Stocks Neat

In episode 28 of Stocks Neat Co-Portfolio Manager Gareth Brown and CIO Steve Johnson discuss the prospect of price gouging in major Australian industries, the role future Competition Policy has to play, and the potential implications for investors. 

The topic of competition problems in Australia has garnered increased publicity in recent times, driven by concerns over long-term productivity issues and the more immediate pr...

In episode 27 of Stocks Neat Co-Portfolio Manager Gareth Brown and CIO Steve Johnson discuss the recent performance of small caps and the psychology of investing. 

Understanding the psychology of ourselves and others can go a long way to helping us navigate through life. Markets and investing is no different. Understanding this can enable us to avoid biases and regulate emotions to make rational and effective investment de...

In episode 26 of Stocks Neat Co-Portfolio Manager Harvey Migotti, Analyst Nicholas Plessas and CIO Steve Johnson sit down to discuss the year just passed in markets, most notably a strong rally in uranium and the small cap recovery at the end of 2023.

The uranium story grew throughout 2023 with the spot price increasing through the year. This was discussed in detail in Stocks Neat episode 22, where Harvey and Steve explore...

For our holiday edition of Stocks Neat, Alex Shevelev, Portfolio Manager of the Forager Australian Shares Fund, is filling in for Steve and Gareth and he’s joined by a special guest, Will Lopes. 

Will is the CEO and Managing Director of Catapult (ASX: CAT) which has been an investment of the Australian Shares Fund for a number of years. With origins in the Australian Institute of Sport, CAT has pioneered the sports wearables space a...

In the latest episode of Stocks Neat, Steve Johnson and Harvey Migotti discuss what they learned on their recent trip to the US and Japan. 

Their trip started in Chicago at an industrials conference, which gave the pair a  temperature check on what is happening in the US economy. Then, Steve and Harvey visited Tokyo to meet with a few companies undergoing transformational changes in the IT space. 

Listen to the fu...

In episode 23 of Stocks Neat, Co-Portfolio Manager Gareth Brown and CIO Steve Johnson sit down to discuss the opportunities available for investors in the current interest rate environment, following our CIO Letter, "Reasons to welcome the death of TINA”.

In October, yields on US Government 10-year bonds hit 4.98%, a level not seen since the mid-2000s. With rising yields has come weakness in equity markets as investor...

In episode 22 of Stocks Neat, Co-Portfolio Manager Harvey Migotti and CIO Steve Johnson sit down to discuss the growing interest in uranium, with the spot uranium price up almost 10% since the start of August and 27% so far in 2023.

It has been a tough period for uranium investors over the last few years, with no new mine supply and rock bottom prices, investment in the sector had fallen to an all-time low. However, due to...

In the latest episode of Stocks Neat, Steve and Gareth discuss the recent news surrounding the GLP-1 inhibitor drugs taking the world - and stock markets - by storm. Originally used to treat Type-2 diabetes, clinical trials have shown GLP-1 drugs may be highly effective in causing weight loss. While the most common form of the drug requires regular injections, Steve believes that the forthcoming oral version could be a "game c...

In episode 20 of Stocks Neat, Co-Portfolio Manager Gareth Brown and CIO Steve Johnson sit down to explore the global economic outlook, its goldilocks nature, and its implications for investing.

Switching from their usual whiskey, Steve and Gareth opt for a coffee as the conversation kicks off with a reflection on the past year's positive investment returns, despite being a year marked by market scepticism and uncertai...

In the latest episode of Stocks Neat, Co-Portfolio Manager Gareth Brown joins CIO Steve Johnson to shed light on the commercial property industry and the broader issue of unlisted assets, particularly focusing on Australia's super funds and their refusal to recognise the real value of some of their unlisted assets.

The second topic they explore is the current bull market, dubbing it the "bull market that nobody believes in...

After some time on the sidelines, Co-Portfolio Manager Gareth Brown is back in the hot seat, joining CIO Steve Johnson for the latest episode of Stocks Neat as they delve into lessons from the recent Berkshire Hathaway meeting.

They reflect on the meeting’s evolution over decades, how size has impacted investment decisions and the increasing conservatism in Berkshire Hathaway's investment strategy.

Additional...

Co-Portfolio Manager Harvey Migotti joins CIO Steve Johnson as they delve into the world of American investing in the latest episode of Stocks Neat. Harvey shares his insights on the critical lessons learnt from investing in the US market over his career, including the high liquidity and capital allocation priorities and how competitive the investor landscape is over there.

They explore why the US economy has outperformed ...

In episode 16 of Stocks Neat, Co-Portfolio Manager Gareth Brown joins CIO Steve Johnson, all the way from London, to delve into the Silicon Valley Bank bankruptcy and the broader issues of regulation, moral hazard, and the importance of creative destruction for economic growth.

Steve and Gareth explore the issues of solvency and liquidity in the banking industry and the problem of duration mismatch caused by investing short-term dep...

In this episode of Stocks Neat, Co-Portfolio Manager Harvey Migotti joins CIO Steve Johnson to discuss the recent January rally and what it could mean for future returns. They also share insights on how investors can protect themselves from being too conservative and missing out on potential gains.

Special guest Liam Shorte, @SMSFCoach on Twitter, then joins the podcast to further explore this topic. He discusses portfolio construct...

In the latest episode of Stocks Neat, Steve Johnson is joined by Senior Analyst Chloe Stokes as they delve into the topic of market short-termism. They discuss notable examples of corporate blunders, including the struggles of Walt Disney and the potential threat of ChatGPT (an AI-driven natural language processing tool that has grown in popularity recently) to Google. Co-Portfolio manager of the Forager International Fund, Harvey ...

In the latest episode of Stocks Neat, which is our final episode of 2022, Steve and Gareth are discussing small-cap stocks and why they might be an interesting place to be investing in 2023. Small-caps have been hit harder than the rest of the market, so many are already looking very cheap as we head into an expected recession. There is no new whisky tasting this time, but Gareth and Steve recap their favourite bottle from previous...

In the latest episode of Stocks Neat, Steve and Gareth talk all things M&A. They discuss the best and worst deals they have seen, as well as what to look out for when assessing whether a merger or acquisition will have long-term success.

As a first for Stocks Neat, we have a guest interview. Grant Webster, CEO of Tourism Holdings New Zealand, is in the middle of a merger right now, with Australia’s Apollo Tourism and L...

In this episode of Stocks Neat, Steve and Gareth talk about how the tech bust has finally hit the likes of Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta, with some very low growth rates coming from these tech giants that have outperformed for decades.

They also chat about the impending Musk takeover of Twitter, including the open letter of demands written by Twitter employees, and whether they think it will have an impact on Musk’s plan to fire a si...

In this episode of Stocks Neat, Steve is joined by Alex Shevelev, Senior Analyst on the Forager Australian Shares Fund, to discuss the potential decline of consumer spending as mortgage payments and non-discretionary price rises begin to bite, and how the consequences of this might affect some businesses more than others. They also consider common themes companies have been experiencing in the reporting season just past, as well as...