12 years since the Google IPO

It's been 12 years since Google went public at a valuation of $23 billion. There was a lot of skepticism 2004 was only a few years after the dot.com bust. Bankers were hoping to price Google at $135 a share but the final price was $85 which resulted in a modest first day pop of 18%. To celebrate the occasion CNBC have put together the best and worst performing stocks since the Google IPO. Only ten stocks have beat it.

Decisive has a long position in Google. The material in this article is for informational purposes only and in no way constitutes a solicitation of business or investment advice. The material has been prepared without regard to any client's or other person's investment objectives. Before making an investment decision you should consider the assistance of a financial adviser and whether any investment or service is appropriate in light of your particular investment needs.

Facebook thumbs up

It has been a historic turnaround for Facebook since their IPO. Barron's sums up the sentiment perfectly with a thumbs down in 2012 in contrast to a thumbs up released this weekend (August 2016). Technology is an easy area to get wrong and Facebook traded on the perception that mobile was a risk to the business but now four years later 84% of advertising revenue is from a mobile device. Mobile generated $5.24 billion in the last quarter alone and its driving the business as users spend more time on Facebook. At the time of the 2012 article Facebook was expected to earn nearly $1.36 a share in 2016 instead analysts are expecting nearly $4 a share. Perception vs reality is the key to the market where different views can lead to large rewards if proven correct. We attempt to find these differences but like everyone else we get things wrong and can be influenced by the media. Facts and opinions are very different things. Barron's price target has increased from $15 to $149 let's hope that Barron's has it right this time.


                                       2012                                                2016

Decisive has a long position in Facebook. The material in this article is for informational purposes only and in no way constitutes a solicitation of business or investment advice. The material has been prepared without regard to any client's or other person's investment objectives. Before making an investment decision you should consider the assistance of a financial adviser and whether any investment or service is appropriate in light of your particular investment needs.

Top 20 R&D spenders

Innovation and disruption are words associated with the big technology giants. But looking at the actual top 20 research and development spenders might surprise you. Topping the list is Volkswagen (this was a surprise to me) with 5 automotive companies making the top 20 in terms of spend. Healthcare companies dominated the list with 8 participants. Apple also made the list for the first time. Personally I am glad to see so much spending go into auto and healthcare and not just making the latest consumer electronic.

Source: http://www.strategyand.pwc.com/global/home/what-we-think/innovation1000/top-20-rd-spenders-2015

The material in this article is for informational purposes only and in no way constitutes a solicitation of business or investment advice. The material has been prepared without regard to any client's or other person's investment objectives. Before making an investment decision you should consider the assistance of a financial adviser and whether any investment or service is appropriate in light of your particular investment needs.

For Apple a billion is the new million

Late July Apple announced they had sold 1 billion iPhones. It's an amazing milestone not many products have sold that amount let alone a product that was released in 2007 taking less than a decade to achieve. To put it in context the total number of computers sold since 1981 is likely to pass 5 billion this year.

That's the problem with Apple the sharemarket is always asking what is next. Coming up with a successful product after the iPhone is tough. The Apple Watch would have been a success for any other company but for Apple it was a relative disappointment. We expectations reset we do think investors have become too pessimistic on Apple products. Software can scale to a billion users but to actually manufacture a billion products is a massive achievement. Apple's spending on Research and Development is now 6% of sales up significantly from the 2-3% average over the last couple of years. The spending is likely on the much rumoured car and TV but also the tenth anniversary of the iPhone will likely result in major product updates for the phone. Having just one success will likely positively impact the share price given expectations are low.

Apple Free cash yield vs the market

Source: Bloomberg

Is the phone a consumer staple?
While Apple is not a consumer staple most people would notice their phone missing ahead of losing their wallet. Smartphones are a must have product but because of their volatility (time to upgrade has increased) Apple hasn't participated in the large cap consumer brand rally. We think the Apple system is very sticky (think iTunes, iCloud) while it might not be a "consumer staple" users are highly likely to continue buying their products once they become a part of their system. Most people would regard Apple as an above average company yet the market prices Apple below the average. Apple's free cash yield is significantly higher than the market. In other words we are paying 11x for Apples cash flow versus 19x for the S&P500.

Great "problems" to have
In addition to 1 billion iPhones sold Apple has $231.5 billion in cash. The market always looks ahead but its current "problems" highly successful products and high levels of cash are the right "problems" to have.

Decisive has a long position in Apple. The material in this article is for informational purposes only and in no way constitutes a solicitation of business or investment advice. The material has been prepared without regard to any client's or other person's investment objectives. Before making an investment decision you should consider the assistance of a financial adviser and whether any investment or service is appropriate in light of your particular investment needs.