How Deep is Your Market?
The collective performance of the stocks of Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google (now Alphabet) has been sensational over the last few years. Combined with their sheer scale, the stocks of these companies have therefore accounted for the bulk of the US equity market’s gains in this time. So, it comes as no surprise that […]
Instagram Reaches Pivot Point as Facebook is Handed the Reins
Last week, Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger announced their plan to leave Instagram to “explore their curiosity and creativity again.” The social media company, acquired by Facebook in 2012 for $1 billion, is now worth $100 billion according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jitendra Waral. Facebook’s market value today is $480 billion, emphasising how significant […]
Apple’s gamble on Chinese vanity
It’s that time of year again. Every September, Apple hosts its annual iPhone launch event at its Cupertino campus, unveiling the next iteration of the company’s bestselling product. This year marks a continuation of the three-phone line-up that began last year with the iPhone 8, 8 Plus and the X. Speculation abounds about whether the […]
Apple Part II: What would it take to reach $2 trillion?
In Part I of this two-part blog on Apple, we discussed some of the criticisms that Apple faced as an investment case on its journey to a $1 trillion market capitalisation. This Part II will take a look at some of the lenses through which we can view Apple as a business, to better understand Apple’s […]
When Bad Things Happen to Good Stocks: A Fundamental Investor’s Opportunity
As Benjamin Graham, widely known as “the father of value investing”, understood well, stock prices can bounce around for a range of different reasons, and any of them may have very little to do with the fundamental prospects, earnings and cash flows that the underlying business will ultimately generate for its owners (shareholders) over time. […]
Apple Part I: A $1 trillion company at 18x P/E
Last week I attended an Apple summit hosted by a prominent Apple analyst. One of the main lamentations shared by both the host and a majority of the audience (for this was not a gathering of investment analysts) was why Apple, the most valuable company and arguably the most recognisable brand in the world, was […]
Buy on the sound of canons
As the Buffett adage goes, “be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful”. At its core, the phrase highlights the necessity of contrarian thinking when investing. Achieving investment outperformance requires a non-consensus view, and for that view to be proven correct over time. While this sounds straightforward, it is often challenging […]
How cheap is Alibaba?
When Alibaba reported its full year FY18 results in early May, one number that surprised us the most was the revenue guidance for FY19. Heading into the result, Wall Street analysts were expecting FY19 revenue of around RMB 350 billion, or year-on-year growth of around 40%. Instead, Alibaba delivered a stunner – 60% revenue growth […]
The Great Content Rebundling
Earlier this week, Variety published an interesting article citing data from TDG that suggested Amazon Channels accounted for 55% of all third-party direct-to-consumer (“DTC”) video subscriptions. The TDG survey of 2,000 US broadband users revealed that substantially more than half of the subscribers to premium DTC channels such as HBO and Showtime had subscribed through […]
More Apple Services
In February this year, Daniel Wu wrote an insightful piece about Apple’s transformation from a company that has historically been driven exclusively by hardware to one which is today focussed on driving value through the growth of its services offering. One calendar quarter and a set of financial results later, Apple is demonstrating impressive growth […]
