2018 began with bundles of promise for small-cap investors, but ended in misery interspersed with some rare delights. Your columnist trawls through his coverage for the highlight and lowlights and highlights potential opportunities for 2019.
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Tin might be one of the world’s most strategic metals, but it’s not reflected in the price of the commodity. But with supply issues looming, this could well change in 2019.
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After some earlier positive trial results, the biotech sector is seeking treatment after some less than impressive results. But does value remain for investors?
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Two recent junior telco listings have been shunned by investors but they highlight the opportunities in the post-NBN world.
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From ‘fake ads’ to top-secret governments to SMEs, ASX-listed cyber security providers are tackling the problems in very different ways.
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We got listed pot stocks and even a listed medicinal opium producer, so it was only a matter of time that a kava play would launch an IPO ahead of an ASX listing.
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While resources pundits regard copper as the commodity most reflective of the world’s economic strength or otherwise, the more obscure zircon arguably is an even better guide.
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With Foster’s Group and Lion taken over by foreign owners some time ago, local investors have been denied an ASX exposure to a major brewer. But for those hankering for a taste for beer there are smaller boutique alternatives
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Given the current swooning stock market there’s plenty of talk about defensive stocks, but in the case of some of our listed defence suppliers that concept has a more literal hue.
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If there’s one thing holding back the electrical vehicle sector it’s ‘range anxiety’ – the sickly feeling that you’re not going to make it to the next sparsely-located charging station and will spend the night by a lonely verge. Here’s a solution.
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In the contact sports sphere, concussion is fast evolving from an acceptable workplace risk to a multi-billion dollar headache for sports organisations and – more pertinently – their insurers.
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For Old King Coal, it’s a case of Coke is It: demand for metallurgical (coking) coal remains robust amid questions about the long-term outlook for thermal coal.
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The listed builders of detached dwellings are holding their own amid a stiffening housing downturn, with the ‘strength in adversity’ message emanating from their recent profit results.
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The dry conditions in many of the key farming regions highlight the importance of water security for our listed agricultural plays. When it comes to water rights, some are in a better position than others.
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If there’s a clear winner from the murky swamp of revelations uncovered by the banking royal commission, it’s the provider of independent administration and investment platforms for the financial advisory industry.
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The listed childcare sector has been popular with investors, but emerging oversupply and affordability issues mean that all is not well in the sandpit. The operators are banking on the government’s revised subsidy scheme to revive their fortunes.
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Fintech Novatti is targeting migrants and foreign students in its quest to become Australia’s next bank. Meanwhile, Raiz (the former Acorns) is shrugging off a poor market reaction to its recent listing as it tries to reform the savings habits of Millennials.
Read MoreFor the recruitment sector it’s been a case of hard labour for the last few years, but there are signs of a reprieve.
Read MoreWe wouldn’t say it’s gone to pot, but the ASX-listed cannabis sector is facing a much-needed reality check as investors realise that the medical marijuana aspirants need more than a ‘grow it and they will come’ strategy.
Read MoreThe rising greenback means bullion continues to be under pressure, but in $A terms it’s a different story and the good times continue to roll for our ASX-listed miners. But with the majors looking fully priced, it’s time to dig a little deeper
Read MoreGrowth stocks have outperformed value stocks in recent times, but the 31 year old value investor Templeton Growth Fund is a patient investor. Elsewhere in the listed investment company sector, a new fund is taking a different approach to ensure it doesn’t trade at a discount to asset backing.
Read MoreBoth Avita Medical and Polynovo are in the game of developing innovative burns and wounds treatments, but investors ascribe disparate valuations. Is the cavernous valuation gap justified?
Read MoreDrug distributor Sigma’s loss of a major contract to supply the burgeoning Chemist Warehouse chain is a bitter pill to swallow, although the company maintains there are positives as well. In the meantime, the whole sector is looking more challenging as new entrants such as Amazon and DHL eye the market.
Read MoreWhile Smart Parking struggles to stay on the entry ramp in the UK following the sacking of its regional CEO and CFO, locally the age-old Hills conglomerate is alive to the sound of parking technology such as number-plate recognition.
Read MorePaying staff accurately and managing travel bookings efficiently might seem like HR 101 but many employers still can’t get it right. But two cloud-based recent ASX entrants are seeking to make the task easier.
Read MoreWith the mortgage broking sector already under the regulatory blowtorch, Mortgage Choice has added to the pain with revelations of unhappy franchisees. But is there value emerging in the marked down shares, as well as those of listed counterpart Australian Financial Group?
Read MoreCarbon components specialist Quickstep is flying high with an ongoing parts contract for the Joint Strike Fighter program, but investors remain wary because the company is yet to turn a profit. Also in the tech space, Sensera has gone to market with a better tool to track mining equipment – and cows.
Read MoreIn the old days, the listing of a broking firm was a sure sign the market had peaked. But has the sector matured? Meanwhile, a niche broker is relying on the wisdom of the masses to seek the best investments.
Read MoreA low key listed life insurer is in an intriguing position following a recent acquisition. Meanwhile, a newly-listed data centre operator has the big players in its sights.
Read MoreThis week The New Criterion drills down into the listed dental sector, which has just expanded by one-third with the listing of a new practice consolidator.
Read MoreThe paradox of the current uranium market is that the more the major producers curtail output because of a stubbornly low price for the commodity, the higher the hopes of a recovery.
Read MoreA handful of Paul Keating era pooled development funds survive as listed companies. Two of them -Authorised Investment Fund and Acrux – have taken measures to revive their fortunes so that investors one day may enjoy the full benefits of the PDF structure.
Read MoreHere’s a tale of two payments houses: newcomer Emerchants is strongly expanding its global reach – but not reaping the share price benefits – while the 40 year old Cabcharge is seeking to restore its rightful place in the disrupted taxi industry.
Read MoreClover Corp has been a big winner from the China-led boom in infant formula, but by supplying a key ingredient rather than the end product. Meanwhile, other dairy suppliers have refused to follow the herd and are diversifying into goat’s milk.
Read MoreAs a developer of a concrete additive to make the ubiquitous building material tougher and lighter, the US-focused Eden should be benefiting from the Trump-inspired infrastructure spending push. But does its listed associate present better value?
Read MoreGold miner West Wits has turned its focus from the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya to South Africa’s famed Witwatersrand region. Meanwhile, the revived Kingrose Mining is out to prove that ASX listed miners can do business in Indonesia.
Read MoreThe survivors in the listed vocational education sector are licking their wounds from recent controversies and nourishing young minds. The government is loosening its funding purse strings, too.
Read MoreThe previous basket case Tasmania is in the midst of an unlikely economic boom. Here’s a (two) heads-up on how to gain an ASX exposure.
Read MoreThe animal spirits are back in the biotech sector after two recent takeovers of two ASX-listed companies.
Read MoreThere are more ways to gain exposure to commodities than buying the miners themselves. Here are two alternatives.
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