As one Nobel Prize winning poet once wrote.
A quick look at the lyrics of the famous Bob Dylan song is interesting – they are highly relevant for investors. As a ‘writer… who prophesize with (my) pen‘, I agree that the ‘the loser now will be later to win‘ is a valid concept for investing – what I call being a contrarian.
If I asked you to name an American electric car maker whose share price has risen 43% year to date, would you think immediately of Tesla.
In fact Tesla’s share price is down 9% or so year to date (in US dollars).
The car company whose share price is up that much (again in US dollars) is one increasing its electric car production and putting its prestigious Mustang brand behind the ‘halo’ model’, which looks to be an impressive car. It is, of course, the oldest mass producer of all: the Ford Motor Company.
I have also seen several notes from investment writers pointing out that Volkswagen is making good progress with electric vehicle sales and the shares in that business are held in some ‘opportunity’ type funds.
I am not saying anything about the merits of Tesla cars versus other electric cars: I have not owned any EV yet and know that this is a subject where views are often rather partisan and nothing much to do with investment valuations.
What I am saying is that there is now a wealth of evidence that the serious investors in global stock markets are looking forward past the end of the current boom in ‘new’ (now not so new) technology champions. Shares in businesses that actually make profits, have free cash flow and generate dividends are at last coming back into fashion.
As the nobel laureate puts it:
The slow one now will later be fast; the order is rapidly fadin’; and the first one now will later be last
That could be me ‘propehezising’!
