing on, recent additions to the portfolio, and a few changes.
We need to understand where we are in the debt super cycle to inform our investment decision making.
Why management teams matter, energy companies rarely meet our investment criteria, and JPMorgan and State Street differ from many regional banks.
Recent AI breakthroughs are underscoring the power of the centaur model—humans + machines—creating something more potent than either model operating independently.
Why genuine knowledge building and the ability to learn effectively in investing is difficult, and how we try to work around those challenges.
The major themes of the quarter, where we are in the interest rate hike cycle, and our thoughts on the recent banking crisis.
This episode, we discuss our seven-point management assessment framework (with examples), our risk management approach, and overall thoughts on energy.
In our view, market participants systematically underestimate the importance of vulnerabilities while correspondingly overestimating the importance of triggers. Why?
To be sure, there are many reasons a company may prefer to turn to private investors over more traditional public markets, but as more companies choose private funding when they need to raise capital, what are the implications for investors in public markets?
Last week, Morningstar interviewed international equity portfolio manager David Ragan about finding resilient stocks in international markets during turbulent times.
How can a business continue to grow while still retaining the internal characteristics that helped contribute to its past success?
Canadian insurance companies are no longer just in the business of selling insurance to Canadians. They function more like financial conglomerates, and that, for investors, is potentially a good thing.
Given how often “defensive” enters into the investing lexicon and that it can mean different things to different people, aiming for a greater degree of precision in its definition may help to reduce misunderstanding or generalized historical bias.
In theory, investors should improve at least linearly over time as they make and learn from errors. But in practice, there seems to be little evidence of this (only few active managers beat the market over longer time periods).
Italy has been the source of drama in recent weeks, and it hasn’t all been about men racing bicycles in spandex.
These 15 questions are by no means exhaustive—they are not intended to be—but they serve as a helpful checklist for the main structural factors to consider when assessing a country’s macroeconomic backdrop.
Humans and machines have different strengths and weaknesses, and on our team, we tend to see the foreseeable future as a world in which the two work side-by-side. As with any tool, for machine learning to be useful, it is what it is being used for and how that matters.
It is possible for smaller companies to punch above their weight in a foreign market. In our Canadian small cap portfolio, there have been many wealth-creating companies that were able to successfully expand and compete in the United States.
While investor apprehension in this environment is understandable, volatility in markets is both normal and expected. Looking back through our Art of Boring archive, we were struck by the enduring relevance of not letting fear guide investor decision-making during jittery times.
There is arguably another, more robust means of competitive advantage: that of barriers to capacity expansion. And this factors into one of the two main reasons behind limiting our exposure to the utility space.
To be sure, there are many reasons a company may prefer to turn to private investors over more traditional public markets, but as more companies choose private funding when they need to raise capital, what are the implications for investors in public markets?
Last week, Morningstar interviewed international equity portfolio manager David Ragan about finding resilient stocks in international markets during turbulent times.
How can a business continue to grow while still retaining the internal characteristics that helped contribute to its past success?
Canadian insurance companies are no longer just in the business of selling insurance to Canadians. They function more like financial conglomerates, and that, for investors, is potentially a good thing.
Given how often “defensive” enters into the investing lexicon and that it can mean different things to different people, aiming for a greater degree of precision in its definition may help to reduce misunderstanding or generalized historical bias.
In theory, investors should improve at least linearly over time as they make and learn from errors. But in practice, there seems to be little evidence of this (only few active managers beat the market over longer time periods).
Italy has been the source of drama in recent weeks, and it hasn’t all been about men racing bicycles in spandex.
These 15 questions are by no means exhaustive—they are not intended to be—but they serve as a helpful checklist for the main structural factors to consider when assessing a country’s macroeconomic backdrop.
Humans and machines have different strengths and weaknesses, and on our team, we tend to see the foreseeable future as a world in which the two work side-by-side. As with any tool, for machine learning to be useful, it is what it is being used for and how that matters.
It is possible for smaller companies to punch above their weight in a foreign market. In our Canadian small cap portfolio, there have been many wealth-creating companies that were able to successfully expand and compete in the United States.
While investor apprehension in this environment is understandable, volatility in markets is both normal and expected. Looking back through our Art of Boring archive, we were struck by the enduring relevance of not letting fear guide investor decision-making during jittery times.
There is arguably another, more robust means of competitive advantage: that of barriers to capacity expansion. And this factors into one of the two main reasons behind limiting our exposure to the utility space.
The tremendous IPO activity led by tech companies; our evaluation process for a company prior to it becoming public; and recent matrix meeting outcomes for the portfolio.
Philip Fisher’s continuous relevance; determining fair value ranges for blitzscalers; and potentially overlooked opportunities in Russia and Kazakhstan.
A review of the quarter: the high-level themes have continued.
CIO Paul Moroz walks us through his “best practices” portfolio construction checklist.
Opening the Pandora’s box of Bitcoin, societal trust, and why investors might not, but need to, fully understand the technology.
“Making the macro micro” around demand trends, inflation concerns, valuations, and earnings. We discuss Comcast, Visa, Dollar General, Alphabet, and more.
A close look at our research methods to understand trends, opportunities, and challenges in the pharmaceutical industry.
How thinking like a deer in the forest (situational awareness) and other risk management process tinkering has helped the team. In addition, thoughts on the potential CP Rail and Kansas City Southern deal and TELUS International IPO.
One year since lockdown: CIO Paul Moroz summarizes the major market themes of the past four quarters and how it has (and hasn’t) affected our process and way of looking at the world.
Equity Analyst, Stanislav Lopata, shares his observations regarding the pandemic’s impacts on markets and what’s new with the portfolio.
Deputy CIO Christian Deckart discusses market performance in a “story of three quarters” and some new holdings we added to the portfolio.
Chief Investment Officer Paul Moroz discusses why the Research team’s post-mortem process is important, and some of their top learnings from 2020.
The tremendous IPO activity led by tech companies; our evaluation process for a company prior to it becoming public; and recent matrix meeting outcomes for the portfolio.
Philip Fisher’s continuous relevance; determining fair value ranges for blitzscalers; and potentially overlooked opportunities in Russia and Kazakhstan.
A review of the quarter: the high-level themes have continued.
CIO Paul Moroz walks us through his “best practices” portfolio construction checklist.
Opening the Pandora’s box of Bitcoin, societal trust, and why investors might not, but need to, fully understand the technology.
“Making the macro micro” around demand trends, inflation concerns, valuations, and earnings. We discuss Comcast, Visa, Dollar General, Alphabet, and more.
A close look at our research methods to understand trends, opportunities, and challenges in the pharmaceutical industry.
How thinking like a deer in the forest (situational awareness) and other risk management process tinkering has helped the team. In addition, thoughts on the potential CP Rail and Kansas City Southern deal and TELUS International IPO.
One year since lockdown: CIO Paul Moroz summarizes the major market themes of the past four quarters and how it has (and hasn’t) affected our process and way of looking at the world.
Equity Analyst, Stanislav Lopata, shares his observations regarding the pandemic’s impacts on markets and what’s new with the portfolio.
Deputy CIO Christian Deckart discusses market performance in a “story of three quarters” and some new holdings we added to the portfolio.
Chief Investment Officer Paul Moroz discusses why the Research team’s post-mortem process is important, and some of their top learnings from 2020.