Articles tagged as "investment philosophy"
Putting heads in beds: Checking in on the hospitality sector
It has been said that travel is the only thing that one buys that makes you richer. Consumers seem to agree with this sentiment, evidenced by an increasing...
Unveiling the layers of executive remuneration in mining companies
As active managers who seek to understand businesses, we take a keen interest in how companies are governed and the impact they have on society.
An offshore solution for the more cautious investor: introducing Orbis Global Cautious
We are pleased to introduce the Orbis SICAV Global Cautious Fund, which, as Nshalati Hlungwane discusses, meets the needs of more conservative investors...
Back to the future: Why studios are betting on the box office
While many continue to doubt the viability of theatrical exhibition, viewing it as another legacy business that will crumble before the rising tide of...
Navigating investment challenges: The interplay between skill and luck
Decision strategist and best-selling author Annie Duke advises focusing on a good process when trying to make the best decisions in highly uncertain scenario...
The power of perspective in an election year
Many local investors are understandably worried about what the future holds and how the election may affect their wealth. Keeping perspective throughout your...
Time: The greatest gift of all
Our advertising has always been, and continues to be focused on informing our clients and prospective clients about who we are, our investment philosophy,...
Looking to the long term
Turning 50 is an incredible milestone for any business. Over the last five decades, South Africa has experienced immense political, economic and societal...
2023 Q3 Comments from our chair
Daimler-Benz introduced the Mercedes-Benz S-Class to South Africa in 1973 – the same year that an ambitious 35-year-old with a Harvard MBA and eight years of...
The value of time
In our 50 years of existence, we have grown from a little-known brand to one of South Africa’s most recognisable investment managers, servicing a wide cross...
Personal reflections on what makes a great asset manager over the long term
Given that we are in our 50th year of existence, Duncan Artus, who has been working at Allan Gray for over 22 years, reflects on what he believes makes a gre...
Investment lessons from the Springboks
With the Springboks having successfully kicked off their Rugby World Cup title defence campaign in France, Braam Visser draws some interesting parallels...
The equity core that powers our business
As we celebrate our 50th anniversary this year, we naturally reflect on the history of the firm and the important milestones we reached along the way. Nick...
The power of 1%
As we celebrate our 50 th anniversary, we are mindful of the collective efforts of teams, past and present, in building our long-term track record....
Regime change and the rise of the stockpicker
Alec Cutler chats to Bloomberg’s Merryn Somerset Webb about the impact of central bank and government intervention, the future of inflation and why being a...
AB InBev: The king of beer
The market has several concerns about brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev which are currently weighing on its share price. We believe the company’s fundamentals are...
The evolving role of balanced funds
Tamryn Lamb looks at the important role balanced funds have played in your portfolio over time, the returns they have generated and the variability of these...
The importance of alignment
We believe that the price you pay an investment manager for managing your money should be aligned with the value they create for you over the long term. Sale...
What has gone wrong with Naspers?
For many years, Naspers was the star performer of the South African stock market. The onset of COVID-19 drove the Naspers and Tencent share prices to new...
Is there value in our investment style?
Understanding your investment manager’s style may give you a deeper appreciation of how they will perform in different circumstances, and therefore help you...
How to apply “cathedral thinking” in your investment approach
The prolonged stress of the pandemic has heightened many investors’ focus on the now, interfering with the ability to make sound decisions that improve the...
Orbis: President’s letter 2021
In his inaugural president’s letter, Adam Karr, from our offshore partner, Orbis, shares some thoughts about himself, the path forward for Orbis, the market...
It’s the price you pay that matters
As investors we shouldn’t pretend we operate in a vacuum that is nicely insulated from the prevailing macroeconomic and political trends. However, it is...
Our take on the “shrinking” JSE
Several high-profile delistings over the recent past have spurred market commentators to discuss the JSE’s “slow death” in the context of a struggling local...
How we approach fixed interest
Aside from our dedicated local fixed interest funds, being the Allan Gray Money Market Fund and the Allan Gray Bond Fund, we also invest in fixed interest...
Orbis: The case for the not so boring middle
The past few quarters have seen a shift in market leadership, with technology stocks giving up ground to other, more cyclical sectors, prompting many to ask:...
Orbis: Crypto – currency or collectible?
It is widely accepted that distributed ledger technology, such as blockchain, has enormous potential. Like many new technologies it could be truly...
Beyond the froth: Orbis’ contrarian case for Comcast
Like finding a really good coffee, finding a good long-term investment opportunity is not always easy. A coffee that looks delicious may taste foul, and ther...
Orbis: Are there real long-term opportunities in the US?
With just 30% of assets invested in US shares versus 66% for the MSCI World Index, the Orbis Global Equity Fund’s current underweight to the US market is the...
Investment lessons from a pandemic year
A year on from our stringent Level 5 lockdown, much of 2020 seems surreal. While there are many aspects we may prefer to forget, reflection reveals valuable...
Woolworths: Not so down under
Most of you will be more than familiar with the fashion, beauty, home and food offering of retailer Woolworths, affectionately referred to as Woolies, and on...
Equity Fund: Fishing in muddy waters
In his 1986 letter to shareholders, Warren Buffett famously spoke of being fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.
Podcast: A candid conversation with Orbis' Adam Karr
Taking a long-term, contrarian approach has influenced every aspect of how we invest and do business at Orbis and Allan Gray. From the way the firms are...
The benefits of neglect
When investors are scarce and investments are plentiful, investors pay low prices and investments offer high returns. When investors are plentiful and...
Orbis: Harder to get into than Harvard
If 2020 was an emotional roller coaster, the first month of 2021 provided a peek inside the darker corners of the funhouse. We remain hopeful that more...
Orbis: President's letter 2020
In his annual president's letter, William Gray, from our offshore partner, Orbis, reflects on a difficult year and reaffirms his conviction in the team's...
Understanding investment accounts
Making sure that you choose appropriate investment accounts for your various financial goals is an essential part of the investing process. In the third of s...
Orbis: The power of perspective
It is easy to get caught up in the noise of short-term events like politics. What we have learned over the past 30 years is that a long-term view often revea...
Choosing an investment manager
South African investors have access to a wide range of investment managers with different styles and areas of expertise. Narrowing down your options can be a...
Orbis: Finding an edge in tech
The future of society and technology requires ever-increasing connectivity, data speeds, and computational power, and those improvements depend on ever more...
Is your trust in your investment manager well placed?
It has been a volatile six months in the markets, following a five-year period of disappointing equity returns. At times like these, it is understandable for...
The Stable Fund at 20
With an allocation to assets such as equities being key to long-term growth, even for more conservative investors, we believe the Allan Gray Stable Fund...
Prospects look promising
Disappointing short-term performance has had a dampening effect on longer-term numbers. Looking at similar periods in our history provides useful context and...
Do fundamentals still matter?
There is an increasingly wide disconnect between the economic reality on the ground and the valuations reflected in some asset classes globally, begging the...
Allan Gray Stable Fund turns 20
Over the last two decades, the Allan Gray Stable Fund has built a solid track record through dynamic asset allocation, bottom-up stock-picking and mindful ri...
The uncertainty spectrum
Wildfires in Australia, mass protests in the US, a global pandemic. These are just some of the events that have roiled markets this year, leaving investors...
Orbis: Our job is to be uncomfortable
Our job at Allan Gray and Orbis is to be uncomfortable and to sweat our clients’ capital. Ultimately what we focus on is the risk of capital loss - and that...
Equity Fund update: Investing amid extreme price moves
The second quarter of 2020 saw further extreme moves in equities. An intraday price move of 20% is a rare event, especially for a large company. In the month...
Orbis: Keeping a clear head during the COVID chaos
2020 has proven to be a year of many firsts, for all the wrong reasons, resulting in much uncertainty. Presenting to clients via Zoom webinar, Alec Cutler,...
Orbis: The importance of preparation
In this six-minute video, Orbis' president and head of the investment team, William Gray, discusses the impact of COVID-19 on the firm and the importance of...
Orbis: Lesson from the past
In this seven-minute video, Orbis portfolio manager, Adam Karr, draws on lessons learned in previous market crises to discuss the current environment and som...
Will growth stocks beat value stocks forever?
Markets move up and down and investment styles move in and out of favour. With value investing being on the wrong side of the trend for around 12 years,...
Orbis: Turn away from the noise and look to the long term
Much has been written about the emotional cycle of fear and greed in investing. Both panic and excessive optimism can create extraordinary opportunities for...
Orbis: Performance and positioning during COVID-19
There has been little else to talk about as COVID-19 dominates world headlines. Globally, everyone is trying to evaluate the real impact the pandemic will ha...
Orbis: Well positioned for the challenges that lie ahead
In his annual president’s letter, William Gray, from our offshore partner, Orbis, pays tribute to his father and reviews Orbis’ performance and prospects.
Allan's legacy: Investment thinking
Our founder, Allan Gray, developed the distinctive investment philosophy that has been in place since Allan Gray and Orbis were founded. He also had an...
In pursuit of undervalued assets
The South African equity market returned 12% in 2019, after being saved at the death by December’s 3.3% return. However, this pales in comparison to the 28%...
Obituary: Saying goodbye to our founder
It is with deep sadness that we share the news of the death of Allan William Buchanan Gray. He died of natural causes on 10 November 2019 in Bermuda, where h...
Is the US headed for a market meltdown?
As the S&P 500 and Nasdaq seem set to continue to record new highs, some market analysts believe that the current raging US bull market may be in for a nasty...
Two decades for the Allan Gray Balanced Fund
The Allan Gray Balanced Fund celebrated its 20-year anniversary on 1 October 2019. The local industry looks vastly different today to how it looked two decad...
Orbis: Contrarian investing in an unconventional environment
Orbis has been going through a period of painful underperformance. Jonathan Brodie reminds investors what Orbis is trying to achieve, examines performance ov...
Are you comfortable swimming against the tide?
Allan Gray and our offshore partner, Orbis, describe our shared investment approach as “contrarian”. “Contrarian” is usually defined as “opposing or rejectin...
Orbis: Is value investing dead?
Over multiple decades, the traditional value approach of buying cheap stocks has worked remarkably well. Over the last decade, it hasn’t, leading an...
Mindful of risk
Uncertain times may cause investors to shy away from risk. While it is important to be mindful of risk and understand the risks you are taking on when...
Will Value ever be fashionable again?
Fashion trends tend to move in cycles. Anyone who lived through the 1990s and kept wearing their Doc Martens and bright neon colours would have spent 25 year...
Orbis: There are bigger risks than swimming against the tide
We have always described ourselves as “contrarian” investors. While many of our best investment decisions on behalf of clients in the past have been at odds...
Orbis: enthusiasm for the portfolio
Contrarian investing is a strange profession. When things are going well, you can look like a magician – earning extraordinary returns while others flounder....
Capital: Can companies have too much of a good thing?
In the centre of London, there is a market whose history stretches back to the first century. Built on the site of a Roman forum, Leadenhall was once the...
Stable Fund: Are we meeting our objectives?
The investment environment over the last few years has been particularly challenging, causing the Stable Fund’s return to be more volatile than it has been...
Orbis: Hunting for value
Buying cheap stocks and selling them for a profit sounds like a reasonable way to make money. But there’s a bit more to it when it comes to the way we invest...
Orbis: Think like a business owner
Say you own a small stake in a company. Every day, one of your partners tells you what he thinks the business is worth, and he offers to buy your stake or se...
How to select your asset manager
Past performance is often the first, and sometimes only, consideration investors make when selecting an investment manager. However, performance is just one ...
Ride out volatility and maximise returns
Market fluctuations are an expected and necessary part of investing. While market volatility often presents good opportunities for value investors like Allan...
How to spot investment red flags
South Africa has been rocked by a series of corporate scandals in recent years that have sent the share prices of former blue-chip companies like Steinhoff a...
How Allan Gray values a stock
Allan Gray is a strong proponent of value investing, the mantra famously championed by Warren Buffet. Put simply, value investing is the concept of buying...
Cloudy crystal ball
Two years ago, our crystal ball was cloudy. Shares and commodity prices suffered a rout in early 2016, and markets were concerned that economies around the...
Structural challenges to business models
At the core of our investment philosophy we look for companies we believe are priced below our estimate of their true worth and sell them when they reach fai...
Are you overly exposed to China?
As South African investors we are very tuned into the local political and economic risks that we face. But what about the less obvious risks?
How to be a responsible investor
Responsible investing has become a front-page issue in the last year as companies, investors and asset managers have had to respond to a number of ethical an...
Orbis Global Equity: Investing differently
Over the last five years, the median global equity manager has underperformed the MSCI World Index and many value-oriented global equity managers have done...
Long-term investing should have nothing to fear from the Viceroys
Activist short sellers have been a prominent feature in stock markets for many years. It’s easy to get caught up in the hype when their ideas hit the news....
Demystifying Africa’s debt markets
Investors seeking diversification outside of South Africa can easily overlook the investment opportunities in other African markets. It is tempting to start ...
Q&A: Orbis Global Equity Fund
What are the names of the managers of the Orbis Global Equity Fund and where are they based...
Investment lessons from 2017: be patient and trust your analysis
Separating oneself from the noise is tricky. There is an enormous amount of information out there; you can listen to experts on television, read newspapers,...
How has your investment been impacted by the fall in the price of Steinhoff?
Global retailer Steinhoff International Holdings NV’s share price had fallen 86.9% by close of trade on Friday 8 December, following CEO Markus Jooste’s...
Will traditional car manufacturers be driven off the road by their electric counterparts?
Investors in general are pessimistic about the autos sector. They are worried about earnings declines and the growth of electric cars, produced by the likes ...
Woolworths: Value investing in action
It can be difficult for investors to choose an investment manager when many of us seem to sound and look the same. Using Woolworths as an example, Andrew...
The benefits of being counter-cyclical in a cyclical world
“Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.” – Niels Bohr. In cyclical industries, understanding where we are in the cycle and acting...
Emerging market equities: looking beyond the mega-caps
Our offshore partner Orbis launched an Emerging Markets Equity Strategy in January 2016. Later that year it broadened the mandate of its Asia ex-Japan Equity...
The value of bitcoin
The total market value of all bitcoins is US$80bn, which is more than the value of Richemont and triple the value of Anglo American. It is the topic on which...
Orbis: Tech can be contrarian - if the price is right
We are contrarian investors, and technology shares are often popular. Given that, you might expect us to shun them. At times, we have: when tech stocks trade...
How to be a discerning investor
Negative sentiment and lower expectations for future growth are sending investors scurrying...
SNAPSHOT: Allan Gray Equity Fund
The Allan Gray Equity Fund is for investors who are looking to create long-term wealth by investing in shares: historically equities have been the best way t...
An investment case for Life Healthcare
Recent news about private hospital operator Life Healthcare’s international investments has created negative sentiment about the company’s ability to allocat...
Global perspective: Do value shares deserve to be this cheap?
The Orbis Global Balanced Fund aims to balance capital appreciation and income generation with the associated risk of its investments. These objectives...
What to focus on when choosing shares and other assets
How do you distinguish a good investment from a lemon? And how do you create a well-diversified portfolio? Listen to this 15-minute interview on PowerFM...
Orbis: We welcome the rise of passive investing
The Wall Street Journal ran a series this month commemorating the rise of passive investing. The articles make ‘the case for the triumph of passive’, calling...
How to select an investment manager
Focusing on past performance is often the first and only port of call for investors when trying to differentiate between investment managers. But there is no...
Orbis: Not just looking for cheap stocks
Our investment approach, which we share with our offshore partner Orbis, is sometimes characterised as ‘looking for cheap stocks’. Jeremie Teboul from Orbis...
Pursuing long-term returns without simply reaching for risk
Ben Preston and Maurits Ovaa explain why Orbis believes minimising losses is arguably more important than maximising gains at a time when many stock markets ...
Nuanced numbers and valuation pitfalls
We pick shares for client portfolios following a rigorous, bottom-up, fundamental research process. This involves, among many other considerations, the caref...
Investing tutorial: Our approach to value investing
Our investment philosophy and process is so much part of our DNA that we forget not all clients are familiar with what we actually do and how we make our...
XPO Logistics: Diversification through owning both shares and bonds
Forming contrarian views about the intrinsic value of companies is the core of what we do. In the Orbis Global Balanced Fund, this fundamental company resear...
Restructurings as a source of excess returns
We are always on the lookout for opportunities offered by the potential restructuring of companies. They can often generate attractive returns with a...
Managing portfolios in times of uncertainty
My inbox is filling up with commentary about the impact of Brexit. Some of the commentary is of debatable long-term value and with news of this nature it tak...
Commodities: Opportunity or risk?
We are ‘bottom-up’ investors who pay more attention to valuations than to macroeconomic forecasts. We do extensive research to calculate what we believe is...
Playing a loser's game
The loser’s game isn’t especially fun to play, but it is a winning strategy for those who have the discipline and the patience for it. William Gray, from our...
Annual report from the outgoing Chief Investment Officer
Adapted from the Chief Investment Officer’s comments, which will appear in the Allan Gray Unit Trust Annual Report, 2015. These are Ian Liddle’s final Annual...
Orbis: Buying carefully in indiscriminate selloffs
Periods of short-term underperformance are a price we must pay for seeking superior long-term returns. The third quarter certainly qualified as one of those...
Asset allocation: Top down, or bottom up?
Within a multi-asset class balanced portfolio , there are different ways to manage the asset allocation. Some managers prefer to follow a ‘top-down’ strategy...
Contrarian investing and different performance
The valuation-based approach to investing used by Allan Gray and our offshore partner Orbis is often contrarian since the shares that are most attractively...
Commitment counts
There will always be ups and downs in the markets as much as in life. To deliver great long-term investment performance we believe a fund manager needs to...
Valuation dispersion and opportunities to beat the market in Australia
Cyclicality and dispersion in valuations can create great opportunities to buy shares at very attractive prices in companies that are out of favour with the...
What is a PE ratio?
Central to our investment philosophy at Allan Gray is buying shares that the market has priced below what we believe they are worth. We then sell these share...
The case for active management
It is popular these days to talk about how difficult the past several years have been for active managers. In a sense, however, active management is always...
Orbis Global Equity: Guided by our investment philosophy
This piece was originally published in the Orbis March 2015 Quarterly Manager's Report. Over the 25-year history of Orbis' Global Equity Fund, the underlying...
Orbis funds: Finding the best long-term value for clients
The Orbis Global Equity Fund will mark its 25th year at the end of December. In that time, Orbis has provided access to the same fundamental, contrarian,...
How 'active' is your manager?
Regular readers of our commentaries will know that we follow a valuation-based investment philosophy. At the same time, we are not afraid of investing contra...
Understand your Stable Fund investment
We have written on many occasions about the role investors play in their investment success. Key to this is understanding your fund's risk profile and...
Hunting for compelling opportunities in the current environment
2013 was a good year for global stock markets. The FTSE World Index returned 24.7% in US$ terms since the start of 2013 and is near an all-time high. The Orb...
Distraction is the enemy
In an always-on, connected world, distractions are around all the time. We have well over a hundred television channels available 24 hours a day, seven days ...
Orbis Global Equity Fund: A reversal of fortunes
After a prolonged period of relative underperformance, since January this year the Orbis Global Equity Fund has meaningfully outpaced its benchmark in US...
Standard Bank: Has anything changed?
Standard Bank is a Top Five holding in the Allan Gray Equity and Balanced Funds. Mark Dunley-Owen discusses why we believe it is an attractive investment for...
How to select the right investment manager
It is challenging for investors and their advisers to differentiate between investment managers in an ever-changing landscape. When assessing who is best...
Not the time to relax risk appetite
In his 1988 annual letter to shareholders, Warren Buffett wrote: ‘We have no idea how long the excesses will last, nor do we know what will change the...
Drilling into the detail of oil and gas investments
At first glance, the Orbis Global Equity Fund's exposure to Oil & Gas; Gas stocks appears to be similar to that of its benchmark. At December 2012, about 9% ...
The nature of contrarian investing
The average investor cannot avoid being bullish at market tops and bearish at bottoms. This produces periods of speculation and panic within the normal up an...
Message from our Top 10 equity holdings
Investors frequently ask us whether or not our choice of shares reveals a particular theme or ‘story’. Investors are also curious as to how we alter our...
A healthy approach
Broadly speaking, one could think about building a portfolio in two key ways. Investors with a 'top-down' approach start with a wide view of the world and ma...
Responsible Investing 2012
The Code for Responsible Investing in South Africa ('CRISA') was introduced in 2011 as an industry-wide initiative. Allan Gray supports CRISA's principles an...
Investing: a history of bubbles
'Invest in stocks? Forget about it.' - USA Today headline, 8 May 2012. As contrarian investors, we cannot help but take notice when one of the most widely re...
Tobacco economics
Most industries have a single factor that helps investors to understand them better. Unfortunately for investors looking for easy wins, it does not necessari...
Things you can control, and things you cannot
In this current very uncertain world, we cannot begin to control or predict political or economic outcomes. But we can control what shares we buy and we are...
It is the price you pay that counts, not the headlines
People enjoy stories; they are fun. This is true in all facets of life, including investing. Investors often have stories to tell about individual equities,...
An era of high global earnings
Company profits are currently at historic highs, but we do not know with any certainty where they are headed. Although it is entirely possible for global and...
What we know for sure
At Allan Gray we prefer not to opine over reasons for short-term movements in stock markets and share prices and we shy away from predicting changes in the...
The risk that matters
Discussions about investing are incomplete without including the topic of risk. Delphine Govender elaborates, focusing on the most important risk in investin...
The long-term outlook for the South African bond market
As a bond investor you need to ask yourself two questions: are your inflation expectations reasonable, and will the potential real return be sufficient? Andr...
Responding to challenging times
Performance does not come in a straight line, which means that periods of long-term outperformance will always be accompanied by periods of, sometimes...
When is bad news good news?
As contrarian investors we are always on the lookout for shares that we can buy at a significantly lower price than we believe they are worth. Thus, with ban...
Happy equilibrium
Duncan Artus discusses the implications of the growth in the local asset management industry being focused on asset managers who variously describe their...
You win some...
Building and managing a portfolio of investments inevitably includes shares that will prove to be winners but also those that will fail to deliver on their...
The story is in the stocks
Investors who give their money to professional managers to invest still wish to remain informed about what their managers are thinking and how therefore they...
Tough to be different
In the Q2 Quarterly Commentary, Jonathan Brodie and Trevor Black of Orbis discussed the fact that long-term outperformance requires a partnership between the...
