Nikada/E+ via Getty Images The iShares MSCI Philippines ETF ( EPHE ) is a pretty interesting ETF. PE ratios are pretty low here for an economy that is probably above average as far as emerging economy profiles go. There is quite a lot of indexation to a port operator in the ETF which does index the ETF quite a bit to the intensity of trade with trade partners, which comes down to the important eco...
Nikada/E+ via Getty Images The iShares MSCI Philippines ETF ( EPHE ) is a pretty interesting ETF. PE ratios are pretty low here for an economy that is probably above average as far as emerging economy profiles go. There is quite a lot of indexation to a port operator in the ETF which does index the ETF quite a bit to the intensity of trade with trade partners, which comes down to the important economic ties with China that do quite a lot to determine the Philippines' economic health. Other than that exposure, we are looking at a considerable financial exposure too that is probably not enjoying the market pressures and economic threats from the Iran war, which matter for Southeast Asia and China, but at least the yield curve is steepening, which should be good for the corporate books and the consumer books driven by things like car loans. It's a dragging market with a decent development profile and therefore could be primed to grow, but it's quite linked to Chinese fortunes, like much of the rest of SE Asia, and it has traded sideways consistent with the challenged deleveraging of China's economy. We think that the economic consequences of the Iran war may slow down China's recovery, but deleveraging for almost half a decade now, it's also about time that it starts recovering—some green shoots were showing. We think that will then lift the Philippines as well, and starting from a low valuation base, it may be a good way to ride those coattails as an ASEAN play. But with oil dependence on the Middle East themselves, Philippines is exposed, which matters a lot for the industrial and financial exposures and also for the peso, in which their flows are denominated. It has declared a state of national emergency as well, with oil not that shored up, and planes could be grounded and oil generally unavailable. EPHE Breakdown Bear Case The macro situation is that the Iran war poses serious threats to quite a few Southeast Asian countries and China, who are all very dependent o...
Richard Drury/DigitalVision via Getty Images FDG at a Glance The American Century Focused Dynamic Growth ETF ( FDG ) is an actively managed exchange-traded fund (also known as an ETF) that invests in a concentrated portfolio of mid- to large-cap growth companies with long-term capital appreciation potential. American Century, the fund’s parent company, looks to identify 30–45 early-stage, high-gro...
Richard Drury/DigitalVision via Getty Images FDG at a Glance The American Century Focused Dynamic Growth ETF ( FDG ) is an actively managed exchange-traded fund (also known as an ETF) that invests in a concentrated portfolio of mid- to large-cap growth companies with long-term capital appreciation potential. American Century, the fund’s parent company, looks to identify 30–45 early-stage, high-growth companies with strong competitive advantages, profitability, and scalability that would position the fund to outperform the Russell 1000 Growth ETF benchmark. Over the last several years, the fund has done an incredible job. I recently wrote about FDG and noted that I like how the fund managers are continuously able to find growth at a reasonable price—but the tide is starting to turn. Since the start of the year, FDG has tumbled significantly , falling ~150 basis points versus its benchmark, and almost 600 basis points compared to SPY. After reviewing the fund facts and recent portfolio adjustments by management, I recognize that this is a growth oriented fund, but its aggressive approach recently is cause for concern, and why I'm moving this to a hold. I continue to be skeptical of many actively managed ETFs, and it's part of the rationale of why I'm continuing to write about which active ETFs stack up better against their competitors. Just 22% of active managers beat the S&P 500 in 2025, and FDG was one of the ones to beat it and its benchmark. But it seems mean reversion may be starting to creep in after taking an aggressive approach. FDG's benchmark target is the Russell Growth 1000 ETF, and the point of this article is to review whether these actively managed options are actually better or whether you should just buy IWF , a passively managed ETF that tracks the Russell Growth 1000 Index. Passively managed means that fund managers don't make many trades, and only rebalance every once in a while, compared with FDG's managers, who have the mandate to buy and sell st...
As the US-Israeli war on Iran enters its second month, another major shipping lane is at risk of closure but the chances of a prolonged conflict remain slim, according to Chinese analysts. The assessment came on Saturday as Iran-backed Houthi rebels joined the fray by firing missiles at Israel from Yemen. The Israeli military said it intercepted one of the projectiles. Chinese state news agency Xi...
As the US-Israeli war on Iran enters its second month, another major shipping lane is at risk of closure but the chances of a prolonged conflict remain slim, according to Chinese analysts. The assessment came on Saturday as Iran-backed Houthi rebels joined the fray by firing missiles at Israel from Yemen. The Israeli military said it intercepted one of the projectiles. Chinese state news agency Xinhua quoted a Houthi source as saying the missile attack was meant “as a warning”. The Houthis...
Senior couple having coffee in front of suburban home Momo Productions | Digitalvision | Getty Images For many couples, money is a source of stress: They might be facing credit card debt or student loans , trying to buy a house, or figuring out child care . Talking about it could help. But people in romantic relationships usually brace for a money talk with their partner to be a worse experience t...
Senior couple having coffee in front of suburban home Momo Productions | Digitalvision | Getty Images For many couples, money is a source of stress: They might be facing credit card debt or student loans , trying to buy a house, or figuring out child care . Talking about it could help. But people in romantic relationships usually brace for a money talk with their partner to be a worse experience than what, in fact, unfolds, according to a new study published this month in Social Psychological and Personality Science . "They anticipated these conversations would be less enjoyable, informative and socially connecting than they actually were," said study co-author Ximena Garcia-Rada, assistant professor in marketing at Texas A&M University. More from Women and Wealth: Expecting to fight about money with your partner? You might be wrong: study Belle Burden's 'Strangers' highlights key financial red flags for women Single women see homeownership as 'a wealth-building tool,' economist says More women pursue skilled trades — here's what some said about their experience Older women may inherit most of $54 trillion in spousal 'great wealth transfer' Couples often miss this 'overlooked tax break' for retirement savers: CFP Women and the K-shaped economy: Lower pay, affordability issues reduce spending The research included over 1,600 married individuals. Across three experiments, participants were surveyed before and after a talk with their partner about finances. Repeatedly, they emerged feeling closer to their significant other and more aligned than they'd expected. "This miscalibration appears to stem from underestimating the degree of agreement they would ultimately reach with their partner," Garcia-Rada said. Money 'can feel harder to bring up than sex' There are a few reasons people likely expect a chat about money with their partner to devolve, Garcia-Rada said. They may not fully know their partner's underlying values or be more focused on potential disagreements than...
Maskot/DigitalVision via Getty Images Co-authored with Beyond Saving Investing is easier than ever. You can access your brokerage account, transfer some funds, type in a ticker, and buy X shares in ACME Corp. Investing is harder than ever. You log into your phone, and the stock market is down! The news is saying that things are going to get a lot worse. High energy costs, war, a declining labor ma...
Maskot/DigitalVision via Getty Images Co-authored with Beyond Saving Investing is easier than ever. You can access your brokerage account, transfer some funds, type in a ticker, and buy X shares in ACME Corp. Investing is harder than ever. You log into your phone, and the stock market is down! The news is saying that things are going to get a lot worse. High energy costs, war, a declining labor market, and private credit collapsing, and we haven't even gotten to the bad news yet. They call it "doom scrolling" for a reason. And you can find a ton of reasons not to invest right now. Technology has made investing more accessible to the average person. It is easier than ever for a person to start investing, and it can be done with a lower amount of initial capital. Investment strategies like options used to be the purview of sophisticated Wall Street professionals. Today, it's a 20-something on Robinhood who just checked a box agreeing that they are sophisticated. While technology has increased the ease and availability of investing, it has increased the risks. The greatest risk of them all? Take a look in the mirror. Let's look at the biggest mistakes investors make. 1. Failing To Recognize That The Stock Market Is Volatile Stock prices are volatile. It isn't uncommon for the stock market to move 1%-2% in a day. Over longer periods, it isn't unusual for the stock market to sell off by large amounts. Consider someone who invested $1 million in 1993, an amount of money that back then was widely regarded as life-changing money. And 1993 was a great time to invest. Data by YCharts The investor saw their balance run up over $3.2 million! Party on, Wayne! Then over the next three years, the investor saw their principal cut in half. Then another rally back up, only to be cut in half again. In the abstract, it is easy to understand that equities can and do decline 50% sometimes. We can look at a chart today, and those dips look small and like no big deal: Data by YCharts Yet, ...
Maersk Slaps Emergency Fuel Surcharge As War Upends Marine Supply Chains Submitted by Michael Kern of OilPrice.com , The war in the Middle East has upended shipping fuel markets with prices of marine fuels skyrocketing and regions running low on supply, pushing some traders to forgo cargo and ship additional fuel volumes to key bunkering ports outside the Middle East. The price of fuel oil has sur...
Maersk Slaps Emergency Fuel Surcharge As War Upends Marine Supply Chains Submitted by Michael Kern of OilPrice.com , The war in the Middle East has upended shipping fuel markets with prices of marine fuels skyrocketing and regions running low on supply, pushing some traders to forgo cargo and ship additional fuel volumes to key bunkering ports outside the Middle East. The price of fuel oil has surged this month as the stalled tanker traffic at the Strait of Hormuz is tightening supplies of the fuel in Asia, the key bunkering hub for fuel oil used in ships. The Middle East is a major global supplier of fuel oil, especially of high-sulfur fuel oil (HSFO). But the Iran war has all but halted traffic via the Strait of Hormuz, stranding supplies for Asia and its key bunkering hub of Singapore. Yet, stocks in Singapore have increased this month as shipping owners and operators have refrained from buying the too expensive fuel. These, however, could soon start to deplete, fast, because vessels are becoming desperate to refuel, according to a Financial Times analysis . One trader told the publication that their firm had to forgo cargo in order to deliver additional fuel volumes between major ports, mostly between the United States and Singapore. With the Middle East's key bunkering port of Fujairah mostly offline by the end of March due to Iranian attacks earlier this month, the marine fuel market is in chaos. Shipping giant Maersk warned in its latest Middle East advisory this week that "To preserve network stability, we have undertaken significant redistribution of fuels to offset shortages in the Middle East, and are securing alternative sources from different locations, suppliers, and at increased premiums." Maersk also introduced as of March 25 an Emergency Bunker Surcharge (EBS), "in response to notable fluctuations in fuel supply and the additional costs of distribution." Maersk's chief commercial officer Karsten Kildahl said earlier this month that "There is current...
Brandon Woyshnis/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Following our recent note on Exor N.V. ( EXXRF ), we are back to comment on Porsche Automobil Holding SE’s ( POAHF )( POAHY ). The company released its 2025 numbers on 26 March 2026, and it is a good moment to review our investment thesis. Since our last update (H1 results comment), Porsche Automobil Holding SE has been flat, with a +0.87% change ...
Brandon Woyshnis/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Following our recent note on Exor N.V. ( EXXRF ), we are back to comment on Porsche Automobil Holding SE’s ( POAHF )( POAHY ). The company released its 2025 numbers on 26 March 2026, and it is a good moment to review our investment thesis. Since our last update (H1 results comment), Porsche Automobil Holding SE has been flat, with a +0.87% change (Fig. 1). This is very much aligned with our neutral view. On a fundamental basis, we have long covered Porsche Automobil Holding SE's main investments ( Volkswagen AG and Porsche AG ), and the company's results were weaker than anticipated. Despite our positive view of both companies, Porsche Automobil Holding SE was affected by a reduction in full-year guidance and lower dividend payments. In H1 2025, the Holding was evaluating the addition of a third core investment, although no transaction has been completed. With an impact on NAV progression and no capital redeployed into new investments, our valuation was flattish. Mare Ev. Lab Rating Change Fig 1 Porsche Automobil Holding and Our Neutral View The company closed 2025 with lower adjusted earnings of €2.9 billion, down from €3.1 billion in 2024 (-9%) (Fig. 2). That said, last year the company reported an impairment of over €20 billion. This year, the Holding was also affected by accounting adjustments, a positive non-cash contribution from Volkswagen AG of €1.4 billion, and, again, a negative non-cash contribution from Porsche AG, for a total of -€1.7 billion. So, the company reported net income reached €2.7 billion. Earnings were primarily influenced by weaker results from its core auto industrial stakes. For our new readers, the Holding's main investments include "53.1% stake in Volkswagen AG ordinary shares and a 25% stake in Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG ordinary shares." Volkswagen AG's net profit declined by €200 million to €2.8 billion (from €3 billion), and Porsche AG's net profit declined by €300 million to €200 ...
Colin Anderson Productions pty ltd/DigitalVision via Getty Images Whenever I write a company a 'hold', I am making the claim that the stock should perform more or less along the lines of the broader market for the foreseeable future. One business that has fallen a bit short of expectations when it comes to this is Zurn Elkay Water Solutions ( ZWS ). Conceptually, this is a fascinating business. Or...
Colin Anderson Productions pty ltd/DigitalVision via Getty Images Whenever I write a company a 'hold', I am making the claim that the stock should perform more or less along the lines of the broader market for the foreseeable future. One business that has fallen a bit short of expectations when it comes to this is Zurn Elkay Water Solutions ( ZWS ). Conceptually, this is a fascinating business. Or at least, it is to me. For those not familiar, it essentially operates as a pureplay water management enterprise that provides customers with a portfolio of products such as professional grade water safety and control offerings, flow systems, environmental products, filtered drinking water products, hygienic products, and more. But even though it operates in an interesting space, the stock has risen only 1.3% since I last wrote about it . By comparison, the S&P 500 is up 5.2% over that same window of time. Fundamentally speaking, Zurn Elkay Water Solutions is actually doing really well right now. Management continues to grow revenue, profits, and cash flows. The problem with the enterprise is that shares are anything but cheap. If it weren't for the space that the business is in and its overall financial performance over time, I would actually be a bit bearish about it. For now, however, I think that assigning it a 'hold' rating is logical. However, it wouldn't take much for me to downgrade it. Shares aren't ready for a downgrade… yet Whenever I analyze a publicly traded company, I typically like to start with the most recent data that management has offered up. In the case of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions, this would involve financial results for the last quarter of the company's 2025 fiscal year. During that time, revenue for the business was $407.2 million. That happens to be 9.8% above the $370.7 million that the company reported a year earlier. This jump in revenue is fantastic to see. And according to management, it was driven by core sales growth of about 10%, with alm...
Morsa Images/DigitalVision via Getty Images Update: more regulatory clarity, reiterating buy rating Since my last note in Jan 2026, the investment case for Scholar Rock has materially de-risked, the company has moved from a regulatory uncertainty framework, centered on manufacturing deficiencies at the Catalant fill-finish facility, to a cleaner execution pathway toward a 2026 US launch of apitegr...
Morsa Images/DigitalVision via Getty Images Update: more regulatory clarity, reiterating buy rating Since my last note in Jan 2026, the investment case for Scholar Rock has materially de-risked, the company has moved from a regulatory uncertainty framework, centered on manufacturing deficiencies at the Catalant fill-finish facility, to a cleaner execution pathway toward a 2026 US launch of apitegromab. On the back of this development , I maintain a buy rating, as recent developments strengthen my conviction in both approvability and commercial trajectory, while I do note incremental pipeline progress adds further to the longer-duration optionality for the company. The most important update since Jan is the company's progress on resolving the FDA manufacturing concerns tied to the Catalant's Indiana fill-finish facility. According to the mangement's Q4 2025 earnings , an early Q1 2026 meeting between the FDA and Novo Nordisk, which owns the facility, was highly constructive, with no additional correction action requested by the agency. I believe this marks the critical inflection point, historically manufacturing related CRLs can lead to prolonged delays if additional remediation cycles are required, but for this case, the absence of new FDA findings suggests that the prior issues have been adequately addressed by the company and now shifting the remaining risks to the execution of a successful reinspection rather than a more concerning structural deficiencies. Also, the company noted that they had already resumed manufacturing operations in late February, and the FDA has indicated its intent to conduct a formal reinspection. Importantly, the management stated that they expect to resubmit the BLA within days of the successful inspection closeout. which implies minimal lag between regulatory clearance and filing, in my view. Of note, Scholar Rock is preparing to launch with a ~50-person sales force team engaging in ~140 SMA treatment centers over 2,600 prescribers, I ...
Archer Aviation (NYSE: ACHR) just got meaningful government support at a time when many investors seem to be losing faith. That disconnect could matter a lot, because if Archer starts proving it can move from concept to real operations, the market may be badly underpricing what c
Archer Aviation (NYSE: ACHR) just got meaningful government support at a time when many investors seem to be losing faith. That disconnect could matter a lot, because if Archer starts proving it can move from concept to real operations, the market may be badly underpricing what c
David Gura, Christina Ruffini, and Lisa Mateo of “Bloomberg This Weekend” play Pointed! Wager your points, leverage your bets and answer wisely. A new quiz is available to play each week on Bloomberg.com (Source: Bloomberg)
David Gura, Christina Ruffini, and Lisa Mateo of “Bloomberg This Weekend” play Pointed! Wager your points, leverage your bets and answer wisely. A new quiz is available to play each week on Bloomberg.com (Source: Bloomberg)
Key Points11,829 shares of Common Stock sold for a transaction value of approximately ~$474K at a weighted average price of $40.04 per share across March 18–19, 2026.
Key Points11,829 shares of Common Stock sold for a transaction value of approximately ~$474K at a weighted average price of $40.04 per share across March 18–19, 2026.
Thomas Barwick/DigitalVision via Getty Images Overview Market indices continue to retreat from their prior highs with the continued selloff of SaaS companies and rising tensions with Iran. While the S&P 500 ( SPX ) and Nasdaq-100 ( NDX ) Indices have experienced a rough start for 2026, defensive ETFs like the Pacer US Cash Cows 100 ETF ( COWZ ) can offer a safe haven for investors looking to navig...
Thomas Barwick/DigitalVision via Getty Images Overview Market indices continue to retreat from their prior highs with the continued selloff of SaaS companies and rising tensions with Iran. While the S&P 500 ( SPX ) and Nasdaq-100 ( NDX ) Indices have experienced a rough start for 2026, defensive ETFs like the Pacer US Cash Cows 100 ETF ( COWZ ) can offer a safe haven for investors looking to navigate the headwinds. When I previously covered COWZ, I issued a buy rating due to the defensive positioning of the fund. Since then, COWZ has outperformed the S&P 500 and has done a great job at protecting capital. It's been a year since my last coverage so I wanted to reassess the ETF's overall value proposition and outlook through 2026. Looking at the performance over the last twelve months, we can see that COWZ's share price has increased by about 11.6%. When including all dividends that were paid out to shareholders, the total return rises to 15.1% over the same time frame. COWZ now offers investors a starting dividend yield of 2% at this time but the value isn't in the yield. The value may actually be in the dividend growth potential over a longer holding period. Data by YCharts Periods of market uncertainty and rapid declines always serve as a reminder for why capital preservation is important. This is why I wanted to also revisit COWZ to discuss why the ETF is a great option for investors approaching the retirement age. The transition from active to passive income can be challenging and sometimes investors chase higher yields to instantly get more cash flow. However, COWZ proves that patience can be rewarded with higher income over time. So let's start by taking a look at the fund's underlying fund strategy. Fund Strategy According to the latest fund overview , COWZ now has total net assets of $18.1B that are spread across 102 different positions. The fund's process starts by screening the Russell 1000 Index in search for the top 100 companies based on their free cash ...