17 April 2024
Elston Quarterly Portfolio Update Q2 2024
In this video, Portfolio Manager David Seager provides his perspective on the key questions discussed in the recent quarterly asset allocation meeting. Read more
11th December 2017 - Asset Management, Private Wealth
This month, the stock in focus is James Hardie (JHX). We frequently talk about how often value is created by short-term problems within companies. If a company’s stock is sold down on an issue impacting earnings, and if the issue is short-term in nature, or less material than the market and analysts realise, then this can create a good entry point for buying the stock. Such an opportunity recently presented itself with James Hardie.
James Hardie produces building materials for the residential and commercial construction industries. They have operations in Asia-Pacific and Europe, but their main operations are in North America. Their flagship product is fibre cement, used primarily in external cladding, where James Hardie enjoys a 90% market share in the US. Fibre cement currently represents around 19% of the external cladding market in North America, with alternatives being vinyl (26% market share), wood (21%) and brick (8%).
While their market share and product advantages put them in an excellent position in a growing market, execution of strategy is also vital – and this is where James Hardie performed poorly last year. Poor manufacturing performance led to issues with the supply of product into market. This, in turn, led to lost revenue, cost blow-outs and concerns that relationships with key distributors and customers would be at risk. Concerns about these relationships and the capital expense involved in fixing supply issues (for example, adding production capacity) resulted in the share price falling dramatically.
As a fund manager, deciding whether this is an opportunity or a situation to avoid, involves doing your homework to determine the efficacy of management’s plans to turn the situation around, and hence the underlying value of the company. In this case, it involved engaging management so they could articulate their outlook directly to us, as well as utilising research, which surveyed key customers to see whether those relationships were permanently impacted. After much in-depth research and discussion, it was determined that the company maintained a very strong advantage in a market with an excellent thematic, and the sell-off was considered an opportunity.
Going forward, it is important to continually assess the execution of management against their own plan and their competitors.
Quick Stats:
17 April 2024
In this video, Portfolio Manager David Seager provides his perspective on the key questions discussed in the recent quarterly asset allocation meeting. Read more
10 April 2024
Elston Portfolio Manager Gary Merkel has picked three constituents of the ASX Small Ordinaries Index in the latest Livewire article. Read more
25 March 2024
Just before Easter, Livewire asked four fundies to pick which businesses they thought had the hop on some of the others in their investment universe. Read more
18 March 2024
Following on from the reporting season, Co-Founder and Portfolio Manager Bruce Williams has provided a brief overview of the recent results and what that indicates for the portfolio positioning. Read more
31 January 2024
The Australian Financial Review has recently named Elston Australian Emerging Leaders in their top performers 2023. Read the article to find out more. Read more
18 January 2024
In this video, Portfolio Manager Leon de Wet provides his perspective on the key questions discussed in the recent quarterly asset allocation meeting. Read more
1 December 2023
HUB24 announced the launch of a new whitepaper, ‘Directing the matrix: meeting the advice needs of high net worth clients’. Read now to get insights from Elston Head of Philanthropic Services Susan Chenoweth and many other experienced advisers. Read more
8 November 2023
Investing in what you are passionate about, or even what you consume everyday, can give you an edge. Find out what local stock Elston Co-Founder Bruce Williams has in mind. Read more
13 October 2023
What should advisers think about as they move to managed portfolios? Elston Head of Adviser Services Mark Smith shared his views on how to successfully make the transition. Read more
4 October 2023
We all know Australia is the lucky country, but could it soon be the luckiest? Elston Co-founder Andrew McKie believes it may be possible, and advisers need to take heed. Read more
21 September 2023
Andrew McKie joined 5 other industry leaders at LiveWire Live 2023 as they presented their shocking prediction for the future. What did he predict? And is it good news or bad news? Read more
14 September 2023
Portfolio Manager Leon de Wet has provided a brief overview of the recent reporting season results and what that indicates for future earnings and the portfolio positioning. Read more
25 August 2023
Are our two big supermarkets worth checking out? Read the latest Livewire Markets article to see what Elston Co-Founder and Portfolio Manager Bruce Williams thinks. Read more
12 August 2023
Should investors buy AMP or bypass it? See what Elston co-founder and portfolio manager Andrew McKie thinks and find out how he’s feeling about the ASX100 in general. Read more
1 August 2023
In this video, Portfolio Manager Leon de Wet provides his perspective on the key questions discussed in the recent quarterly asset allocation meeting. Read more
31 July 2023
What makes Carsales such an attractive stock? Elston Portfolio Manager Bruce Williams examines the key drivers that are working for this digital marketplace both here and overseas. Read more
26 July 2023
Last year, some bond indices fell into a black hole. Are good returns from fixed income investing still a galaxy far, far away? Or are there brighter days on the horizon? Read more
23 July 2023
In the latest Livewire's edition of Buy Hold Sell, Andrew McKie talked about which ASX-listed stocks he would want to own (or not own) in a Goldilocks scenario. Read more
20 July 2023
Elston Co-Founder Andrew McKie sat down with Han Lee from Livewire and Rob Crookston from WILSONS to discuss how they find “quality” companies on the ASX. Read more
15 July 2023
Andrew McKie was asked to analyse three stocks that are widely perceived to have those rock-solid qualities and assess whether they have become overcrowded, and name one quality company in the recent Livewire interview. Read more
12 July 2023
If you had a spare $10,000, how would you invest it? It's an interesting hypothetical and one that Elston Portfolio Manager Leon De Wet was happy to answer for Livewrire. Read the article to see his picks. Read more