All the latest articles & insight from our investment writers to inspire your own research and analysis.
The FTSE 100 was flat last week, drifting around 7,226. Nasdaq and the S&P500 did better, up +2.8% and +1.1% respectively, following strong results from Google and Microsoft. Apple and Amazon signalled that disruption and costs from supplying customers with physical products were rising. Facebook became Meta. Name changes should not affect share prices, but
Our funds expert embraces his inner bear, focusing on a long-established and successful Russian investment fund. For those worried about the fragile US monetary order, or wanting to play the upside in energy prices, Russia is a great starting point. And valuations are cheap. Before we delve a little deeper into our new fund for
In the chaotic business conditions we are experiencing, self-reliance has been a source of competitive advantage. Since we do not ever know what the future will hold, Richard goes in search of companies that have an element of vertical integration. I hope it is not smugness, but I have felt a sense of satisfaction when
It has been a turgid couple of months for small cap investors. Many stocks are well off their highs. There are no longer placings where investors can’t write tickets quick enough. The capital tap (for now) is no longer gushing and we’re seeing companies sell off as people become wary of a possible recession. At
30-bagger Goodwin has pivoted towards higher-margin contracts to widen its competitive ‘moat’. Maynard Paton weighs up the engineer’s haphazard financials with the delightfully old-school management. This quote from Richard Beddard caught my eye the other week: “If something truly special is incubating, we may profit from our investment for decades.” I am always up for
With the FTSE 100 reaching 7235 last week, the index finally seems to have broken out of the trading range that it has occupied since May. The index’s all time high is 7,903 reached in 2018. ITM, the hydrogen company raised £250m through an over-subscribed placing at a 16% discount. There’s still plenty to worry
It’s nice to be back writing some articles for SharePad. As some of you may know, I worked for ShareScope between 2014 and 2018 and helped to design many of the financial analysis features that are in the SharePad software. I remain a very happy user of SharePad today and use it extensively for my
Animal breeder Genus Plc is at the forefront of animal genetics and highly valued by investors, yet standard measures of Return on Capital Employed (ROCE), a marker for quality, indicate only modest levels of profitability. Unusually (for me) I rediscovered Genus because of an idea, rather than as a result of trawling through shares in
Another volatile week, with the FTSE 100 falling to 6,950 but recovering to 7,080 on Friday. The AIM index is up +24% in the last 12 months, but more recently has given back performance relative to the FTSE 100 +18% because that index has a higher weighting towards bank and oil sectors. Paul Hall, from
The FAANGs — the name given to five of the best performing tech stocks, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google (now called Alphabet) — have produced fantastic returns for years. However, regulatory headwinds and a reopening economy have led some analysts to sound a note of caution. Is it time to ditch the Faangs? Over
Empyrean Energy PLC (EME) is a small Australian oil 7 gas exploration company with huge potential upside if it can succeed with the drill. The company has big hopes for black stuff turning into gold, or wads of cash for investors and the board. The CEO, Tom Kelly, has serious skin in the game. Empyrean
We take a look at 5 new IPOS listed on the LSE over the past few weeks, including: Oxford Nanopore Technologies ONT Made Tech MTEC Peel Hunt PEEL GreenRoc Mining GROC Net Zero Infrastructure NZI OXFORD NANOPORE TECHNOLOGIES Opening date 30 September 2021 Issue price 425p Market cap £4.5bn Ticker ONT At the helm Dr
