magazine archive
magazine archive
Feature
Diversification is key to the streaming service’s success in 2024 and beyond
Thursday 18 Jan 2024Media company Spotify Technology (NYSE:SPOT) primarily generates cash from streaming music to listeners digitally, and judging by its third-quarter results, where total revenue grew 11% on the previous year to $3.4 billion, business is good for the Swedish-based firm. Subscribers and non-...
How fund managers plan to respond to the artificial intelligence theme in 2024
Thursday 18 Jan 2024There is no question the dominant theme in stock markets last year was AI (artificial intelligence), in particular generative AI. In an interview with Time magazine last June, Sam Altman – the former chief executive of OpenAI, whose ChatGPT product has been at the forefront of the AI trend – said...
Beyond Buffett: How is Berkshire Hathaway approaching the succession and does the great man have one last big deal in him?
Thursday 18 Jan 2024An investor blessed with Nostradamus-like predictive powers who put money to work with Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B:NYSE) in 1964 and held the shares until 2022 would have enjoyed a gargantuan overall gain of 3,787,464% in terms of per share market value, leaving the stellar 24,708% return from the S...
Should investors be concerned by Fundsmith Equity's five year underperformance?
Thursday 18 Jan 2024Terry Smith delivered disappointing news last week (9 January) after he revealed his flagship equity fund Fundsmith Equity Fund (B41YBW7) had underperformed the MSCI World Index for a third successive year. Moreover, the fund’s cumulative total return now lags the global benchmark over five years...
Which stocks are fund managers most excited about this year?
Thursday 11 Jan 2024In this third part of our investor survey, we asked some of the UK’s leading fund managers which sectors or stocks they thought were the most promising for 2024. The responses were as varied as they were thought-provoking, with only a couple of managers singling out technology stocks. As before we...
Can the ‘Magnificent Seven’ ride higher again? The 2024 prospects for Meta, Apple, Alphabet, Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon and Tesla
Thursday 11 Jan 2024Mega-cap tech stocks drove the bulk of US stock market gains in 2023, but can the so-called ‘Magnificent Seven’ repeat the trick in 2024? While the odds seem stacked against a re-run of last year’s blistering capital returns over the next 12 months, Shares believes that the ‘Magnificent Seven’ will...
Return from our 2023 share picks is more than four times that of the UK market
Thursday 21 Dec 2023Our 2023 picks have smashed it - achieving an average return excluding dividends of 20.6%, more than four times the return of the FTSE All-Share and better even than the MSCI World which is up 17.9% this year. This is all the more satisfying as the MSCI World index has been powered by the US...
The best and worst emerging markets in 2023
Thursday 21 Dec 2023Overall, it has been a mixed year for emerging markets - with the heavy weighting for a lacklustre Chinese market seeing the MSCI Emerging Markets index creeping just 1.8% higher as we write against a 17.4% advance for the MSCI World developed markets index (both in dollar terms). However, within...
Can electricals leader Currys deliver some turnaround spark?
Thursday 21 Dec 2023While the present-day incarnation of Currys (CURY) is a technology products specialist selling everything from whizzy gadgets to white goods, the retailer’s origins can be traced back to 1884 when one Henry Curry founded the Curry Cycle Co bicycle-building business. In 1984, Dixons Retail...
Discover the stocks the professionals changed their minds on in 2023
Thursday 21 Dec 2023For the second part of our annual survey, we asked fund managers if they had changed their view on any stocks this year, for better or for worse, and what lay behind their decisions. As with the winners and losers survey last week, the answers were often frank and once again we would like to thank...