The creation of an eyeglass behemoth
While those in the US were celebrating Martin Luther King Day on Monday this week, Essilor (Euronext: EI) and Luxottica (Italiana: LUX) announced a €50 billion merger to create an eyeglass behemoth. Readers will know that Essilor has been a favourite business of Montaka’s for some time. It is the clear global leader in eyeglass […]
Foot Locker as the Next Derivative of Athleisure
In 2015 the Montaka research team identified the worldwide proliferation of “athleisure” as a powerful investment trend that we could capitalise on. As people continued to turn to activewear as their everyday fashion choice, sales of Nike merchandise would benefit and shareholders should be rewarded handsomely – or so the first-order thinking goes. At Montaka […]
Inside the TJX machine
In the age of Amazon and the rise of e-commerce, many brick-and-mortar retailers are facing pressures. Traffic in many US shopping malls is not what it used to be. And yet, there is a particular segment of the US brick-and-mortar retail space that is thriving right now: the off-price discount retailers, including The TJX Companies […]
Five Points That Make Take-Two a Growth Powerhouse
Take-Two Interactive (Nasdaq: TTWO) has been in the Montaka portfolio since inception and continues to grow strongly. Below are five key points that highlight the Montaka team’s thinking on why TTWO is a quality stock with attractive growth prospects. 1. The model is changing and TTWO benefits TTWO is at the forefront of the structural […]
Some thoughts on Amazon Prime
Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer and provider of cloud infrastructure services, reported stellar Q2 results last week, beating consensus top line by $1 billion and EPS by 60 per cent, as revenue growth accelerated and operating leverage finally appeared in the business. This article will focus on Amazon’s retail business, which contributed to over […]
Why did Berkshire Hathaway buy Apple?
Yesterday, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK/B) disclosed a $1 billion stake in Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). As typically happens when Berkshire makes such a new disclosure, this sent the stock rallying by 4%. It is an interesting move given Buffett’s long-held stance against investing in information technology companies. So the question is, why did Berkshire […]
Traveling with a margin of safety
We are ultimately trying to buy a dollar for fifty cents. That’s essentially all value investing is. Readers of this blog will know that we also require that “dollar” to be a high-quality business with attractive future prospects. We think Travelers (NYSE: TRV), the US-based commercial insurer, is indeed one of these businesses. And we […]
Why We Like CVS
The Montaka team is constantly trying to find great businesses for inclusion in the Montaka Global Fund. We have a preference for businesses that maintain near-impenetrable positions relative to competitors, are in industries with secular growth tailwinds, demonstrate a track-record for producing above-average returns on invested capital, and have opportunities to continue to deploy large […]
What is our favourite recession-proof business?
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (Nasdaq: TTWO) is a developer and publisher of video game content for console systems such as the PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo’s Wii; handheld gaming systems such as Sony’s PSP; and personal computers, including smartphones and tablets. The Company is perhaps best recognized as the developer of the Grand Theft Auto […]
Are you being disrupted?
The concept of “disruption” is the subject of a great deal of discussion inside the four walls of Montaka. Whether it’s Uber disrupting taxis, or Airbnb disrupting hotels, disruption is forcing every incumbent business (and employee) to think deeply about who or what might “displace” it next. A recent book written by senior directors of […]
