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@anton
You bailed?
OMG!
Welcome to the world of investing in Africa and the Middle East.
Over my 20 years of investing in stocks there, I've learnt to temper my enthusiasm when it comes to positive sounding news.
So what's your stance on Kenya? They haven't suffered a coup.
@Canchat
Believe it or not, I actually like what this company is. Produces something tangible, pays a dividend (not sure about the cover though), their products are in need and from markets I'm aware of, demand is only going to increase assuming they can go out and win market share. They have products which people need, just can they aggressively market them?
The negatives on this company are that their management seems a little laid back. The Security breach for example is not a new thing. This sort of thing has been happening for donkey's years. If they had a breach, it shouldn't have even made the news because it was locked down quickly. What the RNS shows is there's a lack of investment in the right places and management are responsible for that.
As well, I hope they're sensible with their divi. By that I mean they're not afraid to adjust if cash flow is falling or negative. I hope the don't borrow to pay it.
As with all investments, only bet what you can afford to lose.
Sugarbabe "And I say this too...the only.fund to make me.some.decent return is that Legal & General Global technology fund..."
I don't have the spare funds to move into this fund atm. Its performance has been undisputable.
Looking at the holdings (Top 10)
Top 10 holdings (%)
Apple 19.6
Microsoft 17.3
Nvidia 6.8
Alphabet A 4.9
Meta Platforms A 4.3
Alphabet C 4.3
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co 3.0
Broadcom 2.4
ASML 2.0
Adobe 1.5
They're all ripe for a pullback. SO I'll hold off for a while.
I'm invested in $SMT and $LGEN purely for the divi not the growth.
Been pretty stagnant for years despite some lofty analyst PT's.
What you do with the dividend is your choice. I bank the cash rather than DRIP. That cash helps to pay my ISA management fees and then depending on the pot I build, I invest it elsewhere rather than reinvesting back in LGEN or MNG. I'm aware the belief that compounding gives greater returns, but I'm a believer not to have all your eggs in one basket.
I'm an $SMT investor. Bought at 800p thinking a 50pc chop from peak was as bad as it was going to get given the trust's history. But the more I dig into it, the more I see a need to exit if it gets back above 800p.
The near 20pc discount to NAV is a sign of the market's confidence (of lack of) in the trust. NAV tracks the individual components (with good correlation), but the SP which is what us retails buy, is based in market sentiment. That discount isn't a good endorsement.
Some is due to unlisted companies they own in the trust, and some is due to buying stock at their peaks and falling SP's on some of their main holdings.
There's been some boardroom argie bargies and that's not helped. What may have been once a solid backed horse, is looking not so solid. Their fund team look under experienced and their constituent holdings and proportions seem to reflect that. Are they just pure gambling, thinking just because they're SMT, anything they buy turns to gold? It seems that way at the moment, and investors need to apply some pressure on them to make sure they take their responsibilities seriously.
The one positive thing for SMT on the horizon is the US seems very close to peak rates.
Lordloadsoflolly
Cyclical? $MRNA is not cyclical. It was given a massive 'By' when COVID happened and they were allowed to fast track their vaccine. Not questioning the vaccine, but the World was desperate back then and money was thrown from all directions at any company involved in therapeutics and vaccines.
That phase has gone and we're back to the underlying pipeline (excluding -COVID). So you have to rate $MRNA on the cash on hand and their pipeline as well as their ability to succeed (which is still only 1 product). Can they execute and also price their products to satisfy the market appetite for this technology?
SMT's management are responsible for doing their due diligence on the stocks they plough funds into . Whilst the NAV should theoretically track the underlying SP's, the SP of SMT will be correlated somewhat to NAV and the investor's confidence of the management team.
(PS : I'm glad to see $MRNA is no longer the top holding as of 30th June 2023. ASML is a better choice. They should divest $ILMN....too much controversy and lack of innovation. Surprised they didn't have a big pharma like $LLY or $MRK. Would also like to see $ON on that list since they're business is growing down many avenues where there is a need or their semi's. If they need speculative stocks, then look no further than the obesity market. But individual players have had mixed success there.)
Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) shares slipped for the fifth straight session on Friday as TD Cowen became the latest brokerage to downgrade the COVID vaccine maker, citing its outlook issued with its Q2 2023 financials.
Analyst Tyler Van Buren cuts his recommendation for the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotech to Market Perform from Outperform, taking his price target to $125 from $145 per share.
Similar to Deutsche Bank, which also downgraded Moderna (MRNA) on Thursday citing its guidance, Buren points to concerns over the company’s decision to increase its cost of sales guidance for 2023.
Free cash flow before acquisitions, disposals and dividends1 = -37m
So they're using cash on hand to pay a divi? That's nuts! FCF should be positive before those payments.
Pretax profit was down 37% to GBP28.4 million, from GBP65.7 million, due to a cyber incident in January that cost GBP11.2 million.
How is 65.7 --> 28.4 equivalent to 37%? Even if I add back the 11.2, we're still a few percent off.
Their net debt rose due to 100m+ burn of cash on hand? Or they tapped the debt markets?
Gloucester10
Yes....Most of us know that. What's unfortunate for us SMT holders is BG have continued to buy $MRNA all the way up to $200/s without acknowledging that the revs from this pipeline is years off. Hence their $15bn warchest is being whittled down on expensive R & D (necessary), but COVID revs are on the decline and will do so, unless there's a meaningful mandate to vaccinate an entire demographic of the population. Vaccinating against common flu is not mandatory, especially if you have to pay £10+ a shot every year. Ditto for COVID. The SP was ramped up on hype post COVID. That needs to deflate before we see a trough in MRNA sp.
Unfortunately, the MRNA stake held by SMT will continue to pull back the SMT NAV until it finds that trough in the years before the pipeline generates revenues which rise for the company.
You can go ahead an buy on your own free will, but its pretty obvious to some of us that the SMT fund team at BG bought into the 'MRNA can only go up story'.
You won't see revs grow for $MRNA as a whole, until post 2026. I've got a buy order for $MRNA stock with a buy price of $60. If it catches, then great! If not, then I don't think I care given a number of funds I owed have various percentages invested in MRNA.