Upside Blog

Published on 06/05/2021

Most of us don’t give a second thought to sand. Sandy beaches, desert dunes, something to be sat on, to be played with, to be raked, to be driven (or ridden) up and down on, it gets in our shoes and our sandwiches, it gets whipped in our faces on blustery days. But it is in fact the world’s most consumed raw material after water and an essential ingredient to our everyday lives. And as of 2019, we are facing a shortage.

Published on 29/04/2021

It’s an age long, divisive and passionate debate which splits the investing community: active or passive. There are arguments for both sides with Bernstein analysts calling passive investing “worse than Marxism” and Warren Buffett claiming “active investing as a whole is certain to lead to worse-than-average results”. Well, who to believe?

Published on 22/04/2021

The anonymity of moving to a big city can at first seem overwhelming. You can walk through the busy streets being jostled, part of a crowd all making their way to this place or that. It can make you feel alone, until you realise the power that anonymity gives you.

Published on 15/04/2021

Global interest in craft beer has risen exponentially over the last decade, and despite the continuous talk of industry bubbles and the limitations of global lockdowns, it's an interest that has continued to thrive. It is a growing investment opportunity in the consumer staples sector but also one on the fringes of the equities market.

Published on 08/04/2021

All that glitters is not gold. As it is for precious stones, so it can be for stocks too.

Published on 01/04/2021

As the world is focussing more on the environmental impacts of their actions, we’re seeing a change in the food and beverage companies that are emerging: from unlikely partnerships, to edible insects. But how sustainable are these companies both on the market and environmentally, and what is this doing to stock prices across the globe?

Published on 25/03/2021

In mid-February, car maker Jaguar confirmed that they will only be building all-electric cars by 2025. This is big news for conservationists and environmentalists, (some) car enthusiasts, battery makers and of course investment analysts.

Published on 18/03/2021

To be a winning team with a competitive edge, many sports teams are taking the moneyball approach: by using data analytics. It’s not just about goal scoring, but about how often they touch the ball, how fast they run, strengths, weaknesses: an overall score of each player and what other players in the team can do to bring the best out of each other.

Published on 11/03/2021

Across the world gender inequalities are still sadly ubiquitous, from pay and promotions, to childcare, household chores, and even in investing. The Gender Investing Gap is a very real gap, showing the discrepancy between the return the average woman gets on her investments in her lifetime, versus that of the average man. But why would this be so?

Published on 09/03/2021

The tech industry is booming globally. Tech permeates every corner of our lives, and has been the saviour of the pandemic: keeping companies running, families connected, and people entertained whilst being stuck indoors for months at a time. With this in mind, why do women only make up 16.4% of tech professionals?

Published on 04/03/2021

The world of investing can generate many emotions - from the highs of watching your returns skyrocket, to the lows of miscalculating something and watching them depreciate or plummet. What a rollercoaster.

Published on 25/02/2021

In 2009, within five days of a YouTube song called “United Breaks Guitars” being released, United Airlines lost 10% of its market value, costing shareholders roughly $180 million dollars. Sometimes, the power of one person, with a little boost from social media can make or break a company.

Published on 18/02/2021

Patience is key when it comes to investing. Studies have shown that some stocks can make investors millionaires if they have had the patience to ignore the day-to-day fluctuations of the market and own stocks for decades.

Published on 11/02/2021

How many times have you scrolled through your news app, or your social feed and seen something about Bitcoin? Countless right? Bitcoin used to be inextricably linked with The Silk Road and the dark web, but it’s shaken that image of the underground and is now standing proudly in the sun. But with Bitcoin’s parabolic rise, a discussion on the art of the exit is in order - sometimes a material weakness in the majority of investors arsenal.

Published on 04/02/2021

In an age where it’s a necessity to get groceries, clothing and everything in between, delivered contactlessly directly to our doors, it can have a negative impact on the climate. There are more deliveries on the road, more plastic and cardboard packaging, our goods are travelling further than many of us have been in almost a year. So, what are companies doing to reduce their impact on the climate, and is this affecting the stock market?

Published on 29/01/2021

It can be very easy to get caught up in a new fad, fashion, or gadget only to see something equally new and shiny to replace it. It happens a lot with tech - your new smartphone, or smartwatch gets a reboot, and you’re left sad and out of date, whilst everyone else is talking about the fun new features they have on their swanky new devices.

Published on 28/01/2021

Here at Upside, we want a fairer, more accessible and open world for everyone. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to submit investment ideas, have them tested and analysed, and be able to connect with people who can buy them.

Published on 21/01/2021

Sometimes, events thousands of miles away don’t have the same impact as things on our doorstep. You can’t relate to them, or even begin to understand the devastation they could cause. And because it’s so far away, how could it affect you? But it’s events thousands of miles away that actually change what you wear, what you eat or drink, what you can buy in shops. Take the devastating wildfires in Australia and California for example.

Published on 14/01/2021

The job of a hedge fund manager is complex, and to those of us not in the hedge fund world, it can be a somewhat mystifying one.

Published on 07/01/2021

Sometimes life can’t help but put you between a rock and a hard place. There's a trade off and you just don’t know what to do. In the latest in our series on ESG investing, we’ll be looking at when wrong feels right.

Published on 17/12/2020

The world famous Knowledge of London - the process of becoming a black cab driver - is one of the toughest tests you can take.

Published on 10/12/2020

Greenwashing isn’t when you use green soap, or when you water the garden grass on a hot summer's evening. Greenwashing is actually much more serious, and it’s the topic of this article, the next in our ESG series.

Published on 03/12/2020

When you were young, your grandmother will likely have told you to eat all your vegetables so you can grow up big and strong. But what does eating all our vegetables have to do with investing you may ask? Well, your grandmothers’ hopes for you being big and strong aren’t too far off from Growth Investing. She was just investing in your growth, and not that of a company on the stock market.

Published on 26/11/2020

The nice thing about learning something new is that you can research it. You can find the definitive parameters and definitions and read them a bunch of times before sitting back and saying, “yeah, ok. I get it”. Well… continuing our ESG series, we find out that this is not necessarily true of ESG investing.

Published on 19/11/2020

From early days sat in front of the TV watching Trading Places at Christmas, we’ve grown up with the age old adage “buy-low, sell-high”. And that might work for some, but for others, Trading Places is too 80s. “It’s 2020!” they cry, “it’s time for Momentum Investing!”

Published on 12/11/2020

In a recent article, we broke down what ESG investing is. It got you excited right? Well us too. But it raised some interesting questions, most notably, why since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, interest in ethical investing has increased. So we thought we’d delve a little deeper.

Published on 05/11/2020

We all love value. A bargain is a bargain at the end of the day. So what’s value investing? Well, it’s a strategy involving picking stocks that appear to trade at a lower value than their intrinsic value.

Published on 29/10/2020

Investing is open to everyone, with all sorts of opinions. Some investors don’t see the harm in buying stock from any type of company, but others may wish to invest in companies that fit their specific values. Some investors for example, may not wish to profit from companies that damage the planet, or companies that harm their customers or workers.

Published on 22/10/2020

For many of us the generic term ‘finance’ conjures up images of hard and sharp graphs, complicated numbers and language or landscapes that us “normal people” just don’t get, or even care about.

Published on 15/10/2020

At Upside, we are always going on about the importance of research when analysing a company... or analysing anything really.

Published on 08/10/2020

When a book is made into a movie the age old argument will break out - which was better? Well in the case of Moneyball, we think it’s both. Have you read the book, or seen the movie? If not, stop what you’re doing and check it out.

Published on 01/10/2020

When was the last time you felt left out? Sidelined in a conversation because you weren't really sure what everyone was talking about? The playground when you were a kid? In the pub when your pal who loves craft beer was talking about DDH IPAs? When your kids were explaining how servers work in Minecraft? In the office when the technical lead was talking about… wait, what was it? Read more...

Published on 24/09/2020

Research, research, research. At the end of the day that’s what it’s all about. Any investor, portfolio manager or analyst will tell you the same.

Published on 17/09/2020

One of the obstacles many people face when they start learning about investing is how to manage risk. Risk is a word with often negative connotations. It makes you think of the Bermuda Triangle, or quicksand - which, let’s face it, we all thought we’d face more as an adult.

Published on 10/09/2020

We all interact with listed companies each day, from checking our phone in the morning, buying a coffee on the way into work, buying a new piece of clothing, logging into our computers, watching movies, or even that beer in the pub at the end of the day.

Published on 03/09/2020

With September comes fresh beginnings. The dewey summer mornings give way to crisper ones. The world starts up again after the summer lull. The leaves start turning from greens into reds, then yellows, and browns.

Published on 27/08/2020

We keep harping on about it here at Upside, but it’s true. We really do believe that anyone can have a great investment idea.

Published on 20/08/2020

Behind the hidden door could be all manner of things. You’ve heard whispers about what’s there, and you’re curious to know, but maybe you won’t understand it.

Published on 13/08/2020

When children are learning to ride a bike, we give them stabilisers; training wheels to avoid the inevitable, which still happens anyway.

Published on 06/08/2020

It’s been 23 years since Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone was published in the UK, and it is now a right of passage for children to escape in the magical world of witchcraft and wizardry.

Published on 30/07/2020

There you stand on the first tee, wind blowing in your hair. Club in hand, and golf ball ready, preparing to take your shot.

Published on 23/07/2020

We live in a world of side hustles. Where you are both a sales manager and a make-up artist, a PR rep and a vintage clothes seller, a student, barista and learning to trade.

Published on 16/07/2020

“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

Published on 09/07/2020

In the age of lockdown, many of us have got to grips with online shopping of all varieties, but it’s the grocery sector that has really boomed. Gone are the days where we push our trolleys down the aisles, and cave at the check-out when we see our favourite chocolate bar.

Published on 02/07/2020

A curator is a manager, an overseer. Someone who tends to a collection of artifacts in a museum. Or someone who collects a selection of weird and wonderful oddities. Or indeed, someone who selects beautiful items to sell in a shop.

Published on 25/06/2020

Our worlds are becoming more and more tech dependent, from our reliance on mobile phones with their myriad apps, to online maps to get you to that hot new restaurant you’ve never heard of but your friends have been banging on about for months.

Published on 18/06/2020

In May of this year, two astronauts were propelled into space for the first time in over a decade from US soil.

Published on 11/06/2020

“You’ll understand when you’re older” is one of those sayings that parents tell their children when they don’t have time, or aren’t ready to explain something.

Published on 04/06/2020

With just a small number of folds, a square piece of origami paper can be used to create any number of hugely intricate designs. From stars, elephants, flowers and frogs, to the more common crane.

Published on 28/05/2020

Dear Buy-Side,How have you been? It’s been a strange time for everyone, and we hope you are all keeping well.

Published on 21/05/2020

At Upside, we understand the importance of failure as a learning tool, because it’s a path to getting it right.

Published on 14/05/2020

No one has ever said being a research analyst is an easy job.

Published on 07/05/2020

These days, being bombarded with information from all corners of our life leaves us open to accepting ‘fact’ as data.

Published on 30/04/2020

No one will make a big decision without a bit of research - whether it’s buying a car, choosing a holiday or making an investment.

Published on 23/04/2020

Some investment firms use the analogy of a ship navigating through the choppy seas into calmer waters, and others of an investment starting as a seed and growing into a strong oak.

Published on 16/04/2020

As we move from childhood into adulthood, we tend to become increasingly scared of getting it wrong. Children see the world differently, without the constraints and rules of adulthood.

Published on 09/04/2020

Over the last three months the whole world has become interested in predicting the future, and it is a hard task. We are living in an unprecedented and unpredictable time, a time that even the superforecasters didn’t predict.

Published on 02/04/2020

Often, a lot of what we see is an illusion - the way that your brain perceives images is often faulty. Not only does your brain have to flip what you are seeing, but you naturally try to find reference points from your past to compare to, rather than actually seeing what is there. A lot of the time, what you are seeing, your brain is just estimating using a familiar backstory.

Published on 18/03/2020

At the heart of the concept of Superforecasting is the idea that anyone, anywhere, can do something unexpected, even remarkable. Something that was perceived by others to be impossible.

Published on 11/03/2020

Until December 2017, reams and reams of sell-side investment research was sent to the buy-side, with asset managers sending both trading business, and paying commission to the sell-side who created it.

Published on 28/02/2020

For centuries, people have investigated and understood the world around us by measuring things. Heights, weights, depths, speeds, brightness, strength. Our findings have shaped how we think and interact with the world every day.

Published on 21/02/2020

As with superheroes, so it is with companies: the origin story. Where did the idea come from, and where are we going with it?

Published on 14/02/2020

If you go to the driving range and hit 200 hundred balls do you become a better golfer?

Published on 04/02/2020

The debate has raged for decades, and will in all likelihood continue to decades to come.

Published on 31/01/2020

You might imagine this is an easy question to answer, but it isn’t.

Published on 30/12/2019

Dear Sell-side, Don’t leave us. In the new era of transparency, the pricing power of your research has never been greater.

Published on 27/12/2019

Since the financial crisis, investing has become increasingly and notably more short term in its outlook. Factors and signals are the new investing elixir, identified and isolated at greater speeds by the advances in technology and trading tools.