Six Technologies To Ponder
We live in a time of great challenges yet great innovation. Do you feel overwhelmed with the constant proclamations about what problems need solving most urgently, and what technologies are most effective? Do you seek to invest in new technology that has unrealized potential? On March 17, 2022, Alok Jha, science editor for the Economist, engaged two of his colleagues in a few lightning rounds of “Tell Us About Technology.” The colleagues were Slavea Chankova, healthcare correspondent, and Tom Standage, deputy editor. The three of them gave brief speeches meant to summarize a selected technology and its significance to current […]
“Confront Their Reluctance”
“We believe women need to confront their reluctance to consider a leadership role and work actively to counter it with a more positive response.” This clarion call is issued by two top leaders in the academic and corporate world. Indira Samarasekera was the first woman president of the University of Alberta, and a director of Magna International, TC Energy, and Stelco. Martha Piper was the first woman president of the University of British Columbia, and a director of the Bank of Montreal, Shoppers Drug Mart, and TransAlta Corporation. Although neither was born in Canada, both are officers of the Order […]
The future of active management
“Active portfolio management is futile,” say some who watch the progression of the financial industry. “Active managers only randomly outperform the stock market as a whole.” Is this true, or have the rumours of its demise been greatly exaggerated? On June 10, 2021, Philip Young, CFA, welcomed a webinar audience on behalf of the CFA Society of Toronto to consider this very question as they listened to Ronald Kahn, Managing Director, and Global Head of Systematic Equity Research at Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager. He recently co-authored the book Advances in Active Portfolio Management: New Developments in Quantitative Investing. […]
Death of Fundamental Analysis?
Have you been following the market frenzy around stocks for GameStop, AMC and Bed Bath & Beyond? Or the news on Wall Street Bets and Robinhood? How disruptive are these events for traditional valuation methods? What new factors must be considered when investing and allocating capital? Recent shifts in market dynamics have altered the perception of capital markets in meaningful ways. On April 8, 2021, the Corporate Finance Committee of the CFA Society of Toronto convened a panel of experts to discuss the reasons market valuations are so out of synch with fundamental analysis. Moderator Stephen Foerster, Professor of Finance […]
Transforming Healthcare
Great strides have been made in medical treatments, pharmaceuticals and drug therapies, and patient recordkeeping – many of them by for-profit companies. How has the recent advent of Covid-19 shaped these developments? Last week, Pfizer was the first to announce a Covid-19 vaccine candidate. What new financial opportunities await? Three panellists convened on November 17, 2020, to discuss the transformation of healthcare, in a webinar sponsored by the Canadian Association of Alternative Strategies & Assets (CAASA). CAASA is a trade association representing alternative investment managers, service providers, and investors. The panel was moderated by Dr. Ted Witek, Health Care Advisor […]
ESG disclosures: apples vs oranges
When it comes to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) funds, do you feel like we are still comparing apples with oranges? Isn’t it time for a global voluntary standard? “There’s been an explosion of interest in ESG investing, but the inconsistency in ESG-related disclosures could lead to an erosion of trust in the industry,” said Deborah Kidd, who is a director with the Global Industry Standards (GIPS). She was the first of two panelists who presented a consultation paper on “ESG Disclosure Standards for Investment Products” at a webinar titled “Improving Transparency and Comparability of Investment Products with ESG-related Features” […]
Psychology of Money
In 2009, award-winning journalist Morgan Housel was awash in information about the 2008 financial collapse. Yet, try as he might, he could not find the answer to the question: “Why did people behave the way they did?” This is what led him to start formulating notes for what became a blog, and eventually a book titled The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness (Harriman House, 2020). The book was launched on September 8. “What is a person’s relationship with greed and fear? The psychological side of investing is the most important side,” Housel said, “because if you […]
Investing in the greater good
Every day, more investors are converting their portfolios to socially responsible investing (SRI). But does being a socially responsible investor mean you will take a hit on performance? “Over the last five years, responsible investments have done at least as well as the traditional portfolio,” said Tim Nash, a fee-for-service financial planner who spoke at the webinar “Investing in the Greater Good” on August 18, 2020, sponsored by Questrade. Nash is the founder of Good Investing and blogs as The Sustainable Economist. He is also the lead researcher for Ethical Markets Green Transition Scoreboard research report, which details more than […]
Healthy skepticism
Selecting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) funds is a way that ordinary citizens can invest in an ethical way. But what does the increased interest in ESG investing shown by institutional and private wealth clients really mean? Is it paying off? Are we at a watershed moment for structural change in the way investors allocate resources? The move to consider ESG investing came some years ago with scandals such as Enron, and continues with more scandals such as Volkswagen’s Dieselgate and Facebook’s meddlings, said Pedro Matos, a professor of finance at University of Virginia and the author of the CFA […]
Quality in the time of Covid
There’s a wide range of “quality factor” investing out there. How can the investor distinguish between the variety of methods? More importantly, how can the investor select the best factor method for given economic conditions? To answer this question, a recent paper compared the variety of methods, and examined how each method performed under different market conditions. The paper, “What is Quality?”, by Jason Hsu, Vitali Kalesnik, and Engin Kose, won the Graham & Dodd 2020 award for the best paper published in the Financial Analysts Journal in 2019. To celebrate the achievement, the journal invited the authors of the […]