December 2023 Img

Letter from the PMs – December 2023

– Andrew Macken & Chris Demasi

 

According to the Investment Company Institute, over the last twelve months US institutions and investors together have accumulated a record US$5.7 trillion in cash-like money-market funds – up US$1 trillion over the last 12 months.

Investors are clearly believing the growing narrative that equities are risky and should be avoided – especially when cash can yield you 5% or more.

This caution is perhaps not surprising given rising interest rates around the world, the several armed conflicts that have broken out, and China’s suffering economy.

But we believe these low expectations for equities creates opportunity for investors who can focus on relevant information and ignore noise.

One always-relevant driver of future investment returns is when a stock is pricing in unreasonably low expectations about the company’s future earnings power. This will always be a terrific and salient point for investors – irrespective of the ebbs and flows of global macroeconomics and geopolitics.

Andy applies the concept of low expectations in 3 stocks set for ‘takeoff’. He shares three stocks where embedded expectations are far too low. And as a result, these stocks are set to takeoff.

Montaka’s investment team continually assesses, and reassesses, the things we believe to be relevant and saliant to long-term investment success.

Our detailed analysis on the AI revolution – and especially those businesses that stand to benefit with very high probability – is a great example where we highlighted something that is structural and that will be relevant under all economic and geopolitical conditions.

We hear a lot about the potential of AI, but this month, Amit looks at how one particularly company, ServiceNow, is becoming a huge AI winner. InServiceNow: Should this AI winner be the Magnificent 8th?, Amit shows how ServiceNow is applying generative AI to its workflow datasets to add significant value to its enterprise customer base. This value will drive substantial growth in earnings power for ServiceNow for a long time to come.

Finally, in this month’s Spotlight Series podcast, Andy & Chris circle back to our essay published last month, titled Mind the 4 demographic truths of equities, and discuss why these truths are critical for investors to keep in mind when constructing portfolios.

 

 

Sincerely,

Andrew Macken & Chris Demasi

 

 


Podcast: Join the Montaka Global Investments team on Spotify as they discuss the latest 2023 Q3 reporting season in Spotlight Series Podcast. Follow along as we share real-time examples and investing tips that govern our stockpicks. Click below to listen. Alternatively, click on this link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/montaka

 


To request a copy of our latest paper which explores the empirical research around the 3 pillars of active management outperformance, please share your details with us:


 


Note: Montaka is invested in Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Spotify, Meta, Blackstone, KKR & S&P Global

 

Andrew Macken is the Chief Investment Officer & Chris Demasi is the Portfolio Manager at Montaka Global Investments. 
To learn more about Montaka, please call +612 7202 0100 or leave us a line on montaka.com/contact-us

 

Related Insight

Share

Get insights delivered to your inbox including articles, podcasts and videos from the global equities world.