Biznews Global share portfolio webinar for July – How to deliver 36%pa in the last four years

LONDON – After a pretty turbulent month for new economy stocks, the tech-heavy Biznews Global Share portfolio did better than might have been expected. With no exposure to these high flyers, we missed the Facebook, Netflix and Twitter meltdowns; and picked up some good fortune when timing worked in our favour in the purchase yesterday of our second of three tranches in Adobe, buying in at 12% under the recent peak. It was a packed hour in this month's webinar. Watch and listen by clicking on the video; or check out the highlights below. – Alec Hogg.Features of the past month:.___STEADY_PAYWALL___.With winners outnumbering losers by six to two (and one unchanged) the portfolio's value rose from $360k to $372k in the past month. In Rand terms this was partly offset by a firmer SA currency, leaving the portfolio a touch below R5m from the initial starting level of just over R2m in December 2014. That translates into an annualised growth of 36% – such is the power of high compounded returns..Amazon.com – The stock has grown into the cornerstone of the portfolio, proving the value of simply riding your winners. When the portfolio kicked off in December 2014, we allocated 8% to Amazon. It has turned into a five-bagger and now accounts for virtually a quarter of our total assets. After a solid set of quarterly results there is no thought of selling the cornerstone holding – net income rose fivefold year-on-year to $2.5bn, suggesting a tipping point has been reached; overall revenue surged 39% off the already high base to $53bn for the quarter; and the highly profitable cloud offering Amazon Web Services delivered a 79% jump in earnings to $1.6bn. And those of the 100m Amazon Prime members who have been exposed to the products cross marketed by recently acquired Whole Foods are taking up its offerings at "one of the fastest rates yet for a Prime benefit." What's not to like?.Alphabet – Google's parent company shrugged off a $5bn Android-related fine from the European Union to post earnings only 9% lower than the previous quarter. Excluding the fine, which will be appealed but has now been written off, earnings were up 32% on the same quarter a year before on a 25% rise in revenues. Google holds 31% of the global online advertising market and the preferred employer continues to cement its dominance with a further 4,000 staffers added in the quarter, taking the staff complement to 89,000. With capital expenditure doubling to $5.5bn and investment in research and development continuing to mushroom, Google clearly has no intention of letting up on its pioneering. We're very happy shareholders..Adobe Systems – Quarterly results showed revenues up 24% with the subscription component rising 30% and now accounting for $1.9bn of the $2.2bn total. With costs constrained, operating income rose 38% and net income per share a hefty 77%, helped by a sustained share buy-back programme. In the quarter Adobe purchased $589m of its own stock, part of a programme that will see the company investing $8bn in this way in the next three years. Share buybacks were a feature of some other members of the portfolio during the month, with Berkshire Hathaway's announcement that chairman Warren Buffett has greater leeway for buy-backs seeing the stock jump 5%, its best single day rise in seven years. Apple has also enjoyed an underpinning from the decision to invest $100bn in share buybacks, a quarter of which will be done this year.

Biznews Global share portfolio webinar for July – How to deliver 36%pa in the last four years

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