Blackwattle’s Ray David is raising red flags about market darling CSL

There are a select few stocks on the ASX that boast true market darling status. Whereas other stocks sell off at the hint of bad news, market darlings seem to emit an aura effect on markets that itself attracts investment.

Biotech company CSL is arguably the Aussie market’s preeminent market darling, having returned 5,741% since inception.

For a while, it seemed like CSL could do no wrong. But even royalty can be dethroned...

Today’s guest is Ray David, Portfolio Manager and Partner at Blackwattle Investment Partners. Alongside Joseph Koh, Ray runs Blackwattle’s brand new Long-Short Quality Fund.

Ray has a red flag system for identifying his short and underweight positions. He put CSL through the ringer, and as you’ll learn today, it spat out a sea of red flags.

He also discusses the Ponzi scheme that sparked his interest in investment finance, why he’s bullish BHP irrespective of the commodity cycle, his overweight positions in industrials, and the media company with the best suite of assets on the ASX.     

Thanks again to Bell Direct for their support of this podcast. And remember, for a limited time, you can get 3 current Bell Potter stock reports each week. It’s the kind of exclusive research that can give investors an edge. So go to Bell Direct and look for the Livewire logo to get your Bell Potter stock reports now.

Note: this interview was recorded on August 15, 2023

Timstamps

• 0:00 - START
• 1:56 - A ponzi introduction to finance
• 5:30 - Lessons from the the Buy and Sell sides of the industry
• 10:00 - Have risk assets beaten central banks?
• 11:46 - The bear case for banks
• 14:00 - Defining 'quality'
• 18:00 - A new era for short selling
• 22:54 - Red flags for CSL
• 27:00 - Overweight industrials
• 29:10 - The best asset book on the ASX
• 30:26 - Reporting season buys
• 34:40 - Mining needs explosives
• 37:37 - Franchising done right