Management team changes can be typically disruptive for companies, often because it may further compound the already challenging position that led to the original need for change in the first place.
When one of the companies in our investment universe undergoes a change, we prefer to take a conservative approach and wait on the sidelines for compelling evidence that the new management team is truly a force for good.
Agilent Technologies is a life sciences company that provide a range of analytical instruments involved primarily in quality control and assurance of the lab. Its expertise largely sits in the highly specialised field of liquid/gas chromatography and mass spectrometry instruments. This underpins the company's comprehensive and growing services, consumables, and informatics piece.
As the pandemic accelerates the shift to online shopping, investors have favoured those retailers with superior e-commerce capabilities as the winners in a post-pandemic world. However, we can still continue to see long-term growth opportunities for some bricks and mortar retailers with differentiated and proven business models. And for us, Ross Stores is a clear example.
I once worked with a risk manager who was a talented, amateur golfer. Having just won the local club tournament – victorious and enjoying a complimentary meal in the clubhouse – his moment was snatched by a chicken finger sandwich. Fortunately, a successful Heimlich manoeuvre dislodged the offending morsel from the red-faced, risk manager’s windpipe. Alas, the moniker “The Choker” stuck.
Acommon debate amongst investors is how many investments are required in an equity portfolio to provide adequate diversification, where the key objective of diversification is to reduce portfolio risk?
