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Leading US fund manager Bill Ackman has predicted that 2021 will be a “very good” year for the US sharemarket, with a combination of low interest rates, fiscal stimulus and a new president who will not introduce radical policies.

Online retail stocks have become the small cap investment story of 2020, according to Todd Guyot, a portfolio manager with Regal’s $320m Australian Small Companies Fund. “We have done well out of the whole online theme of late,” says Guyot, who will be tipping a stock at the fifth annual Sohn Hearts & Minds conference on Friday.

When Bill Ackman realised coronavirus was about to run rife in the West he knew he had to do something fast to protect the $US10bn ($14bn) of assets managed by Pershing Square, much of it in restaurant brands that were vulnerable to the economic lockdowns he saw coming. Rather than sell stock, he opted to hedge via credit default swaps.

Tekne Capital Management portfolio manager Beeneet Kothari says US technology stocks continue to look attractive given their strong earnings outlook and dominant positioning in what he sees as a multi-decade reshaping of economies and business fuelled by COVID-19.

Qiao Ma says her stock pitch for the Sohn Hearts & Minds Conference on Friday belongs to an industry that will “make people cringe”. That isn’t deliberate but it will prove her point that management trumps all else.

Hamish Corlett, Founder of TDM Growth Partners discusses TDM's commitment to helping support Australian charities including the win-win nature of Hearts & Minds and why he's proud to be involved.

Two time, soon-to-be-three time Conference Manager, Nick Griffin of Munro Partners joined Rory Lucas on the Equity Mates Podcast. This is a must listen episode!

The shock suspension of the Ant Group initial public offering, slated­ to be the biggest float in history­, has left investors reeling, but it could be back up and runnin­g within weeks, according to Tribeca Investment Partners’ Jun Bei Liu.

US tech giants are on track: not just to soar through the pandemic, but to structurally lock in their competitive edge well beyond COVID-19. What is more, there will be a tsunami of reallocated capital across the economy, creating huge winners and losers that investors should get ahead of if they don’t want to miss out.

One of the fiercest critics of 'Big Tech', author and academic Scott Galloway, has admitted his bearish call on Afterpay was wrong and warned that America's internet giants are poised to consolidate power following the coronavirus pandemic.

Scott Galloway, outspoken academic and expert on big tech, says "Jedi mind tricks" and "consensual hallucination" are responsible for some huge market valuations, and warns Silicon Valley giants will entrench their dominance in the post-pandemic world.

As a young Macquarie analyst, David Moberley was among the first to appreciate the profit potential of a new breed of technology stocks when he slapped a "buy" rating on REA Group in 2009.

Bill Ackman was famous for waging activist short campaigns. But older and wiser now, he steers clear of rather than exposes corporate malfeasance.

Wall Street hedge fund legend Bill Ackman has praised the Australian superannuation system as a way to bridge the growing income inequality in the US.

It has gone down in Wall Street folklore as one of the greatest trades in history – a $US27 million ($37.8 million) bet during the market meltdown in March that returned $US2.6 billion in the space of three weeks. And the mastermind behind it, New York hedge fund titan Bill Ackman, is now bracing for another bout of turbulence.

Wall Street legend Bill Ackman says megacap stocks such as Starbucks will come out of COVID-19 with a bigger moat and a market dominance like never before, and no election outcome will make a difference to the plight of wrecked small businesses.

Our Chief Investment Officer, Rory Lucas recently sat down with the Equity Mates Podcast to talk all things Hearts and Minds, including the upcoming Virtual Sohn Hearts & Minds Investment Leaders Conference.

A little under a year ago, Cathie Wood named Tesla as her top stock pick for 2020. Speaking at the Sohn Hearts & Minds Investment Leaders Conference in Sydney last November, Ms Wood, who runs US technology-focused investment firm Ark Invest, said her bearish case was that the stock price would double by 2024. It hit that milestone less than three months later.

Rory Lucas may have one of the best jobs in finance. As the chief investment officer of Hearts & Minds Investments (HM1), it's his duty to oversee the $780 million portfolio of the best ideas from some of the world's top investors.

Legendary Wall Street investor Bill Ackman will headline the 2020 Sohn Hearts & Minds investment leaders conference this year in a major coup for the event that has raised more than $20 million dollars for medical research since its inception in 2016.

In this instalment of our legends of Wall Street interviews, a contrarian view. President of the US$6 trillion fund Blackrock, Rob Kapito is optimistic about the future.

Concerns about Chinese influence in politics and universities may be at fever pitch, but the reality is that some of Australia’s retirement savings will help fuel a predicted $US600 billion ($885 billion) inflow into mainland stocks over the next decade.

Howard Marks is the Co-Chairman of Oaktree Capital and Warren Buffet considers his memos to clients essential reading. He spoke to Elysse from the Hearts and Minds Conference, ahead of the RBA Governor's speech

The search for the next CSL and excessive valuations in local tech stocks have seen investors pouring into biotech, but elevated prices may be putting capital at risk.

In this instalment of our legends of Wall Street interviews, Elysse speaks with legendary investor Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates.

Friday’s Sohn Hearts & Minds conference is barely in the rear view mirror, but already Hobart’s Federation Concert Hall is almost entirely booked solid for next year’s event, taking place on November 13 for the first time on the Apple Isle. At $3500 a ticket, that shows how popular the thing’s become.

Increased government spending on infrastructure would help underwrite strong demand for mining stocks, according to Regal Funds Management’s Phil King who tipped ASX-listed Nickel Mines at the Sohn Hearts & Minds conference on Friday.

The world’s top investors say ‘‘free money’’ policies have reached their limits and they fear central banks and governments could resort to printing money to finance spending, triggering currency instability across the developed world.

The majority of investors who attend the Sohn Hearts & Minds conferences in Australia are there to learn about the dozen or so stock tips from leading fund managers as well as make very large donations to a range of medical research institutes.

Developed economies are not heading for another debt reckoning or recession, but are in a risky environment where governments are likely to print money to fund their spending, warns Ray Dalio, the founder of $180bn giant hedge fund Bridgewater Associates.

Oaktree Capital Management co-founder Howard Marks presents a cool evaluation of modern monetary theory or MMT: he declines to ridicule it but acknowledges he struggles to under- stand how it doesn’t cause devastating currency responses.

Two of the world's most respected and influential investors have expressed confidence in the durability of China's economy, boosting hopes Australia's largest trading partner will underpin global growth and asset prices for years to come.

As Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio told the Sohn Hearts & Minds conference on Friday, there are only two big horses in the world economy — the US and China.

Nick Griffin at Munro Partners has tipped TradeDesk as the next big thing in media, at the Sohn Hearts & Minds Conference in Sydney on Friday.

Tribeca Investments fund manager Jun Bei Liu has recommended A2 milk for its potential expansion in the China market at the Sohn Hearts & Minds Conference in Sydney on Friday.

Veteran investor Howard Marks says the abandonment of the WeWork float, the poor performance of US IPOs in 2019 and the punishment of bad news in US debt markets are all early signs that discipline is starting to return to financial markets, and investors may no longer be rewarded for holding the riskiest assets.

Phil King of Regal Funds Management has tipped ASX-listed nickel company Nickel Mines in the Sohn Hearts & Minds conference in Sydney today.

Hedge fund legend Ray Dalio says we are entering "a risky environment" in which investors will need to find a safe store of value as major economies draw closer to printing money to finance government spending.

When Nick Griffin was preparing to take the stage at the Sohn Hearts and Minds conference last year, he was tempted to go for a relatively unknown but vitally important player in the tech process.

Cathie Wood's controversial calls on Tesla have made her a target. But she's not backing down, and she's got a message about broker research.

A new professorial chair of medical research in Sydney is to be endowed to the tune of $20 million, in an unconventional move by its wealthy board.

Philip King might seem an unlikely ally for Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe. The chief investment officer at Regal Funds Management has been knocking out returns in the teens to mid-30s for a growing roster of funds for the past 15 years.

The chief investment officer of Sydney-based fund Montaka says he would never release a damaging report on one of the companies his fund is shorting, but warns executives raise suspicion if they refuse to meet with hedge funds.

The top-performing fund manager from last year's Sohn Hearts and Minds investment conference has criticised the buy now, pay later (BNPL) sector as operating in a "fuzzy" regulatory zone and engaging in a game of trying to be acquired before a regulatory crackdown.

Beeneet Kothari, the New York hedge fund manager who pitched the best-performing stock recommendation at the prestigious Sohn Hearts & Minds Conference in 2018 — has warned investors of the risks faced by one of Australia’s favourite tech stocks, Afterpay Touch.

Buy now pay later providers like Afterpay and Klarna are risky businesses operating in a "fuzzy legal area", and are likely to be regulated in coming years or be swamped by larger companies, says US fintech investor Beeneet Kothari.

Tribeca Investment Partners’ Jun Bei Liu provided one of the star performers for last year’s Sohn Hearts and Mind conference with China-based education group New Oriental Education and Technology, which has gained 81 per cent in the last year.

TDM Growth Partners' Hamish Corlett reckons the reversal of fortunes for the once high-flying WeWork may be a reality check for fast-growing private companies with complex ownership structures, and the torrent of money that has propelled valuations ever higher.

Stock-picker with Airlie Funds Management Emma Fisher says the infrastructure boom is an economic fizzer with scant evidence that many companies are benefiting from the publicly funded projects.

The biggest problem in today’s investment markets is the shortage of assets with too much cash sitting on the sidelines wanting to invest, according to BlackRock co-founder and president Rob Kapito.

Rob Kapito, co-founder of $10 trillion investment giant BlackRock, says a global shortage of investable assets will help the sharemarket grind higher over the long term as dips in equity and bond markets are quickly met by investors hungry for returns.

Rob Kapito, the head of the world's largest money manager BlackRock, says there is more than $US50 trillion ($73 trillion) in cash sitting idle in portfolios around the world due to a lack of investment opportunities and weak returns.

Oaktree Capital’s Howard Marks has warned that it is time to take a defensive approach to investing, opting for bonds over stocks, investing in the US rather than emerging markets and choosing larger, more stable companies to invest in over smaller growth stocks.

Legendary bond market investor Howard Marks has seen a lot of things during his glittering career in financial markets, but a trade war between the world's two largest economic superpowers is not one of them.

Oaktree Capital Group co-founder Howard Marks says the Federal Reserve was wrong to cut rates last month. Why? Because more monetary stimulus will just boost asset prices further, making the rich richer without benefiting savers.

When the founder and co-chairman of the world’s largest hedge fund likens the global environment to that of the 1930s and sees the current tensions between the US and China as something wider, more permanent and more threatening than a trade conflict it is disconcerting.

Ray Dalio knows more about Australia than most macro hedge funds that have been betting the lucky country's fortunes will change.

“I have to be a realist. I am paid to be accurate, not to be a pessimist or an optimist,” says Ray Dalio as he explains why the world today is very similar to the Depression years in the 1930s.

Hedge fund legend Ray Dalio fears further interest rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of Australia could further inflate the "mini bubble" in property, and that it will all end in tears.

The US-based Duke University psychology and behavioural economics professor won't publicly reveal the Fortune 500 companies he advises, but is reportedly often called upon by high-profile business executives for his insights.

Leading fund managers have gathered in Melbourne's Hamer Hall for the third Australian Sohn Hearts and Minds investment leaders conference.

It took nearly 10 years for Tribeca Investment Partners to regain its independence. But since buying back the firm in August the founders have wasted no time. A $250 million listed investment company focused on resources was raised in October and there are now plans for a new international fund focused on the rise of the Asian ­consumer.

In the world of macro hedge funds Scott Bessent could be regarded as royalty. The 55-year-old from South Carolina has worked alongside luminaries of the industry such as George Soros, Stanley Druckenmiller and Jim Chanos, orchestrating some of the most fabled bets in recent markets history.

When Kok Hoi Wong analyses a stock, he's not just concerned with next year's earnings. The APS Asset Management chief investment officer frequently finds himself playing detective and fact-checking by doing his own sleuthing.

Hold your nerve. The trends of software infiltrating every industry, and every company becoming a tech company - are only just beginning. That is the message top fund managers have for investors this, as big name tech stocks tumbled amid a broader market rout.

A gap year three years into his medical career at Melbourne’s St Vincent’s Hospital arguably laid the foundation for Brian McNamee to lead Australia’s most successful biopharmaceutical company, CSL.

Two potential private equity deals worth $4.6 billion do not yet spell the start of a new takeover boom, but there are at least signs that at last Australia is joining the offshore deal trend.

When Leah Zell, one of the world's most highly regarded international small cap investors, took the stage at the Sohn Hearts and Minds conference in Sydney two years ago, she memorably presented a Turkish supermarket, BIM, as one of the best ideas in her universe.

Enterprise software companies such as Australian trailblazer Atlassian will increasing replace consumer-focused technology firms as the hottest tech stocks of the future, according to a leading New York fund manager.

It may be one of the fastest boutique fund management builds seen in Australia. Long-short manager Firetrail Investments announced this week that it is already profitable, just over six months since opening its doors. And by the close of the September quarter next week it expects to announce the funds under management have “comfortably passed” $2 billion.

Financier and philanthropist Michael Milken says investors are "dramatically underestimating the risks" of putting their money into investment grade bonds.

Star American philanthropist Michael Milken has urged Australians not to fear the rise of Amazon but be inspired by the unprecedented ability to view everyone in the world as a potential customer because of the digital technology revolution.

It is 17,000km from Wall Street to Melbourne’s Flemington Road but it didn’t stop billionaire financier and philanthropist Michael Milken yesterday declaring the tyranny of distance dead.

Billionaire philanthropist Mike Milken has played down the threat posed by trade tensions sparked by United States President Donald Trump, and warned that global tech giants will eventually be regulated.

Philanthropist Michael Milken has urged governments not to consider a universal basic income as a solution to the automation of the workforce, but to focus on subsidised housing, education, healthcare and childcare.

Michael Milken has been described as man who has played an “outsized role” in American life. Yet even this seems an understatement for the 72-year-old Wall Street financier-turned-­philan­thropist.

The rapid rise of personalised medicine and associated better pricing for health insurance cover flowing from cutting-edge technologies such as genomics will provide exciting new investment opportunities, according to one of the ­nation’s top global equities managers.

One of Australia's most successful fund managers, Peter Cooper, first tried meditation about 30 years ago when he was incredibly stressed out. He picked up a book, sat in a room and tried to focus.

Speedcast International affirmed guidance of $US155 million only last May. But announcing its half-year results on Tuesday, that guidance fell by at least $US10 million, sending its shares crashing 37.4 per cent.

Riding the technology wave as an investment strategy can be a highly effective way to avoid the buffeting winds of uncertainties such as trade policy, says Regal Funds Management's Philip King.

The Australian public will get the opportunity to bankroll the best investment ideas from leading local and international fund managers while supporting medical research, in a new $100 million listed investment company.

Sydney's most illustrious hedge funds – Caledonia, Regal and VGI Partners – have topped the charts with the best-performing stock picks at the 2017 Sohn Hearts and Minds charity conference.

Geopolitical tension, soaring debt and the withdrawal of support by central banks are top of mind issues for investors, according to high profile businessman and director Gary Weiss.

Star American philanthropist Michael Milken will make his first visit to Australia in almost a decade next month as part of a fresh push by the leaders of the annual Sohn Hearts & Minds investment conference to increase corporate support for medical research.

Mr Milken, the man credited with pioneering the high-yield bond market in the 1980s will speak at two events held in Sydney and Melbourne in September as a curtain raiser to the Sohn Hearts & Minds Investment Leaders conference.

Former prime minister Paul Keating's prediction that the bull market can be pierced by a "Minsky moment"-style collapse has an element of truth, economists agree, but will be almost impossible to avert.

Investors of today were “investing in the age of longevity,” UK entrepreneur and philanthropist, Jim Mellon, told the Sohn Hearts & Minds conference yesterday.

At the Sohn Hearts & Minds conference held in Sydney on Friday leading fund managers from Australia and around the world share their best investment ideas to raise millions of dollars for medical research. Here are a selection of the top tips:

Australia must diversify its economy away from coal exports to thrive in a modern economy as renewable energy costs plummet and investment in new coal-fired plants falls to zero, inventor and former Microsoft executive Ramez Naam, warned yesterday.

It costs $3000 to attend, but few along at Sydney’s second Sohn Hearts & Minds Investment Leaders Conference would say it was anything but a bargain. The event moves the market.

If you had to short one of the FANG four – Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google (now Alphabet) – which one would it be? And if you could only own one for the next five to 10 years, which company would you pick?

If you had to short one of the FANG four – Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google (now Alphabet) – which one would it be? And if you could only own one for the next five to 10 years, which company would you pick?

The AFR shares some of the best ideas from the 2017 Sohn Hearts & Minds Conference

The rising importance of technology was the key theme of the second annual Sohn Hearts & Minds conference yesterday with Google a clear favourite because of its leadership role in artificial intelligence.

Heart surgeon Nikki Stamp cut straight to the point when she opened the 2017 Sohn Hearts & Minds investment conference in Sydney with the blunt declaration "we're all here to make money".

It costs $3000 to attend, but few along at Sydney’s second Sohn Hearts & Minds Investment Leaders Conference would say it was anything but a bargain.

Some of the market's top experts claim that investors are underestimating how the accelerated pace of technological disruption will affect investment returns.

Former Prime Minister Paul Keating has slammed the Turnbull Government’s foreign policy as “barren” with no new ideas except to fall in line with US policy, while China was well on the way to becoming the world’s largest economy.

Philanthropic donations will play an increasing role in funding medical research in Australia, ­according to Bob Graham, executive director of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute.

Anticipation is positively febrile ahead of the second Sohn Hearts & Minds conference at Sydney's Opera House on Friday.