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There’s a new position reported in Fundsmith’s July monthly factsheet. Are there any guesses what it may be? Alphabet after its recent strong results?

marathonman365 wrote:There’s a new position reported in Fundsmith’s July monthly factsheet. Are there any guesses what it may be? Alphabet after its recent strong results?

There was a RNS announcement last week that the Fundsmith holding in Fevertree had gone >5% but this was very likely the Smithson IT topping up after the recent falls. The latest Smithson IT datasheet shows Fevertree as its third biggest holding.

All the best, Si

Can't see the main fund buying Fevertree, they are a huge fund and have to remain liquid with their holdings so need to buy very large caps.

Terry Smith seemed quite positive about Alphabet at the last AGM, as I recall.

I suspect that you may be right, but we'll know fairly soon.

and another one bites the dust.BDX!
'We sold our position in Becton Dickinson during the month and began buying a new position for the fund, the name of which will be revealed when we have accumulated our desired weighting.'

So two new positions.

I suspect they are unhappy with the capital allocation and the failure to resolve problems stemming from Covid etc.

From Morningstar

'Historically, BD was considered a virtually recession-proof business. The essential nature of many of BD's medical products had typically shielded the firm from any capital spending-related volatility, but the COVID-19-induced hospital admission deceleration has been a challenge. The slowdown hit the firm's surgery and vascular business particularly hard; considering this segment has largely arrived from the Bard acquisition, it is rather natural to question the accretiveness of that deal. We're not quite ready to call that deal capital-destructive even though the steep price paid has given BD very little margin for error.'

I think Terry Smith has concluded that the Bard deal was value destructive. They took the money and ran, as I recall.

So two new positions, not yet revealed. Any more guesses?

and another one bites the dust.BDX!
'We sold our position in Becton Dickinson during the month and began buying a new position for the fund, the name of which will be revealed when we have accumulated our desired weighting.'

So two new positions.

I suspect they are unhappy with the capital allocation and the failure to resolve problems stemming from Covid etc.

From Morningstar

'Historically, BD was considered a virtually recession-proof business. The essential nature of many of BD's medical products had typically shielded the firm from any capital spending-related volatility, but the COVID-19-induced hospital admission deceleration has been a challenge. The slowdown hit the firm's surgery and vascular business particularly hard; considering this segment has largely arrived from the Bard acquisition, it is rather natural to question the accretiveness of that deal. We're not quite ready to call that deal capital-destructive even though the steep price paid has given BD very little margin for error.'

I think Terry Smith has concluded that the Bard deal was value destructive. They took the money and ran, as I recall.

So two new positions, not yet revealed. Any more guesses?

I do wish Fundsmith was an IT!

ADrunkenMarcus wrote:I do wish Fundsmith was an IT!

So do I. I also wish I'd bought more Smithson at IPO!

I didn't realise quite how US focused Fundsmith has become, and less than 5% in the UK. I'll still hold though.

doug2500 wrote:So do I. I also wish I'd bought more Smithson at IPO!

I bought into Smithson at launch and I am quite pleased. As you may know, it makes up nearly half of my SIPP!

Best wishes


Mark.

doug2500 wrote:

ADrunkenMarcus wrote:I do wish Fundsmith was an IT!

So do I. I also wish I'd bought more Smithson at IPO!

There was an opportunity close to the 2020 Covid low to buy Smithson at close to the IPO price. I took the opportunity to triple my position then. It is now close to double that level, as I feel sure you know.

Lootman wrote:There was an opportunity close to the 2020 Covid low to buy Smithson at close to the IPO price. I took the opportunity to triple my position then. It is now close to double that level, as I feel sure you know.

It spent some time on the 18th of March down over 10% on the IPO price.

xeny wrote:

Lootman wrote:There was an opportunity close to the 2020 Covid low to buy Smithson at close to the IPO price. I took the opportunity to triple my position then. It is now close to double that level, as I feel sure you know.

It spent some time on the 18th of March down over 10% on the IPO price.

Yeah, I bought about a week after then, but good enough.

One of the two new holdings could well be Amazon. His latest filing for his US based, Fundsmith Investment Services lists Amazon as the top holding. I don't recall seeing that in this fund's previous guise as a long short fund.

I just wish Fundsmith had low fees. I pay them almost £3k a year!

AWOL wrote:I just wish Fundsmith had low fees. I pay them almost £3k a year!

That has also been the reason putting me off investing. Still it could be worth paying.

Gerry557 wrote:

AWOL wrote:I just wish Fundsmith had low fees. I pay them almost £3k a year!

That has also been the reason putting me off investing. Still it could be worth paying.

Who knows, I just find it hard to sell as I was quite an early investor and have done very well (investor number is just over 3000) however it is an oversized holding for me.

Well if it is an oversized holding it is because it has done better/far better than your other holdings.

Unless you're confident of doing better with the cash, I'd sit there and hope that you're paying Mr Smith 6k a year in four or five years time.

There is a YouTube clip where he explains the research why investors in very successful funds are their own worst enemies. It might be worth watching from time to time.

Thoughts?

AWOL wrote:

Gerry557 wrote:

AWOL wrote:I just wish Fundsmith had low fees. I pay them almost £3k a year!

That has also been the reason putting me off investing. Still it could be worth paying.

Who knows, I just find it hard to sell as I was quite an early investor and have done very well (investor number is just over 3000) however it is an oversized holding for me.

I'm under 300 and it's an oversized position, partly because I have invested a decent percentage but it has also done very well. I'd be loath to sell. Fees may be high but they're transparent and they've been well earned IMO.

Humeau wrote:Well if it is an oversized holding it is because it has done better/far better than your other holdings.

Unless you're confident of doing better with the cash, I'd sit there and hope that you're paying Mr Smith 6k a year in four or five years time.

There is a YouTube clip where he explains the research why investors in very successful funds are their own worst enemies. It might be worth watching from time to time.

Thoughts?

That sounds like a good idea. I will watch it and I continue to hold but I think I will try and reduce my biggest holdings a little as I am at the stage where I am more concerned about losing what I have than shooting the lights out. Fundsmith and THRG are my two oversized holdings due to outperformance.

With Fundsmith on the one hand Quality is no longer undervalued (like it was at launch) but on the other they have make very good investment decisions. So I will just begin taking some profits until the holding isn't quite as overweight. I am at the drawdown stage so need to take profits from something thus rebalancing.

So one of the new positions is confirmed as Amazon. No confirmation of the second and a third was initiated in October in an Undisclosed Country. I wonder if that’s ASML, in response to its recent weakness.