Rudi’s View: Lessons & Observations From ASX All-Weathers

Rudi's View | Apr 10 2024

In this week's Weekly Insights:

-Lessons & Observations From ASX All-Weathers
-Conviction Calls & Best Buys
-June Index Rebalancing

By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck, Editor

Lessons & Observations From ASX All-Weathers

The Global Financial Crisis of late 2007-March 2009 changed my life as an investor.

Those who have remained with us since no doubt still remember how FNArena rose above the parapet, declaring what was to unfold next was not your garden variety share market correction.

Sell the banks was not a popular opinion back then, but it proved extremely prescient, as was sell China (oil and gas and the miners) later in the same year of 2008.

For more reflections on what happened back then: https://fnarena.com/index.php/2018/10/03/rudis-view-ten-years-on-the-world-is-still-turning/

But what really (and truly) enlightened my understanding of how financial markets operate was the change in focus in my own research and market observations that started during those dour times.

It all began by asking that all-crucial question: why is it certain companies seem better suited to weather the darkest of times for your average stockmarket investor, while so many other share prices fall by -40%, -50%, -80%, and more?

This new journey eventually led to the concept of All-Weather Performers on the ASX; a small selection of companies that are, simply put, of a much higher level of corporate quality than your standard ASX listing, and thus exceptionally well-equipped to create shareholder value and benefits over an elongated period of time, irrespective of the ups and downs in the economy, interest rates, and bond yields along the way.

To your average value investor, and that's the large majority in Australia, be they retail or institutional, my quest looked incredibly silly. We all know successful investing starts with buying low and selling high, right? As if I could possibly identify something that hadn't already been considered and dismissed by the historic greats in the industry!

Yet, here we are, 1.5 decades later and the All-Weather Model Portfolio, which is based upon my specific research, has generated in excess of 10% per annum before fees since inception in early 2015. Over the past three years, total return pre-fees has been 13.84% on average, for the past twelve months up until March 31st that percentage is 19.17%.



Admittedly, the Model Portfolio doesn't run multiple billions of dollars, which might have played to its benefit at certain times, but in the same vein, the strategy is very much Buy-and-Hold, which underpins the validity of the research and the specific companies selected.

Not About The Share Price

Let's be frank about this: it only takes one brief look at price charts for the likes of Aristocrat Leisure ((ALL)), Car Group ((CAR)) and REA Group ((REA)) to know owning these stocks has been extremely beneficial over the decade past.

And while the contribution from the likes of CSL ((CSL)) and ResMed ((RMD)) on balance has been non-existent post 2020, theirs was a completely different story in the years prior.

The noticeable loss of upward momentum for healthcare stocks generally, in underlying trend terms, has triggered the obvious questions from subscribers and investors alike whether such companies should remain in my selection and whether others with better recent performances should not be included instead?

To me, this simply highlights how much investor perceptions, and views, are being influenced by recent share price moves. Prior to 2021, virtually nobody dared to question the proven quality and track record of CSL. Three years of a less stellar trend on price charts later and general appreciation has deflated substantially.

This is an important observation for what makes an All-Weather Performer is not what happens to a company's share price, it's about what management achieves operationally. Difficult to understand it may be, but both do not by definition always run parallel to each other.

Divergences do occur, and they happen quite regularly because sentiment is all-important in the short term, and market influences are many.

Some companies have strong growth in the here and now. Others grow strongly over a number of years. But to be labeled an All-Weather Performer, it requires that extra level of 'special'; a moat, a defensible number one market position, a customer base that is sticky and growing naturally, the ability to find new growth time and again.

Needless to say, the list of true All-Weathers in Australia is a rather limited selection, and it hasn't changed much or often since I embarked on my research. Equally important; the concept of finding All-Weathers is easily discredited in case of too many disappointments or errors, so it's vital not to include any accidental performer less they undermine the quality of the core selection.

However, we are living through tumultuous times, with technologies and innovations disrupting moats and status quos. This not only increases the risks for All-Weathers, it also creates a whole new battery of high-quality, strong growing, emerging new market leaders.