The Rules of Investing

Consistency is key to successful investing. Just ask someone who invests in speculative mineral explorers – they’ll likely be able to tell you about their big winners but might be less keen to discuss their strike rate. But even getting 60 or 70 percent of your picks right is enough to produce outstanding performance. That’s one of the reasons Ben Clark from TMS Capital has done well, both on Livewire and in the High Conviction Fund that he runs. Regular Livewire viewers will recongise Ben as a regular guest on Buy Hold Sell and our annual Outlook Series. Not only did he win Livewire’s ‘Don Bradman award’ for the most consistent stock picker on Buy Hold Sell, but he also topped out the Fundies’ Picks in our 2020 Outlook Series. So with just a couple of episodes of The Rules of Investing remaining for 2021, I thought it was about time we got Ben on the show to understand what makes him tick. In this episode, we learn about his approach to investing in quality growth stocks, he shares his views on the Afterpay/Square merger, plus we discuss several Aussie stocks that he thinks have outstanding opportunities for growth. 

Guest: Nick Griffin, Chief Investment Officer, Munro Partners. The internet changed the lives of every person reading this article (and everyone who isn't for that matter) and the fortunes of almost every business in the world. Today, all the largest companies in the world are internet businesses. The biggest media company is Facebook (or shall we call it Meta?), the biggest advertising company is Google, and the biggest retailer is Amazon. 25 years ago, these companies either didn’t exist, or were mostly unknown. It might seem like the internet was a once-in-a-lifetime paradigm shift. And while it was indeed a true paradigm shift, it may not be once-in-a-lifetime. According to Nick Griffin, Chief Investment Officer at Munro Partners, there’s another paradigm shift staring us all in the face: decarbonisation. And just like the internet changed our lives and our businesses, so will decarbonisation. In this episode of The Rules of Investing podcast, he explains the size and scope of the opportunity, and shares one decarbonisation-exposed company that he believes is materially mispriced. We also learn how to avoid selling your growth stocks too early, and why he sold all the firm's positions in Chinese stocks such as Tencent and Ali Baba. Full transcript provided here. 

In the final part of this mini-series, I speak to Guy Keller, Portfolio Manager of the Tribeca Nuclear Opportunities Fund. Guy has over 20 years of experience as a commodities analyst and trading, having been Head of Asia Base Metal Trading for Macquarie Group before joining Tribeca in 2017. As the name implies, the Nuclear Opportunities Fund is focused solely on investing in companies involved in the nuclear energy industry, with a particular focus on uranium.   In this podcast, we discuss why it's taken this long for uranium prices to improve, the difficulties with bringing planned additional supply online, and he shares his top pick for the sector.   Disclosure: The host/author is a shareholder in several of the companies discussed in this episode.

In the second part of this special miniseries, I speak to Leigh Curyer, CEO of NexGen Energy. NexGen Energy is currently developing the Arrow deposit, located in the Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan in northern Canada. Arrow is one of the largest, highest grade undeveloped uranium resources in the world. NexGen has been listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange for several years, but recently gained another listing on the ASX under ticker code NXG.   In this podcast, we discuss  potential future increases in demand for uranium, why NexGen sought an ASX listing, and he provides some valuable insights into the Rook I project and the Arrow deposit.

In the first part of this special miniseries, I talk to Brandon Munro, CEO of Bannerman Energy and co-Chair of the World Nuclear Association's Nuclear Fuel Demand Working Group. Bannerman is a greenfield developer listed on the ASX under the ticker code BMN. Bannerman are currently completing a Definitive Feasability Study on their Etango-8 project, a scaled-back version of their original Etango project.   In this podcast, we discuss the background for the current bull market, how Sprott Asset Management have changed the market with their Physical Uranium Trust, and he gives us some insights into the Etango-8 project.   Disclosure: The host/author owns shares in Bannerman Resources. 

'Buying a dollar for 80 cents' is an old investing cliche that's rarely taken literally these days. In a bygone era, 'net-nets' - stocks trading below the value of their net tangible assets - were a relatively common occurrence. Some investors built their whole portfolios (or careers) around them. But finding them today is easier said than done.  When dealing with listed investment companies and listed investment trusts (LICs) though, buying a dollar for 80 cents is commonplace. In fact, according to Daryl Wilson from Affluence Funds Management, buying at a discount should be central to the strategy.   Not only is it possible to pick up assets at a discount, but "the quality of managers is tremendous," says Daryl.  In this episode of The Rules of Investing podcast, we take a deep dive into the world of LICs. We cover the basics and some common jargon, how to pick a great LIC and some common pitfalls to avoid, and Daryl shares some of his favourite LICs in the market today.  Visit Livewire Markets here for a full transcript of the interview. 

Michael Goldberg and the team at Collins St Value Fund know a thing or two about making money off unloved and out of favour stocks and sectors. Their investments in uranium and a then-unloved pharmaceutical stock (among others) have helped them outperform the ASX 200 by over 8% per annum in the 5 years to 30 June. With both of these investments having seen some outstanding returns in recent years, the obvious question is where to look next? In this episode of The Rules of Investing podcast, he addresses exactly this question. His answer is unlikely to be popular among investors, but isn’t that the point? Tune in below and you’ll also hear about the ‘superinvestors’ he’s learned the most from, and he tells us about a founder-led company with outstanding prospects for growth. 

The early 90’s was an interesting time. The internet was taking off, Australia was having the ‘recession it had to have’, and Perpetual was a hotbed of Australian investing talent. A host of great investors either started or furthered their careers at the firm around this time, with many of them later launching their own boutiques. Among them was John Sevior, who along with David Cooper, founded Airlie Funds Management in 2012. John believes the success of the firm was largely due to it being a group of like-minded people who knew the limits of their knowledge. But most of all, they always stuck to a set of simple – but not always easy – investment principles. In this episode of The Rules of Investing podcast, John explains those simple principles that have guided his investments and how they’ve evolved over the years. He also tells us how investing first piqued his interest, and we take a deep dive into two high quality, underappreciated Australia retailers.