Founder Evidente. Top rated quantitative analyst, Evidente

Sam Ferraro

Founder Evidente. Top rated quantitative analyst

Evidente

Evidente is an independent financial education firm that delivers innovative financial advice to wholesale investors, including active long only funds, hedge funds, pension funds, and sovereign wealth funds, in Australia and globally.  Drawing on academic research in asset pricing, behavioural finance and portfolio construction, Evidente provides wholesale investors with commercial solutions to stock selection and asset allocation decisions across equities and other asset classes.

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

Australia Industrials / Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul><li>A lift in new dwelling investment to a record high has underpinned Australia's current housing expansion.  The revolution in Australian housing reflects a shift towards higher density dwellings.  Building approvals for high density dwellings now accounts for half of residential approvals, well above the historical norm of around one-third.  Moreover, within the higher density segment, there has been a shift towards apartment blocks with four or more storeys.</li><li>Evidente believes that Australia's housing revolution is here to stay.  Australia's urban population density is still amongst the lowest in the world, consumer tastes continue to evolve towards more affordable, apartment living, and there are simply physical limits to the urban sprawl in Australia's major cities.</li><li>I identify two listed stocks that are leveraged to the prospect of strong growth in transport infrastructure designed to ease traffic congestion associated with more higher density dwellings: toll road operator, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/593" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:593">Transurban Group (TCL AU)</a>, and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/12350" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:12350">Downer EDI Ltd (DOW AU)</a>, which generates more than one-third of its revenues from its transport services and rail divisions.</li><li>Around the new normal however, booms and busts are inevitable. The RBA has identified a growing risk of over-supply of apartments emerging in inner city Brisbane and Melbourne.  Bank exposures here are limited such that apartment prices would need to drop by more than 25% for banks to experience material losses.  Evidente's model portfolio remains modestly overweight Australia's major banks due to the large P/B discount relative to industrials.</li></ul>

A lift in new dwelling investment to a record high has underpinned Australia's current housing expansion.  The revolution in Australian housing reflects a shift towards higher density dwellings.  Building approvals for high density dwellings now accounts for half of residential approvals, well above the historical norm of around one-third.  Moreover, within the higher density segment, there has been a shift towards apartment blocks with four or more storeys.Evidente believes that Australia's housing revolution is here to stay.  Australia's urban population density is still amongst the lowest in the world, consumer tastes continue to evolve towards more affordable, apartment living, and there are simply physical limits to the urban sprawl in Australia's major cities.I identify two listed stocks that are leveraged to the prospect of strong growth in transport infrastructure designed to ease traffic congestion associated with more higher density dwellings: toll road operator, Transurban Group (TCL AU), and Downer EDI Ltd (DOW AU), which generates more than one-third of its revenues from its transport services and rail divisions.Around the new normal however, booms and busts are inevitable. The RBA has identified a growing risk of over-supply of apartments emerging in inner city Brisbane and Melbourne.  Bank exposures here are limited such that apartment prices would need to drop by more than 25% for banks to experience material losses.  Evidente's model portfolio remains modestly overweight Australia's major banks due to the large P/B discount relative to industrials.

Blue Sky Alternative Investments (BLA AU)

Australia's Housing Revolution Continues, but for How Much Longer?