Leaders

The 35th iteration of the awards saw Franklin Templeton Australia beat out fellow finalists BlackRock, Lazard, VanEck and Macquarie Asset Management to take out the Fund Manager of the Year award.

The Australian Shareholders’ Association recently held its second annual ASA Awards in recognition of best corporate governance, honouring Woolworths Group for its shareholder communications and Northern Star Resources for improved governance standards.

Although more Australian companies are paying dividends in 2023, many have reduced payouts, with the year-to-date total slightly behind 2022’s figures, according to CommSec research. The big miners are leading the cuts, while energy producers are lifting dividends to reflect record high gas prices.

A higher net interest margin drove a 10 per cent increase in CBA’s net profit after tax, while Wesfarmers benefited from a strong performance by Kmart Group and the chemicals division. But with much of the upside for these companies already priced in, investors should be clear about valuations before buying in.

Increased traffic volumes and higher earnings have provided valuation support for the infrastructure company, ClearBridge Investments’ Shane Hurst says, with the post-COVID-19 recovery positioning the business for solid growth.

See what the brokers say about Australia’s largest bank and mining entity this reporting season.

An action-packed month of record dividends, soaring energy prices and rising inflation are all expected to be key trends this earnings season.

Of the 200 companies that Morningstar analysts research on the ASX, 15 companies have made it onto the firm’s Best Stock Ideas for August.

The 2020-21 financial year was horrendous for growth funds, especially those exposed to high-growth tech stocks, which were widely seen as overvalued at the market peak in late 2021.

In Bank of America’s July global fund manager survey, several measures show money managers pointing toward further doom and gloom. So much so that the historically bearish sentiment hints at a potential rally to the upside should market conditions only marginally improve.

Falling resource and commodities prices are worrying investors and resource companies have dropped sharply in price in July. Analysts are mixed on their outlook for resources companies, with some tipping energy companies to outperform while other experts favour diversified resources companies.

China is tipped to be the largest economy in the world, yet most client portfolios contain little to no exposure to China A-Shares. While the ease of access has often been cited as one of the reasons for the omission, there are a number of managed funds and ETFs that cover this growing asset class that can easily be implemented.