Three ways to cash in on the digital infrastructure boom

Two established investment trusts and a business with great potential stand out in the digital infrastructure sector.

Two African women pointing at a mobile phone
Mobile phone use is soaring in Africa
(Image credit: © Alamy)

Tech stocks have had a rough start to the year. The tech-heavy S&P 500 is down 13.5% since January and the Nasdaq Composite is down 23%. In the UK there have been some notable outliers, chief among them two London-listed digital infrastructure funds: Cordiant (LSE: CORD) and Digital 9 (LSE: DGI9). In the year to date, Cordiant’s share price on the London market is down just 5.3% (up 4.8% over the last year), while Digital 9’s share price is actually up around 1%. These two funds’ closest peers, established US players American Tower and Crown Castle, have both suffered much bigger losses so far this year, down 12% and 9% respectively.

Both UK funds have delivered positive results. Cordiant announced a net asset value (NAV) of 106.34p per share (compared to 101.6p per share on 30 September 2021), equating to NAV and shareholder total returns over the period of 10% and 10.3% respectively, ahead of its target return of 9% per year. Digital 9’s numbers have also been impressive.

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David C. Stevenson
Contributor

David Stevenson has been writing the Financial Times Adventurous Investor column for nearly 15 years and is also a regular columnist for Citywire. He writes his own widely read Adventurous Investor SubStack newsletter at davidstevenson.substack.com

David has also had a successful career as a media entrepreneur setting up the big European fintech news and event outfit www.altfi.com as well as www.etfstream.com in the asset management space. 

Before that, he was a founding partner in the Rocket Science Group, a successful corporate comms business. 

David has also written a number of books on investing, funds, ETFs, and stock picking and is currently a non-executive director on a number of stockmarket-listed funds including Gresham House Energy Storage and the Aurora Investment Trust. 

In what remains of his spare time he is a presiding justice on the Southampton magistrates bench.