This week the TAMIM Small Cap team take a look at where they are currently seeing value in the Australian market. Summary The market moves in cycles which are often extreme. We are currently experiencing a market which appears almost exclusively focused upon momentum rather than value, quality or traditional fundamentals. Should investors give up on fundamental value investing strategies and follow the markets’ momentum focused lead? Or is it time to stand strong with a disciplined value investing strategy and think long term? Far From The Madding Crowd “Even the intelligent investor is likely to need considerable willpower to keep from following the crowd” - Benjamin Graham As regular readers of our articles will know, we find the behavioral biases evident across financial markets both fascinating and enlightening, and we seek to learn how these biases tend to recur so our investors can profit from them over the long term. One glaring behavioral theme in financial markets today is the overwhelming prevalence of momentum investing – investors are chasing stocks which have gone up a lot which forces these stocks to go up even further, and of course vice versa. We were discussing investing with a few competitors recently and one of them disclosed that the main investment input he looks at these days is a company’s stock price chart – he will only buy stocks trading at or near their 12 month high, and will aggressively sell any stock which starts trading meaningfully below its 12 month high. The interesting point here is that our competitor’s way of thinking has been consensual market thinking for quite some time now. And as a result, stocks have generally either been going up or down, and the extremities have been unusually extreme in both directions. As shown in the charts below, this has led to a situation whereby most ASX listed sectors are now trading at or above their long term valuation averages. However, in our opinion this is misleading. If you dig a little deeper it becomes clear that only a relatively small portion of the ASX listed universe has actually been pushed to extremely high valuations, which has in turn brought up the market and sector average valuations. It is almost as if we have two completely different markets emerging. In our opinion it is becoming increasingly redundant to focus upon the broader market averages as a result. The Value Opportunity “Investors should purchase stocks like they purchase groceries, not like they purchase perfume” - Benjamin Graham Amidst the market’s momentum obsession in recent years, unusually attractive value opportunities have emerged, particularly at the under-the-radar smaller companies end of the market, where momentum is generally even more binary that amongst the large caps – the market has either been interested or it hasn’t. As the chart below shows, the valuation spread between the most expensive quartile of the market (trading at c. 27x forward earnings) and the cheapest quartile of the market (trading at c. 13x forward earnings) is at a long term high for the same reason: As the famous expression goes, the more things change the more things stay the same. Markets will always be driven by the same basic human emotions of fear and greed, and thus market history will always repeat despite market “experts” saying those dangerous words, “but it is different this time”. With this in mind it is worth reminding ourselves of the long term study conducted by Fama & French into value and growth: Fama-French Annualised Returns 1926-2015 Using very very long term data which shows through the cycle returns, value investing at the micro-cap end of the market has been consistently shown to generate significantly higher returns than any other strategy, and particularly versus micro-cap growth stocks. In our opinion, the reasons for this are powerful and recurring in nature:
These drivers will always remain and thus we expect similar numbers in the next 90 years as Fama and French have uncovered for the previous 90 years. Micro-Cap Value – Current Stand-Out Opportunities The TAMIM Australian Equity Small Cap IMA is invested in a portfolio of the type of under-valued, high quality micro-cap opportunities referred to in the Fama & French micro-cap value data. We expect significant long term upside in our portfolio as a result. Some of the companies in the portfolio are currently trading at unusually attractive valuations for the reasons mentioned in this article. For example:
In our experience, opportunities this extreme are usually short term in nature – if the market doesn’t move quickly to resolve these valuation anomalies, these companies are likely to be acquired. Out Of Favour = Opportunity: Hold Strong For The Long Term “The key to making money in stocks is not to get scared out of them” - Peter Lynch So we have identified that there are some great opportunities at the micro-cap value end of the market at present. Shorter term investors may be grappling with the lack of momentum in these stocks but for long term investors like us, these opportunities are truly exciting. The key to creating long term wealth in this sector is to relax and remember you are invested for the long term. Hold strong for the big gains. Conclusion
Disciplined value investing appears to offer a significant opportunity for steady handed, long term investors at present. As the herd continues to invest where the momentum is, which is generally in highly valued stocks with high expectations, we are focusing upon the under-the-radar quiet achievers where the upside is significant. The tide will turn, and when it does we believe micro-cap value will resume its long term relative out performance.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Markets & CommentaryAt TAMIM we are committed to educating investors on how best to manage their retirement futures. Sign up to receive our weekly newsletter:
TAMIM Asset Management provides general information to help you understand our investment approach. Any financial information we provide is not advice, has not considered your personal circumstances and may not be suitable for you.
Archives
April 2024
Categories
All
|