By J Mintzmyer
Summary
- The shipping sector descended upon New York City last week for Marine Money Week 2018, the world’s largest ship finance forum.
- I was in attendance to represent Value Investor’s Edge and Seeking Alpha, and we also participated in two panels: Investor Sentiment and Top Ideas.
- This conference marked a clear improvement in prospects and sentiment compared with previous years.
- Our below coverage hits the sector highlights.
- Stay tuned for a follow-up report, which will review the ‘Top Ideas’ provided by 7 different bank analysts along with our personal top choice.
- This idea was discussed in more depth with members of my private investing community, Value Investor’s Edge.
Marine Money Week 2018
Marine Money is the world’s largest ship finance forum, which this year attracted over 50 companies and 1,000 delegates from across the globe. I’ve attached the full agenda for those who would like to see all of the events, and there are also audio recordings available on their webpage. We’ve followed these proceedings for several years, but this was our first year in attendance.
I personally participated in a panel to discuss retail and institutional investor sentiment and approaches to shipping (audio recording here), and I also participated in the final panel where analysts provided their top picks (follow-up report planned soon). This review will cover the key highlights from the forum, including the general sentiment and recent developments for each major sector. We also met privately with around two dozen firms, the coverage of which is hosted exclusively on Value Investor’s Edge, but which we plan to incorporate into our upcoming public updates.
Key Trends: Sentiment, Regulation, IPOs?
Improving Sentiment
The biggest ‘key trend’ is that industry sentiment is on the rise. For the first time in several years, there was a generally positive vibe throughout the conference, and the forward supply/demand balances of almost all sectors look promising through 2020 and beyond. This is notably different than 2017 when the dry bulk and LNG markets were weaker and smart tanker investors were nervous. 2016 was far more bearish yet, with offshore and dry bulk in the depths of despair, and strong tanker markets were generally met with skepticism. This rise in sentiment is interesting because shipping stocks are hardly trading at strong valuations. In fact, although we’ve had some very profitable runs, the shipping sector has been a difficult place to invest.
For full report, visit here
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Source: Seeking Alpha
