Manchester & London Inve... Share Discussion Threads

[takeiteasy] 11/11/2023 07:35

I spoke to my IFA about this fund yesterday (I am ex/o) and it simply is not known about it seems.

And some investment managers do not get AI at all - oh my days and wow he may live to regret this comment :)

"The performance of US technology stocks linked to artificial intelligence (AI) has dominated the headlines this year, this is mostly due to a temporary resumption of quantitative easing in the US and is not a long-term trend".
www.trustnet.com/news/13396263/fidelity-special-values-wright-ai-enthusiasm-is-based-on-a-narrative

Still a little surprised by the very low volume again yesterday given the movements in the underlying holdings.

dyor etc

AI seems to be getting absolutey everywhere.. e.g.
www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-67365823.amp

[takeiteasy] 10/11/2023 07:05

We seem to be making little to no headway over reducing the discount, despite our managers boldly buying again and again - they are doing all they can I suspect.

The short term performance comparison makes this even more stark when compared to the rivals in the global IT sector (YTD performance vs discount % to NAV)

MNL 49.6% vs 20%
Martin Currie Global portfolio 13.9% vs 0%
Brunner 4,3% vs. 8%
Witan 3.9% vs. 8%
SMT 1.58% vs 14%

Short term performance measures are not any indication of longer term performance of course - so most can happily disregard all this - but it perhaps is going to take some time for the "crowd" to think that this short term AI thematic uplift/blip may continue into the future - the doubters seem very much in control at the moment...if (and it is always a big if) we can sustain this performance over time the market may look at us differently and may reward a consistent alpha with a much lower discount?

dyor and no advice intended of course...

[takeiteasy] 09/11/2023 04:42

hxxps://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/heres-why-magnificent-seven-stock-microsoft-is-a-market-leader/ar-AA1jBJS1
dyor etc

[takeiteasy] 08/11/2023 16:19

NAV is 579 a high for the year and up 7.4% over the week so the folks all selling today at 440 were done at a near 25% discount - the joys of weekly pricing :)

From looking at recent accounts it appears the change to "hard tech" and cloud/AI took place over the past 12 months so it is interesting to see over the short term how this approach is paying off performance wise against other tech approaches - MNL is just about neck and neck with the LG global tech tracker (on total return basis as we pay dividends), but this is a very short term measure and we need to allow the firm a chance to let performance comparisons develop over much longer time periods I suspect....

This seems a fairer comparison that nasdaq composite (up 30% 2023 YTD)...wonder how anyone else views this?

dyor etc

[takeiteasy] 07/11/2023 22:13

At an event in San Francisco on Monday, Microsoft’s strategic AI partner, OpenAI, announced a slew of updates, including price cuts and plans to allow people to make custom versions of the ChatGPT chatbot. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was on hand for the affair, and he emphasized that developers building applications with OpenAI’s tools could get to market quickly by deploying their software on Microsoft’s Azure cloud infrastructure.

As quiet as a church mouse in the trading of our IT shares.

Our fact sheet out today suggests the buyers of this trust may not return until 2 year bond rate falls down - well I am sure they know better. Although there is certainly more trading in all the other tech funds.

Our closest rivals PCT and ATT global tech funds have discounts c.13% vs. ours approx 20-21% assuming growth from last NAV.

I would like our investment manager if they read this BB to comment on these discrepancies please. Otherwise go figure as they say :)

cadence design and synopsis also reached their ATHs today... so 3 of our largest holdings...
dyor etc

[takeiteasy] 01/11/2023 07:49

hxxps://siliconangle.com/2023/10/31/amds-stock-claws-back-initial-losses-forecasts-2b-ai-chip-sales-2024/

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. erased earlier losses in today’s extended trading session as the chipmaker talked up the opportunity it sees in artificial intelligence, just minutes after its guidance for the fourth quarter came up light.

The company’s stock, which gained 2% during the regular session, fell by more than 5% after-hours in the wake of its third-quarter earnings report. But after AMD executives gave an upbeat assessment of the company’s progress and prospects in AI, those losses were quickly clawed back.

dyor etc - but it appears demonstrable sales growth in AI or a loveless stock market...

[takeiteasy] 31/10/2023 12:52

hxxps://www.proactiveinvestors.com/companies/news/1031526/arista-networks-rises-as-3q-results-show-strong-ai-demand-1031526.html

One of our smaller holdings, but fears that key clients had possible capex reductions seem for now to be addressed...

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) stock was up just over 7% in premarket, boosted by upbeat third-quarter revenue and the insight from the cloud networking firm that demand for AI-related services is strong.

“Customer momentum remained strong in both enterprise and cloud/AI sectors,” chief executive Jayshree Ullal said in a statement.

dyor etc

[takeiteasy] 27/10/2023 06:02

Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa anticipates that the PC market will return to growth in the fourth quarter,..

Nvidia's graphics cards and software simply outperform Intel's efforts. And it could take time for it to catch up....

hxxps://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/amazon-makes-big-progress-on-profits-and-its-stock-heads-higher/ar-AA1iSVoN

Amazon reported amid a backdrop of concerns over its cloud and artificial-intelligence businesses....which has trailed Microsoft and Google in the race to develop and deploy AI....

Everyone needs to make their own mind up which of all the tech giants are going to be the eventual AI winners? dyor etc

[umitw] 26/10/2023 05:54

What triggered this rise?

[takeiteasy] 23/10/2023 13:43

hxxps://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/clothing-fashion-industries-seen-benefitting-from-generative-ai-ubs/ar-AA1iCwzC


Lots of doubters out there to suggest this may not really take off - here is one industry as a tiny anecdote seeing how quickly AI is becoming rather pivotal to strategy and success. The more industries that articulate how they can make it work will make he journey with MNL slightly more interesting .. DYOR and no advice intended etc

[takeiteasy] 20/10/2023 13:06

Hopefully relevant if 40% or so of our portfolio (min) is linked to PC activity (AMD/MS) - dyor etc

[takeiteasy] 16/10/2023 18:18

hxxps://mlcapman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/MLIT_Factsheet_202309.pdf

latest fact sheet -"there is much to fear but last week our NAV hit a 12 month high" so despite this fear the management continue to top up their holdings here given recent RNSs this week. DYOR etc...

[takeiteasy] 12/10/2023 13:07

I know a firm designing an AI toothbrush no less which scans teeth for patches to brush more actively with a chip and light cells.. also an AI hairbrush ...so this tech seems to open up a world of new possibilities -just working out which firms are going to benefit most is the more interesting challenge ... again no advice intended and dyor etc

[umitw] 12/10/2023 12:17

With the adoption of AI on tech companies, and quantum computing in the coming years or so, techs will be well placed in making money IMO.No advice is intended, purely my own instinct. :-)

[takeiteasy] 12/10/2023 11:30

LOLs..

This week on twitter our managers are doing their best to articulate why they think their strategy is sensible (despite next to no retail interest over the past few months for a variety of reasons).

They show the position of the IT as pretty much the top performing global equity IT over 12 months and then provide a note from the press suggesting the "Big 7" tech firms will continue to outperform the market. Our fund has c.54% in these stocks (Google/Microsoft/Nvidia)and so our manager uses this metric to support his approach for a highly concentrated portfolio. Although I think these are up on average near to 100% YTD, a recent article I read suggested on a PEG ratio basis they were not overly expensive by historical standards.

None of us know the answer of course although the quarterly results this month will give a number of clues - I am pleased there is at least some sort of investment approach being articulated. With a number of funds there seems such a random assortment of investments, you tend to wonder how there is any sort of consistent process for selecting and managing holdings...DYOR etc...

[umitw] 12/10/2023 09:59

They heard you talking, hence the share price ! LOL

[takeiteasy] 10/10/2023 23:12

25k trade in late - assume a sale ? edit 75k sale (late trade) - wow this is some stock overhang to clear - 3 months of selling in now...I wonder who?

[takeiteasy] 10/10/2023 17:20

The "revolution " in AI business change Is underway :)https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/10/microsoft-announces-microsoft-fabric-and-azure-ai-tools-for-doctors.html

[umitw] 10/10/2023 12:11

Strange share price movements since July!Markets are up today, no sign of life for MNL.

[takeiteasy] 06/10/2023 16:48

A strange few weeks tbh, the holdings appear to be holding up very well and the investors in this trust seem to be selling this down like there is no tomorrow - so we end up back to very top end of our discount range of about 25% - vs. for example about 13-14 for polar capital IT which is the closest comparative.

If you take a long term view this does not matter of course, but I do think the management need to consider a lot more about how to address this issue.

The stock response seems to be (if the management are reading this BB) that we are no worse than SMT - but the whole point the polar opposite of SMT with all their portfolio approach - PCT is by far the best comparison.

Short term, all we can do is wait on the results from our holdings due shortly.

[takeiteasy] 15/9/2023 04:46

hxxps://uk.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/oracle-and-microsoft-expand-cloud-partnership-with-oracle-databaseazure-93CH-3155732?dicbo=v2-ScO0aRL

two of our portfolio holdings working in co-operation :)

plus another take on nvidia..
hxxps://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/nvidia-stock-join-the-movement-or-get-left-behind/ar-AA1gIXRh
Author states...."My message to the skeptics is this: Resistance is futile. As we’ll discover, Nvidia is forming value-added partnerships and expanding its international presence. So, bet against Nvidia at your own peril — and by that, I mean don’t bet against Nvidia at all."
With 21% holding our managers must simply smile when they read articles like this :)

[takeiteasy] 14/9/2023 09:51

Yesterday was one of the better days across our portfolio for quite a while - it feels like the AI sector had a real boost early in the year and then consolidated for a fewmonths with the realism of converting new AI products into sales growth.The other factor our manager notes in the recent fact sheet risk is the free returns of over 5% available do not spur much interest in risk assets either.The hope is that the consolidation phase is working through and the AI area renews some interest again now ...albeit we remain with the high interest rates so nothing certain hence the low volume response here to really good days like yesterday for our holdings imvhho

[bluetooth] 12/9/2023 09:50

Its the first one I've received by email and it didn't make much sense to me. I prefer the one on the M&L website.