Art of Boring

In this episode, Dave Ragan, co-manager for the EAFE large-cap strategy, speaks on the current state and future prospects of EAFE markets. He delves into Japan's market challenges and opportunities, examines the impact of global interest rates and economic conditions, and explores the decision-making processes in market volatility.     Key Points From This Episode:   Japan's historical challenges...

Portfolio Manager Peter Lampert dives into the world of emerging markets, sharing what's changed for the portfolio since last year, insights on where we're seeing new opportunities (e.g., Brazil), and the impact of geopolitical risks in Eastern Europe. He also explores why we've reduced our weight and exposure in China and what a slowdown in emerging markets might mean for investors.       Key Poi...

Today on the podcast, Equity Analyst Michael Vogel discusses the importance of analyzing technological shifts beyond artificial intelligence and how these shifts can impact non-tech companies in the portfolio. Michael emphasizes the cultural approach to holding views lightly and shares examples of how the Research team navigates these changes.   Key Points From This Episode: - Tech changes, non-te...

A recap of the quarter and our thoughts on the hard vs. soft landing debate. Highlights: Main drivers of the market pullback Inflation's persistent "stickiness" and potential implications of "higher for longer" interest rates How are consumers faring? Asset mix update Looking ahead—what's on our radar

Main themes impacting the portfolio and the benefits of systematically tracking investment decisions. Highlights: Valuation considerations in a higher rate environment How (and why) we've started systematically tracking and analyzing our investment decisions  Portfolio adjustments—adding AltaGas, exiting Enbridge and Agnico Eagle Quick dive into Dollarama's business model and some of the stock dri...

A look at the strategy a year on and why we think valuation should be more top of mind for investors. Highlights: Influence of big tech stocks on the U.S. market and associated impacts to the small and mid cap space The AI theme continues—Elastic, Concentrix, Moderna Why is the U.S. market more expensive compared to its developed market peers? Regional banks—what happened, the current state, and o...

How we approach finding new ideas in the widest investment universe. Highlights Eagles and vultures mental model—why idea generation is better enabled by one shared investment philosophy and knowledge base E.g., Novo Nordisk and Publicis What is the "Bathroom List" and its role in our investment process and ESG considerations—e.g., JDE Peet's Why nuance matters when incorporating scuttlebutt—e.g.,...

Unpacking one of our key mental models around investing and managing risk. Highlights: What we mean by "non-predictive decision making" Examining the question, "what's your outlook and how you are positioned accordingly?" through a non-predictive decision-making lens The important difference between vulnerabilities and triggers Vulnerabilities we're paying attention to

Market drivers that stood out this quarter, where inflation is at, and an asset mix update. Highlights: How markets have been climbing a "wall of worry" Recalling Cisco Systems and considering implications around the current concentration of tech stocks in the S&P 500 Our thoughts on the continuing rate hikes and "soft landing" scenario Holding cash: what's changed?

Top highlights from the team's recent research trips and a few business models we're excited about.   Highlights: Insights from visiting Norway, the Netherlands, Kazakhstan, India and some holdings—Equinor, AutoStore™, Ahold Delhaize, Adyen, Genmab, Kaspi, Weir, HDFC Bank Why we've been reducing our weight in China and our current thinking around regional exposures The unique competitive advantage...

A deep dive into key themes we've been focusing on, recent additions to the portfolio, and a few changes.   Highlights: Quick recap: What has changed with the portfolio since 2022? What we mean by "engaged owners" (and the difference they can make) Why we are looking for companies with lower duration How we try to find a variant perception from the market—and some examples Recent additions to the...

Why management teams matter, energy companies rarely meet our investment criteria, and JPMorgan and State Street differ from many regional banks.   Highlights Potential implications of the recent advancements in generative AI U.S. regional banking challenges and our exposure Why we don't currently own any energy sector companies in the portfolio A look at two holdings—one "old" and one new—Verisk...

Why genuine knowledge building and the ability to learn effectively in investing is difficult, and how we try to work around those challenges.   Highlights: Context setting: What does "epistemology" mean, and why did we get excited about it in relation to investing? What is knowledge? How do you create it? The two founding blocks: Inductive and deductive reasoning A contrast in knowledge approache...

The major themes of the quarter, where we are in the interest rate hike cycle, and our thoughts on the recent banking crisis.   Highlights: The slow-moving impacts of central bank policy on inflation Our banking exposure Why it's important for investors not to fear recessions Asset mix update

This episode, we discuss our seven-point management assessment framework (with examples), our risk management approach, and overall thoughts on energy.   Highlights: Why it's difficult to find energy companies with sustainable competitive advantages—and where we see some opportunities—e.g., Parex Resources and International Petroleum Corporation Another way to look at geographic diversification? R...

Digging into last year's performance drivers, the current opportunity set, and benefits of resuming boots-on-the-ground research.   Highlights: A review of the market and our strategy's performance in 2022 and three key learnings Why we exited Kakao, and some of the new additions to the portfolio: Salik, Vesta Risks we're monitoring—and managing: China-U.S. tensions over Taiwan and geographic expo...

The nuanced impacts of inflation to companies' balance sheets that investors might be missing.   Highlights: How inflation can present major challenges to businesses Why investors need to look more closely at maintenance capital expenditures and depreciation expenditures—e.g., Dollar General A return to accounting basics and monitoring inventory balances—e.g., Johnson & Johnson

Chief Investment Officer Paul Moroz shares takeaways from the Research team's annual post-mortem discussions.   Highlights: The cyclical—and long-term—aspect to investment learnings Why interest rake hikes were a big factor and topic of conversation "Fishtailing" and the difficulties of trying to right-size information How emotional intelligence makes for better decision making "Simplify, clarify,...

Portfolio Manager Crista Caughlin walks listeners through the tumultuous bond market experiences of 2022 and outlines three main economic scenarios the team is monitoring for 2023.   Highlights: Are reports of the 60/40 portfolio's death greatly exaggerated? 2022 recap: What happened in bond markets? How can the yield curve un-invert? Key takeaways from researching Canadian household debt levels A...

Some of the main challenges facing the continent, what we gleaned from visiting over 45 companies, and ESG considerations that are front of mind for major European investment firms. Highlights: Our thoughts on the prevailing macro concerns—e.g., inflation energy crisis "Collective corporate memory" and why the history of Europe is an important and unique context—particularly seen from a bottom-up...

A review of last quarter, the major themes and takeaways from 2022, and what's on the horizon for the new year. Highlights: How we did—and what factors impacted relative performance Why 2022 was difficult for Balanced investors Discount rates have gone up…where are valuations at? Inflation expectations, interest rates, labour markets, earnings, and economic growth—what's being monitored in 2023 As...

What investors can learn from the s-curves of technologies both old and new. Highlights How S-curves relate to TAM (total addressable market)—and what piqued our interest about them in the first place Types of S-curves Where different technologies fall into an S-curve: E.g., cars, refrigerators, landlines, TVs, Kindles, USB ports, and biologic drugs Are S-curves getting steeper?

What we think about the newly proposed tax on share buybacks in Canada, a balanced take on the energy theme, and where we've trimmed, exited, and added in the portfolio.   Highlights: Which sectors may be most affected by the buyback tax Holdings that showed strong fundamentals throughout this year's volatility—e.g., Canadian Natural Resources, Suncor, Loblaws, Dollarama, and more Canadian real es...

How do investors figure out what a company is worth? (Especially in a higher inflationary and interest rate environment?)   Highlights Why doing a qualitative assessment of each company is our first filter How we try to determine valuations without missing the actual fundamentals (e.g., Trisura and Kinsale) and why valuation is only one input in the investment decision-making process When DCF mode...

A deep dive—right to the atomic level—of how semiconductors work and the potential implications for the industry when Moore's Law comes to an end.   Highlights The transistor—a brief history What is a semiconductor? Why are they special? (Hint: atomic-level, laser precision manufacturing) HSMC, ASML, Amazon, KLA, Samsung—what the end of Moore's Law might mean for various businesses in the semicond...