You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Twice daily
MoneyWeek
Get the latest financial news, insights and expert analysis from our award-winning MoneyWeek team, to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.
Four times a week
Look After My Bills
Sign up to our free money-saving newsletter, filled with the latest news and expert advice to help you find the best tips and deals for managing your bills. Start saving today!
As we come out of the pandemic, we are identifying numerous structural-growth opportunities in several key areas. This comes as governments deploy sizeable fiscal stimuli to support the economic recovery.
These target global infrastructure programmes, which could create attractive long-term opportunities in sectors such as green infrastructure, robotics and automation, and healthcare infrastructure. Green infrastructure developments focus on renewable energy, electric transportation, energy efficiency and greener buildings.
MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
The latter implies more remote patient monitoring and virtual care. We seek out firms with sustainable franchises, strong pricing power, low risk of disruption, high returns on invested capital (a key gauge of profitability) and strong balance sheets.
The fifth utility
Sweden’s Atlas Copco (Stockholm: ATCOA) is a global leader in vacuum and air-compressor technologies. Its high market share permits the company to maintain a pricing premium. Atlas Copco is very well run and has shown resilience despite being exposed to cyclical end-markets. What’s more, historically it has managed to cover its cost of capital even during severe recessions.
The group sells to a broad range of customers. Air compressors are known as the “fifth utility’” as they are crucial in sectors such as cars, construction and semiconductors. Atlas Copco is well-placed to harness global infrastructure growth through exposure to green-building construction, renewable energy and infrastructure developments for electric transportation, as well as to 5G and healthcare infrastructure.
Another Swedish company we hold is digital industrial-equipment specialist Hexagon (Stockholm: HEXAB). It focuses on enabling firms to augment their robotics and automation throughout their production lines.
This also has the benefit of helping companies reduce their carbon footprints over time. Hexagon is especially exposed to the structural-growth opportunity from the emergence of “digital twin” assets, which are the digital representations of physical objects such as manufacturing sites.
These digital representations are then used to monitor and improve the performance of the equivalent physical asset. We see several markets moving towards the convergence of digital and physical assets, which bodes well for Hexagon’s revenue growth and profitability over the long term.
Software for bespoke healthcare
US-based Veeva Systems (NYSE: VEEV) is at the forefront of bringing tailored software to drug development: it offers cloud-based solutions for the global life-sciences industry. Veeva’s market opportunity is growing thanks to the trend towards more complex and personalised healthcare. Veeva serves a regulated market with products that provide high barriers to entry against potential competitors, thus giving it the ability to sustain a long period of strong growth and profitability.
-
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Iran’s underestimated chief clericAyatollah Ali Khamenei is the Iranian regime’s great survivor portraying himself as a humble religious man while presiding over an international business empire
-
'AI will change our world in more ways than we can imagine'Interview Rob Arnott of Research Affiliates talks to Andrew Van Sickle about the AI bubble, the impact of tariffs on inflation and the outlook for gold and China
-
'AI is the real deal – it will change our world in more ways than we can imagine'
Interview Rob Arnott of Research Affiliates talks to Andrew Van Sickle about the AI bubble, the impact of tariffs on inflation and the outlook for gold and China
-
Should investors join the rush for venture-capital trusts?Opinion Investors hoping to buy into venture-capital trusts before the end of the tax year may need to move quickly, says David Prosser
-
Food and drinks giants seek an image makeover – here's what they're doingThe global food and drink industry is having to change pace to retain its famous appeal for defensive investors. Who will be the winners?
-
Barings Emerging Europe trust bounces back from Russia woesBarings Emerging Europe trust has added the Middle East and Africa to its mandate, delivering a strong recovery, says Max King
-
How a dovish Federal Reserve could affect youTrump’s pick for the US Federal Reserve is not so much of a yes-man as his rival, but interest rates will still come down quickly, says Cris Sholto Heaton
-
Three companies with deep economic moats to buy nowOpinion An economic moat can underpin a company's future returns. Here, Imran Sattar, portfolio manager at Edinburgh Investment Trust, selects three stocks to buy now
-
Should you sell your Affirm stock?Affirm, a buy-now-pay-later lender, is vulnerable to a downturn. Investors are losing their enthusiasm, says Matthew Partridge
-
Why it might be time to switch your pension strategyYour pension strategy may need tweaking – with many pension experts now arguing that 75 should be the pivotal age in your retirement planning.
