Meteorologist. The only job where you can be wrong every day and still keep your job. — Willard Scott Meteorologists or weather people are inherently not trusted. They are extremely public figures that people rely on to make decisions every day about how the coming day/ week will prevail. It can be a tough gig. However similar to the analogy of weather people, as fund managers sometimes it can be challenging getting caught in the day to day weather patterns of the market. It

Imagine being an executive at a car manufacturer with hundreds of millions of dollars in inventory when consumer demand is accelerating, but there is no way to fill orders due to an inability to get chips that might only cost $50. This is what was experienced during the pandemic. Automakers lowered their production estimates in the lockdown environment and canceled their semiconductor orders. Then car demand recovered, and automakers needed those cancelled orders. This “just-

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (‘SVB’) in the US and contagion effects represents ground zero for this saga and story of woe.

Global inflation is running hot and Australian households have not been spared the pain. As at the end of December, consumer prices (‘CPI’)

Having lived through a period of over-consumption are we now facing a consumption hangover? As the dust settles on another festive season the mind very quickly moves to the year ahead. Any portfolio manager will tell you that one’s portfolio is never far from the front of their mind. Even during this seasonally quieter period for company updates and broader news flow we at Chester approach 2023 with a healthy level of anxiety. As investors it is the sense of unease about the

Last month the world witnessed Lionel Messi lead Argentina to a famous World Cup victory in an air-conditioned stadium in the desert...

"The best place to hide something is in plain sight" Edgar Allan Poe We have spent countless hours these past few years hunting for asymmetric opportunities. We have uncovered these in many forms but 2 common sources have been: Companies trading below book value (ORG, NUF, ASB, SM1) and Companies with underappreciated/hidden property value (Ramsay, Casinos, Aged Care, Energy, Agribusiness, etc) Source: Old El Paso Commercial Meme, the Internet In a recent review of Real Estat

As investors, reporting season is a great time to take stock of our portfolio, re-assess our investment thesis and cast an eye over a few new ideas. It also brings opportunity to meet with the management teams of the businesses we have invested in and ask questions about their strategy and outlook. This time it was particularly refreshing to meet many of the management teams in person, after several long years of online meetings. Read the full article here.

With interest rates rising, fixed rate bonds – those with a set coupon rate until maturity - may be in for a tough time. That’s because rising interest rates reduce the price of fixed rate bonds. That may sound counter-intuitive, but its all to do with the change in a bond’s yield when interest rates change. It works like a chain reaction: higher interest rates reduce the demand for buyers of bonds, because higher returns are now available elsewhere. The price of that bond fa

The RBA has ratcheted up rates again for the third time in as many months. What does this mean for investors and financial advisers managing client portfolios? Scott Rundell, Chief Investment Officer of Mutual Limited (a fixed income fund manager distributed by Copia), answers four questions about the rate rise and its impact.

Valuation is an input into investment decision-making, and helps generate returns, if done right, consistently Valuation employs both art and science to form an accurate measure of how much an asset is worth Valuations can be absolute or relative, with each having different applications Qualitative assessment is an important ingredient for the Art of valuations Assessing how projections or valuations differ to market can provide insight and assist in determining why you belie

We break down the basics of fixed income markets Fixed income investing Fixed income assets can play a useful role in an investment portfolio. As the name implies, these assets provide you with regular income payments. What’s more, they can also bring diversification to a portfolio that’s overweight in investments such as shares and property. As with any investment opportunity, not all fixed income assets or the strategies for using them are alike. Here, we break down the fun

The Ideal Intersection of Quality and Growth Jason L. White, Portfolio Manager In this Q&A Jason White, Portfolio Manager for the Artisan Global Discovery Fund strategy, discusses the journey and approach of the investment team and highlights some exciting stock opportunities ahead. The Artisan Global Discovery Fund is a global small and mid cap equity strategy distributed by Copia Investment Partners. Your team has historically had a preference for mid-cap stocks. Can you ta

“As the man once said the harder you work, the luckier you get” - Ted Lasso Warren Buffet was once asked how he became so successful in investing and his response was “we read hundreds and hundreds of annual reports every year”. Despite the Oracle being the most emulated investor of our time, for a host of reasons we are certain the accounts aren’t as widely read as they should be. As part of our ESG focus, we analyse remuneration reports of research library companies and com

Rob Tucker, Managing Director of Chester Asset Management, shares his thoughts on three key macro questions that help shape the Chester High

Source: www.barrons.com. The following has been excerpted: One needs a cool head to invest in the hottest growth sectors. Expectations and valuations for rapidly growing companies are high, and if a company misses the mark, stock selloffs can be severe. Not overreacting on the way up—or down—is essential for investors. Jason White, 47, knows how to handle volatile situations. Before becoming lead manager of Artisan Global Discovery, he was in the Navy for five years, from 199

The main facts in human life are five: birth, food, sleep, love and death, E M Forster It is one thing to run out of cars and have to wait a few extra months for your new Volvo but what happens if we run out of food? A sensationalist comment we agree and virtually unfathomable in the western world but a stark reality for billions of people globally. A recurring theme since the onset of COVID has been the robustness (and fragility) of global supply chains and with battle lines

A company trading at a discount to book value with tailwinds in key end markets: Is that something you might be interested in? In our last public note, we commented that we were going down the Marvel track with a couple of consecutive sequels. Weeks later we observed another Livewire contributor emulate one of our publication franchises and we thought, "Why not embrace the Marvel moniker?". So here is our Origin story. I was fortunate to commence a career in financial markets

“In the race of life, always back self-interest – at least you know it’s trying” – Jack Lang Anyone who has listened to my colleague Rob Tucker in the past 12 months would most likely have heard the above quote and hopefully appreciates a key part of our research effort and ongoing portfolio (+watchlist) management is monitoring insider activity. It is something we constantly review in real time but every 12 months we take a helicopter view and provide some thoughts on emergi

The most recent COVID inspired emergency response has seen 20 years of US central bank debt accumulation double in 12 months.