Global fund managers gathered at the 2025 Sohn Hearts & Minds conference to pitch their best stock ideas. Here are all 10 tips in the order they were presented.
Eric Wong from Stillpoint Investments backs this $US1.4bn Japanese firm that builds modular factories for drugs, batteries and chemicals. Think of it as life-size Lego for industry. The factories are built in China, packed into containers and shipped worldwide.
With Trump’s 100 per cent tariffs driving pharma production back to America, Morimatsu’s order book has jumped 600 per cent. Shares are up 145 per cent this year.
UK fund manager Peter Rutter likes America’s second-largest steel producer. The $US22bn firm melts scrap metal in electric furnaces, making it more efficient than rivals with world-leading margins. Staff from receptionists to engineers get monthly bonuses tied to mill performance. The company is also moving into aluminium. Rutter sees profits rising 150 per cent over 12 to 18 months.
Munro Partners’ Qiao Ma tips the owner of UFC and WWE. Dana White bought UFC for under $US2m in 2001 and built it into a global giant. Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel merged it with WWE in 2023. The firm has 700 million fans worldwide but only five Wall Street analysts cover it. It trades at 17 times earnings despite free cash flow growing over 15 per cent annually and delivers 35 per cent profit margins. A Paramount Plus deal will triple UFC’s audience. Shares are up 27 per cent this year.
Square Peg’s Ben Hensman says this $US9bn workflow software firm solves workplace chaos. Workers now face 120 emails daily, 150 chat messages and interruptions every two minutes. Monday.com lets users build their own systems with no code. It automates 400 million tasks monthly for 250,000 customers. Canva uses it across two thirds of its teams. The stock trades at 16 times free cash flow. Hensman calls it the best value since its 2021 listing. Shares are down 32 per cent this year.
Ampfield Management’s Emerson Moore describes this Finnish DIY chain as Bunnings meets Ikea. Founded by six brothers in 1982, it has a €1.2bn ($1.8bn) market cap with almost no debt. While most retailers chase trends, Puuilo chases people who want a good drill and cheap fishing tackle. New stores cost €1.6m to open and generate €1.5m in operating earnings. Moore predicts 20 per cent annual returns.
JO Hambro’s Samir Mehta sees 60 per cent upside in this $US9bn Indian insurance marketplace. Two thirds of India’s healthcare costs are still paid in cash. Life insurance penetration sits at just three per cent despite India being the world’s fourth-largest economy with $US3.5bn in annual savings. PolicyBazaar serves 14 million customers with revenues growing 52 per cent and cash flows up 40 per cent.
Third Point’s Dan Loeb says people want experiences, so he backs concerts giant LiveNation. He invested pre-Covid when it dropped to $US20 a share. The firm invests $US1bn annually in new venues with 20 per cent returns. Earnings will rise from $US6 to $US8 a share. He sees 50 per cent upside despite a Federal Trade Commission probe. Loeb also tips Japanese semiconductor firm Ebara, trading cheaply in an oligopoly position with margins 10 points below peers.
Antipodes Partners’ Vihari Ross backs this $US2.2bn senior housing provider. Baby Boomers control over $US80 trillion in assets. The first turn 80 next year and the number of over-80s will double in coming decades. New construction has plunged 90 per cent, creating undersupply as demand surges. The firm earns 80 to 90 per cent margins on each extra resident. Ross expects revenues to rise 1.5 times over three years and operating income to triple. Shares are up 110 per cent this year.
Marathon Resource Advisors’ Robert Mullin says energy is AI’s biggest challenge. This 100-year-old oilfield services firm set up an AI lab in 1981 and now runs a $US5 trillion global energy marketplace. Four years ago it consolidated its software and AI businesses under one roof. The firm will return almost 10 per cent of its market cap in dividends and buybacks this year. Mullin says it trades at a 60 per cent discount.
Advent International’s Mohammed Anjarwala tips this German cement giant trading at just 12 times earnings. The firm has over 50 per cent local market share, meaning sustained pricing power. Germany’s €500bn infrastructure fund starts next quarter while defence spending jumps from two per cent to five per cent of GDP. This pushes the construction market from €60bn a year to €90bn. Despite volumes falling 20 per cent over five years, revenues rose 25 per cent and earnings surged 70 per cent. Anjarwala forecasts earnings nearly doubling. Shares are up 78 per cent this year.
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“The Mooch”, as he’s affectionately known, is a man in high demand. He’s flown into Sydney to headline the Sohn Hearts & Minds conference at the Opera House, an investment community jamboree that raises money for charity. He landed in London the night before, and will leave Sydney the next day for the brutal 24-hour return to New York.
Australian investors should be more worried about China than sweating on Federal Reserve independence and other market obsessions to do with Donald Trump, says billionaire conservative Baron Michael Hintze.
Beyond Wall Street, The Mooch is better known for his cutting takes on US politics in the popular podcast The Rest is Politics: US, which he hosts with BBC’s long-term North American correspondent Katty Kay.
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