21/03/2024 09:33

If rates have topped & property is in short supply, shouldn’t we be “all in”?

The Fed reiterated that it is expecting to cut interest rates three times in 2024, with June the most likely start of the pivot, and as we saw overnight, it is great news for risk assets. However, it might surprise some to see the Real Estate Sector struggle to keep up with its peers overnight, only advancing +0.26% compared to the S&P500, which advanced by +0.9%, and there are no obvious signs that this relative underperformance will change,  primarily because the sector has already moved 25% from its late 2023 low – it’s a very similar picture on the ASX where most names remain up in the short term, but are still well below their post-COVID highs.

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24/01/2024 09:18

How is the venture capitalist community thinking about technology?

We read an interesting piece of research published by UBS this week following their 2-day VC conference where a bunch of well-regarded firms discuss emerging enterprise technology trends, the companies that these VC firms have invested in and the impacts these trends may have on publicly traded software stocks.

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07/10/2022 09:32

Appen Ltd (APX) $2.94

We looked at Appen (APX)  in yesterday’s “The Match Out Report” after the digital marketing company broke below $3 for the first time in 5-years, after plunging almost 12% after yet another downgrade. Appen has a very select group of large customers who are cutting back on how they use their services, they have little control over this and it is a clear sign that what APX offers is peripheral rather than core. As Warren Buffet liked to say, it’s only when the tide goes out do we see who is swimming naked!

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06/10/2022 17:07

Appen (APX) $2.94

APX -11.71%: the digital marketing AI company fell below $3/sh for the first time since 2017 today following a downgrade to guidance. Just 6 weeks ago the company was talking to a stronger second half, though revenue was still expected to fall short of FY21 levels. Today, the company said conditions had failed to improve as expected and further uncertainty remains into...

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02/08/2022 17:46

Appen (APX) $4.15

APX -27.32%: The Artificial Intelligence (AI) company was whacked on the back of another major earnings downgrade with the company booking underlying EBITDA for the half of just $US8.9 million as revenue fell ~7% to $US182.9m as their core customers (Big US Tech) pull back spending on advertising-related AI projects. In short, the woes for APX...

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31/05/2022 09:01

Appen Ltd (APX) $6.30

The recent APX saga has been almost as dramatic as the stocks plunge from its 2020 high, a quick recap:

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26/05/2022 16:55

Appen (APX) $8.27

APX +29.22%: AI tech business announced a non-binding takeover offer had been put forward by Canada’s Telus International today, sending the stock soaring. The $1.7b bid at $9.50/sh is nearly a 50% premium to yesterday’s close, but it’s still not enough for Appen to give Telus a deeper looking into the books as they push for more out of the deal. Telus International was spun out of a Canadian telco Telus early last year and has already...

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02/03/2022 09:25

Flagship Growth Portfolio

The MM Growth Portfolio was up  +1.4% last week while the market fell -0.4% inclusive of dividends, performance was aided by strong moves in HUB24 (HUB) +13.9%, Whitehaven Coal (WHC) +12% and Altium (ALU) +6.2% while the major performance drags were Appen (APX) -23.2% and Virgin Money (VUK) -8.6%. For the month of February the portfolio was up +2.10%, largely inline with the market. Interestingly enough, Aussie stocks...

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25/02/2022 09:07

Appen Ltd (APX) $6.11

The APX share price was savaged yesterday after their result was a miss and management confirmed low visibility on near term earnings, although they offset that by putting big longer term targets out to the market,  considering their ability to forecast earnings over the last few years that doesn’t bring with it any confidence and even if they prove correct it’s going to require...

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24/02/2022 17:39

Appen (APX) $6.11

APX -28.70%: This has been a polarising stock in recent times with some analysts forecasting downgrades while others doubled down and increased their conviction on the buy side, today the stock fell ~30%  after missing FY21 earnings expectations and pulling FY22 guidance, in favour of longer term revenue targets which were big, a lot bigger than anyone in the market expected, however FY26...

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