Alpha, market cap and long vs. short
The trouble with the markets and the investment industry is that jargon is everywhere. Ever tried to discuss crypto or coding with a tech geek? That’s how non-financial people feel when looking at an investment fact sheet or reading a fund manager letter. In this article, I explain a few of the concepts that are important for you to understand …
View Post
Rolling the dice on Descendis Health
The company is actually called Ascendis Health, but one look at a share price chart and you’ll understand why I laughed when an ex-banking colleague called it Descendis Health in a chat we had a few weeks ago. With a nod to his genius, I’ve borrowed the name. If there was ever a poster child for a high-risk acquisitive strategy …
View Post
Massmart and the case for cutting through the noise
After the market crashed in March 2020, I decided to take a risk. Believing that the valuations were ridiculously low and that they couldn’t possibly stay there, I emptied a big chunk of my access bond into the market. Essentially, these were bonuses I had saved over the years. I treat my bond like a revolving credit facility at a …
View Post
Impact investing insights – part 1
Money is fungible, yet you may have heard financial professionals talk about “types” of money when discussing investment opportunities. These days there arguably is more than one type of money with the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies, but that’s not what the investment folk are talking about. They are referring to the intention behind the money, rather than the money itself. …
View Post
Mboweni has diamond hands
This is not an attempt to cover everything that happened in the budget speech today. The financial news agencies do a good enough job of that. Instead, I want to touch on some important concepts ahead of recording a Magic Markets podcast episode on this topic tonight. Look out for it on Thursday afternoon. It’s hard not to allow some …
View Post
Magic Markets Ep12: VIX, not Vicks
The Finance Ghost and Mohammed Nalla (Moe-Knows) discuss some of the macro ratios that can be used in assessing whether the market is experiencing a general feeling of fear or greed. With an understanding of high-level tools like the lumber-to-gold ratio or a reading of the VIX, investors and traders can try to time their market entries and exits more …
View Post
Investors paying their school fees
Curro Holdings. A company that once promised so much (with an obscene valuation multiple to match) now finds itself in a loss-making position. You read that correctly – net of impairments (write-downs of school property values), Curro is going to report a loss for the 12 months to December 2020. the_ad id=”3223″ Right idea, wrong time Curro’s investment thesis was …
View Post
Magic Markets Ep10: Losing their Shorts
In Episode 10 of Magic Markets, hosts The Finance Ghost and Mohammed Nalla (Moe-Knows) get stuck in on the most exciting few days in the market that we’ve ever seen. Everyone is talking about the short squeeze strategy, WallStreetBets and GameStop, but what is actually going on here? What is short selling? How does it work? Is this a regulatory …
View Post
Get in there, Lewis
Get in there, Lewis! You’ll hear this at the end of almost every Formula 1 race, much to my annoyance as a fan of many other drivers. The statement is equally applicable to the furniture and appliance retailer that is a favourite among value investors. Remember value investors? Those highly educated people who take time to make investments, carving out …
View Post
Magic Markets Ep8: Our Crypto-nite
The world of investments is dynamic and ever-changing. Industries rise and fall. So do asset classes. The base principles remain the same though, especially regarding diversification and a need to do your research before investing. With this in mind, we felt it would be wrong to completely ignore the world of cryptoassets. Although we are by no means piling money …
View Post