Anthony Doyle is Head of Investment Strategy at Firetrail, and for the Firetrail S3 Global Opportunities Fund (ASX: S3GO).
Anthony recently joined our founder, Owen Rask, in Rask’s Melbourne studio for a deep dive into the Firetrail investment process, how the team researches stocks, debates ideas and finds structural growers.
The conversation also offers wide-ranging insight into what happens behind the scenes at Firetrail, including how they find analysts, recruit and train their team.
💡 Listen to this episode if you want to know what it truly takes to find an edge with a repeatable investment process.
Talking points with Anthony Doyle
Considering the backdrop of passive funds and thematic ETFs capturing more share of investors’ dollars, where do you see the greatest opportunity for active fund managers going forward?
What is your first memory of money, finance or investing, and how did you come to be involved in the industry like you are today?
You mention conviction as an important trait in the Firetrail investment process. Elsewhere, I heard you talk about blind voting and the number of hours that go into finding new ideas. Can you walk us through the Firetrail investment process, beginning at screening and filtering, analyst assignments, valuations, portfolio position, risk management and selling? In particular, what makes it unique?
- Number of ideas across the portfolios versus the universe size
- Using checklists – what’s on it?
- Tools and software you use as a team
- How many stocks make it into the portfolio from your ‘ideas’ list?
- Maintaining conviction versus humility
- Your experience in dealing with investors who were successful with, or without, conviction.
- Is concentration the same as conviction?
- Are fund mandates/rules a good or bad thing?
I recently ran this poll:
When have you, or your team, interviewed a CEO and came away with conviction, but got it wrong?
Are there any other behavioural strategies, tools, methods or resources that help your analysts and PMs avoid behavioural mistakes or exploit opportunities?
Can you pull two ideas out of the Firetrail portfolios and tell us what makes these companies so unique, and, perhaps, the research methods that went into finding them and building conviction around them?
What’s one thing about finance or investing you believe that few others would agree with you on?
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