small caps

One of the more impressive funds that The Inside Network has come across in recent years is the PineBridge Asia ex Japan Small Cap Equity Fund, which taps into the “long tail” of Asian exposure – the region’s small caps.  Of course, what is a “small-cap” is in the eye of the beholder: PineBridge defines…

In a recent podcast, Aidan Farrell, Director of Global Small Cap Equities at Eaton Vance discusses investment opportunities presented by the global small-cap sector for Australian investors. He highlights: The MSCI World Small Cap Index captures small cap representation across 23 Developed Markets countries. With 4,203 constituents, the index covers approximately 14% of the free…

Chris Cuffe first let the industry know, in 2015, what his 10 biggest lessons from years at the top in funds management were. He revisited and updated the list in September 2019 and has now done so once again. But the original list is probably timeless. He also added a few extra tips last week,…

It seems to be a rite of passage these days, investment bankers heading out on their own to start asset management businesses. Times are good. So good that the Australian market is flooded with boutique investment managers ranging from global equity to small cap strategies seeking to build their careers and profitable businesses at the…

Four years ago, old high-school buddies Nicholas Quinn and Jesse Moors were taking in the sunshine at a café on Melbourne’s Southbank, when they decided to take their mutual interest in stock market investment to the next level. Quinn, a former PwC global tax specialist, and Moors, formerly a business development manager at CPA Australia,…

More than a sport, a financial mismatch There is an awkward, yet in many ways predictable, relationship between investors and the providers of investments. An old-fashioned assessment of demand and supply can be helpful. If equity market exuberance is high, any listing attracts the heat of attention and can be sold to eager investors hoping…

It’s been a while since “value investing” made sense: the style has suffered a dreadful stretch of performance since the 2008 financial crisis. The ‘Warren Buffett’ mantra of buying low (cheap) and selling high has seen value-oriented managers underperform the market year after year. But that’s not to say value investing is dead, it’s just…

Generalising is a dark art. The moment one observes an apparent pattern, idiosyncratic data jumps out. Judging small-cap managers falls into this trap. Firstly, to the organisation. Those that are entirely dedicated to this sector can do well, yet are interspersed are some big shops with banal marketing that challenge this assumption. Boutique is not…

Following the March equity market correction due to the COVID-19 pandemic, global equity markets rebounded sharply in April, with the small cap sector outperforming. Although the short-term outlook remains uncertain, the market recovery was spurred on by several factors. Many companies were deeply oversold, with valuations having fallen significantly. Governments and central banks have responded…

The COVID-19 global pandemic is unfolding quite differently to all other major market events seen through history. Governments globally are facing a delicate balancing act between trying to minimise the health impact of the virus, whilst managing the severe disruption to their economies. The sudden and sharp shock facing the global economy appears without precedence.