Put in $2000, then purchased:
$500 for APO
$300 for BN
$930.41 for OWL
$500 for PAX
Since the last update on 08/01, the portfolio held the value pretty well in general. HASI and HHH were sizable bets that went from slightly undervalued to neutral in valuation, so I do not have opportunities to buy more. The new bet on UNH was quickly "validated" by the news on 08/15 that Berkshire's bet on it. The quick run up made me pause on adding it more for now. The tech sector doesn't give me much opportunities to add more, as usual.
The opportunities remain to be concentrated in the alternative asset managers sector. The market is skeptical about whether the so-so economy can sustain the fund raising of the managers. It gave me a chance to add more to OWL, an alternative asset manager that I like very much given its generous dividend policy (85% payout ratio based on distributable earnings, and is currently at 5% dividend yield) and double digit growth prospect.
The asset management industry is slowly shifting towards alternative assets, especially private credits. While the shift may slow a little bit short-term due to some economy headwind, I think the persisted high valuation of public stocks, the low yield in bonds, and the open up of the alternative assets to retirement funds will continue the trend that allows for the alternative asset managers to keep growing at double digit per share in earnings.
Transactions
Recent and upcoming dividend distributions
Portfolio performance snapshot
Total return:
One-year return:
Portfolio IRR (calculation): 24.32%
Approximated IRR for an SPY-only portfolio: 18.32%
Individual holdings:
Breakdown by categories (real-time):
Total returns for individual holdings:
Last prices:
Portfolio holdings conviction
The convictions in the table below reflects my current opinions and will guide the future contribution of additional investment to existing holdings. Stocks not inside the table are stocks with subpar return on equity that will be very unlikely to receive more contributions from new money (there can be exceptions for very cheap stocks).
Conviction in long-term prospects means how much I believe a company would match or outperform the market (e.g. S&P 500) in the long run. Valuation matters so the conviction generally corresponds to the neutral rating of Valuation. It has the following ratings: weak, moderate, strong
Valuation: greatly overvalued, overvalued, slightly overvalued, neutral, slightly undervalued, undervalued, greatly undervalued
Brief comments on individual holdings
Most Brief analysis and latest updates are here:
AHH, AMZN, BABA, BIDU, BN, BTC, HASI, HHH, HOOD, MAIN, NNN, NVDA, OWL, PAX, PYPL, TSLA, TSM, UNH, XYZ, ETFs like SPY, VWO
Below are incomplete writeups:
META
Global Monthly Active User (MAU) above 2.8 billion. Facebook is the biggest social network in the world. There will always be people buying Facebook/Whatsapp/Instagram.
The economic moat is weakened by Tiktok, but Tiktok is not really a social network that connects users who are familiar with each other, but another variant of youtube, so Facebook is still the top dog in social networking, although user time spent is definitely hurt.
Given Facebook's investment in VR; optional values in Facebook dating, and Facebook shops; Facebook Pay and Messenger have good monetization potential; Instagram has a unique position for people to express themselves; the improvement in Ads Infra to compensate for the loss in Apple App Tracking Transparency, I believe Facebook will come back. Long term annual growth of 15-20% in earnings should not be a problem.
BRK.B
Berkshire Hathaway in the current form was found by my idols, Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. I will try to buy more if it's not very expensive.
APO
Apollo specialized in distress situations, which reduced the number of competitors. Its famous slogan is purchase price matters, which shows how price conscious they are in picking investment. It has another slogan "we want 25% of everything and 100% of nothing on the asset", which is a goal post of the company about engaging in a lot of asset managing transactions even for other asset managers. It's a good way to position the company to have a large adjustable market. Their use of reinsurance company, Athene, helps them to grow assets under management effortlessly as well.
[2025/04/04] Expected 2025 EPS is $8.3, so P/E around 13.25, pretty cheap with an expected growth of 10-15%. 1.68% dividend yield helps a bit as well.
BAM
The pure asset management company part of the Brookfield Corporation. With BN, BAM can grow its asset under management (AUM) easily. Oaktree Capital, founded by the famous Howard Marks, is part of it, so it's very reputable.
The management has already indicated they are locked in to grow its cash flow 15% annually for the next field years. Its management fees do not rely on performance that much, so they are stable. With an expected 2023 EPS of $1.39, P/E 25 is not cheap, but with the help of 3.8% dividend yield (close to 100% payout, thanks to the asset light business model), there is a fair chance the stock can return 15% annually.
BX
A very reputable company in real estate. Its management fees rely on performance much more than Brookfield, but Blackstone has a track record, so I am not too worried about it.
Expected 2023 EPS is $4.36, P/E ~ 21. A 3.5% dividend yield with expected annual growth of 10-15%, this stock can potentially get a 15+% return in the long run.
