Jun Bei Ma, a portfolio manager specialising in high-growth global investing at Munro Partners, has demonstrated a strong track record. Munro Partners manages $7.5 billion in investments. The company offers investors access to a concentrated portfolio of global growth equities. Ma heads up Munro’s long-only global small- and mid-cap fund, which has $550 million invested in about 30 stocks, mostly listed in the US. Since its launch in November 2023, the fund has outperformed the MSCI global index for small- to mid-cap companies by 17.9 percentage points annually.
Ma’s investment strategy involves a keen eye for identifying winning stocks and a disciplined approach to cutting losses. She emphasises the importance of confronting risk and not being discouraged by underperforming stocks, acknowledging that most stocks ultimately do not succeed. Ma utilizes tools like Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine, to streamline her workflow and explores prediction markets to gauge earnings expectations, although she notes their limited usefulness so far.
Currently, Ma’s most bullish bet is Ciena Corp, a networking hardware manufacturer comprising about 4 per cent of her portfolio. Ciena, which provides products for high-speed fibre optical networks, recently rejoined the S&P 500 after a 17-year absence. The company’s market capitalisation has nearly tripled in the past year, driven by soaring demand for data centre infrastructure supporting generative AI models. Ma describes Ciena as the best in the world at what it does.
Addressing the potential impact of AI on employment, Ma believes that AI will not replace humans entirely. Instead, she suggests that it will replace those who fail to adapt and learn how to effectively work with AI. She advises individuals to embrace AI and focus on areas of work that add value, ensuring they remain relevant in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.
