Asian high-end technology stocks offer the best hedge against the prospect of a prolonged Iran war, according to an emerging-markets equity fund that’s beaten 96% of its peers over the past year. The Robeco Emerging Stars Equities fund has more than 40% of its assets in South Korean and Taiwanese shares, reflecting its view that chipmakers tied to artificial intelligence will retain their pricing ...
Asian high-end technology stocks offer the best hedge against the prospect of a prolonged Iran war, according to an emerging-markets equity fund that’s beaten 96% of its peers over the past year. The Robeco Emerging Stars Equities fund has more than 40% of its assets in South Korean and Taiwanese shares, reflecting its view that chipmakers tied to artificial intelligence will retain their pricing power even in a downturn, according to client portfolio manager Jan de Bruijn . “AI is not going to just die because of a global recession,” de Bruijn said in an interview. “Taiwan has a 80% market share, if not more, in logic chips. The Koreans have about 80%-to-90% share of the high-bandwidth memory chip market. So clearly they can pass a lot of costs through.” The fund, which had total assets of $4.6 billion at the end of February, returned 45% over the past year, including 6.8% so far in 2026, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. One of the fund’s strategies is to undertake proxy trades, where it buys shares in holding companies that trade at steep discounts to their underlying assets — sometimes as much as 60%. This allows it to gain exposure to its favored themes at relatively attractive valuations. The fund therefore owns SK Square Co. , instead of SK Hynix Inc. , and Naspers Ltd. instead of Tencent Holdings Ltd. Read more: Memory Is Wall Street’s Favorite Tech Trade as Mag 7 Disappoints “What you sometimes find is there’s a holding company that has a stake in a company, and then when you do a sum of parts, you’ll find that you’re getting into that stock story at a big discount,” he said. “We feel that discount will narrow over time.” The fund is overweight in Latin America and holds selective exposure in Asia, while it’s underweight the Middle East. “We’ve ended up, I think being positioned reasonably well for what’s going on at the moment,” de Bruijn said.
ismagilov/iStock via Getty Images At a glance Performance The Portfolio returned -3.67% (gross) and the S&P 500® Index returned 2.66%. Contributors/detractors Stock selection in the information technology sector detracted from relative performance. Stock selection in the consumer staples sector contributed. Outlook Our differentiated investment approach aims to provide equity diversification for c...
ismagilov/iStock via Getty Images At a glance Performance The Portfolio returned -3.67% (gross) and the S&P 500® Index returned 2.66%. Contributors/detractors Stock selection in the information technology sector detracted from relative performance. Stock selection in the consumer staples sector contributed. Outlook Our differentiated investment approach aims to provide equity diversification for clients, along with returns not tied to an index or the broad economy. Investment environment U.S. shares rose on positive corporate earnings news. Economic growth has been relatively stable despite a government shutdown, policy headwinds, and slower-than-expected employment growth. The Federal Reserve (Fed) followed a September rate cut with two additional 25 basis-point (bp) rate cuts, in October and December, respectively. Excitement around artificial intelligence (AI) was a strong driver of returns early in the quarter. The market began to broaden in the second half of October as concerns over valuations and potential investment returns led to declines in AI-related stocks. Nonetheless, stocks ended the year on a strong note. Portfolio review Oracle ( ORCL ) was relative detractor, amid volatility in AI-related stocks. Oracle has emerged as a leading player in the AI market, supported by its strong and growing position in the hyperscale market as well as close relationships with leading AI partners. Oracle's cloud business has signed several multibillion-dollar contracts. This led to a large increase in remaining performance obligations (RPOs), which represent expected future revenues. Despite the company's strong financial performance, the stock declined in the fourth quarter as investors grew more cautious about Oracle's ability to fund the ambitious infrastructure buildout necessary to service these future contracts. Further, the market has concerns about the potential customer concentration within these RPOs. We believe these concerns are overstated as Oracle has mul...
"Lord, What Fools These Mortals Be!" Shakespeare's Birthplace To Be "Decolonized" Authored by Jonathan Turley, In Hamlet, William Shakespeare famously wrote, “To thine own self be true.” The problem is when others want to present a different “truth” long after you are gone. Shakespeare is under an unrelenting attack in the United Kingdom from trigger warnings to censoring his prose. Now, Shakespea...
"Lord, What Fools These Mortals Be!" Shakespeare's Birthplace To Be "Decolonized" Authored by Jonathan Turley, In Hamlet, William Shakespeare famously wrote, “To thine own self be true.” The problem is when others want to present a different “truth” long after you are gone. Shakespeare is under an unrelenting attack in the United Kingdom from trigger warnings to censoring his prose. Now, Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust has announced that it will “de-colonise” the Bard. In the name of creating “a more inclusive museum experience,” the Trust is moving away from Western perspectives to avoid the dangers of “white supremacy.” A prior research project between the trust and Dr Helen Hopkins at the University of Birmingham raised concerns over just praising the writer. Even recognizing Shakespeare’s genius “benefits the ideology of white European supremacy.” The new push at the Trust follows The Globe Theatre’s previous move to “decolonise” Shakespeare’s famous plays. Again, while many of us denounce this type of revisionism, it appeals to this community of cultural overlords . It is personally advancing for these academics and experts to seek to change or cancel such works. The same voices are being heard in the United States. As we previously discussed , in a column in the School Library Journal , Minnesota librarian and journalist Amanda MacGregor questioned why teachers were even still exposing their students to this harmful influence: “Shakespeare’s works are full of problematic, outdated ideas, with plenty of misogyny, racism, homophobia, classism, anti-Semitism and misogynoir.” Lorena German, National Council of Teachers of English Anti-Racism Committee chair and a co-founder of the Disrupt Texts forum, insisted “everything about the fact that he was a man of his time is problematic about his plays. We cannot teach Shakespeare responsibly and not disrupt the ways people are characterized and developed.” It is time for the dwindling population of sane Brits to step fo...
Celestica Inc. (NYSE:CLS) ranks among the most profitable Canadian Stocks to buy now. On March 11, CIBC reduced its price target for Celestica Inc. (NYSE:CLS) from $400 to $360 while retaining an Outperformer rating for the company. The firm stated that the decrease indicates a lower-multiple environment rather than a decline in fundamentals. According to […]
Celestica Inc. (NYSE:CLS) ranks among the most profitable Canadian Stocks to buy now. On March 11, CIBC reduced its price target for Celestica Inc. (NYSE:CLS) from $400 to $360 while retaining an Outperformer rating for the company. The firm stated that the decrease indicates a lower-multiple environment rather than a decline in fundamentals. According to […]
Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) ranks among the best rebound stocks to buy right now. On March 13, Argus reduced its price target for Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) to $225 from $384 while retaining a Buy rating on the company’s shares. Analyst Joseph Bonner expressed concerns about whether the company’s backlog improvements will translate into actual revenue. Oracle […]
Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) ranks among the best rebound stocks to buy right now. On March 13, Argus reduced its price target for Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) to $225 from $384 while retaining a Buy rating on the company’s shares. Analyst Joseph Bonner expressed concerns about whether the company’s backlog improvements will translate into actual revenue. Oracle […]
Earnings Call Insights: Dyadic International, Inc. (DYAI) Q4 2025 Management View President & COO Joseph Hazelton indicated that since stepping into the President's role in June 2025, the company has accelerated its transition "from a development stage platform company into a commercial product-driven biotechnology business with multiple paths for revenue." Hazelton highlighted significant progres...
Earnings Call Insights: Dyadic International, Inc. (DYAI) Q4 2025 Management View President & COO Joseph Hazelton indicated that since stepping into the President's role in June 2025, the company has accelerated its transition "from a development stage platform company into a commercial product-driven biotechnology business with multiple paths for revenue." Hazelton highlighted significant progress, including a corporate rebrand, alignment around commercialization, technological advancements through CRISPR licensing, expanded manufacturing via the Fermbox partnership, and the initiation of product launches and distribution agreements. Hazelton reported, "In less than one year, we've matured from early-stage product development to commercial product launches, distribution agreements, initial product sales and multiple revenue-generating partnerships." Hazelton emphasized recombinant albumin as the leading example, noting the commercial launch with Proliant Health & Biologicals in early 2026. He described the arrangement as a profit-sharing collaboration, marking Dyadic's first platform-enabled product at commercial scale with recurring revenue potential. Hazelton discussed other animal-free recombinant products, such as transferrin and DNase-1, and described an OEM distribution agreement with IBT Bioservices: "This accelerates market penetration while supporting both near-term revenue and positions us for long-term volume growth as products are adopted in customer workflows." Hazelton highlighted the first sales of fibroblast growth factor (FGF) in Q4 2025, underscoring the milestone as both technical validation and initial revenue generation. He also detailed the food & nutrition segment, referencing a new agreement with BRIG BIO to develop and commercialize animal-free recombinant Bovine Alpha-Lactalbumin. CEO Mark Emalfarb provided updates on biopharmaceutical collaborations, stating, "We continue to advance our partner-funded biopharmaceutical collaborations, app...