Just a few days ago, Alibaba Group, the Chinese on-line retailer, came within 1% of being the world’s most valuable retailer – with a market capitalisation of U$473b, its value was just US$4b lower than that of Amazon. Alibaba has been on a tear this year – it is up … Read More

The Name of the Rose is Umberto Eco’s masterpiece whodunit set in a 14th century monastery (bags of sex and grisly violence with some serious semiotics thrown in). The last line of the book, which is a reference to the title, has been translated from the Italian as “Yesterday’s rose … Read More

By Alex Pollak, CIO Loftus Peak Strike one for Netflix was the news that Disney will no longer supply programming from the end of 2019. Strike two happened late last week when several credible sources reported than Apple had committed to spending US$1b on original programming in 2018. Disney followed … Read More

By Alex Pollak, CIO Loftus Peak The news that Tesla will raise $1.5b in senior debt signals a new phase for the company – one in which equity issues are likely to be thin on the ground, if at all. On Tesla’s second-quarter earnings call with analysts, Musk telegraphed as … Read More

By Alex Pollak, CIO Loftus Peak   Do not expect Uber to right itself now that CEO Travis Kalanick has “resigned.” The company’s problems run far deeper, and the story has far from played out. Case in point: Kalanick’s is the resignation that isn’t. He states that he has ‘accepted … Read More

By Alex Pollak, CIO Loftus Peak From the Australian Financial Review Now is the time to be extremely wary of value investments. The unprecedented change we are living through means that the risks of value investing have never been higher. Here’s why: In a simplified world, there are two kinds … Read More

Amazon on Friday announced the US $14b acquisition of Wholefoods in the US, which has correctly been understood by the Australian market as a reason for the share prices of Coles and Woolworths to fall – just like competitors Walmart and Walgreen did in the US. Why should Australian retail … Read More

Read the piece as written by Phil Baker in the AFR on 6 May 2017 here OR read the original written by Alex Pollak below Fund managers are closing shop (Altair), calling the top (Kelly) and selling out (Hunter Hall). In the five months since January 1, the Australian market has picked … Read More

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By Alex Pollak – Chief investment officer – Loftus Peak What next for Snapchat? After a disastrous earnings call, the stock fell 25% and came within 25c of breaching its issue price of US$17. Those that didn’t take the opportunity, brief though it was, to sell at US$24 might be … Read More