The impossibility of competing with Facebook
It’s hard to avoid Facebook these days. Facebook has become the ubiquitous online platform of our time. Whether you spend time on Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger or the Facebook property itself, the company has successfully created effective ways for users to build communities, communicate and consume content. But of course, Facebook is an advertising business. And […]
The Growing World of eSports
While many of our readers may not have attended a live event to watch others play video games, there are a fast growing number of spectators who do. eSports is increasingly becoming an area in which video game publishers are trying to gain a foothold. The term eSports refers to competitive video gaming – that […]
Insperity reaccelerates
One of our points of differentiation versus many peers relates to our ability to invest across the size spectrum. Consider that, at the time of writing, Montaka’s long position with the largest market capitalization was Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), at US$700 billion. Meanwhile, our long position with the smallest market capitalization was Insperity (NYSE: NSP), at […]
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 […]