Blog

Livewire Live portfolio – December 2016 update

by Doug Morris, CEO, Sharesight | Jan 9th 2017

In June of 2016 we attended Livewire Live, where some of Australia’s top fund managers gave their stock picks for the coming year. We built a backdated portfolio of those picks and we also added the picks from the previous year. We invested $10,000 in each company.

Six months have elapsed since we started tracking the 2016 expert picks, and 18 months have elapsed since the 2015 selections. So, are we up or down?

Through 7 January 2017...the fund managers are up slightly, but failed to beat the benchmark. The combined portfolio of the picks from 2015 and 2016 is up only 2.9%, which in dollar terms equals a gain of $2,704.74.

Our benchmark STW, the ETF that tracks the ASX200, has returned 5% since the first trade was made on 1 June 2015 (annualised).

Livewire Live Portfolio Update - 2016-12 Table - Livewire Live Stock Picks 2015-2016

The overall return betrays the fact that the 2015 and 2016 picks have performed very differently. Keep in mind that the picks from 2015 are annualised, whereas we can only use a total return for the 2016 picks since a year has not yet elapsed.

The 2015 picks have as a group, returned 28.24%, generating a capital return of over $11,500 and dividend income over $2,400.

The 2016 picks, however, are down 18.13%, posting a capital loss of about $12,500 and dividend income of about $1,300.

The top performer from the class of 2015 remains Ben Griffith's pick of Auckland International Airport (AIA), up over 22%.

The best performing stock of the 2016 class has been Crispin Murray's Qantas (QAN) returning 7.29%.

The worst performer has been Ben Clark’s iCar Asia, down over 70%.

Screenshot - Livewire Live Portfolio 2016-12

We know these fund managers would preach long-term investing and patience so we’ll keep updating you on their performance throughout 2017.

A glance at the short term (3 months) returns doesn’t do the portfolio any favours... down over 11%...

Portfolio note: in 2016 APN News & Media issued bonus shares of Nzme Ltd on a 1:1 basis. Nzme has been added to our portfolio appropriately via our bonus shares corporate action functionality.

Track the Livewire Live portfolio

We’ve made it easy to track the fund managers’ picks within your Sharesight account. Simply go to our community forum and request to have the portfolio shared with you. New clients, get started by signing-up for a FREE account!

Portfolio updates

FURTHER READING

Top investing podcasts

Top 50 finance and investing podcasts in 2025

by Stephanie Stefanovic | Apr 27th 2025

The Sharesight team has put together a list of the top 50 investing, personal finance and business news podcasts worldwide.

Custom groups

8 ways to use Sharesight's custom groups feature

by Ricky Yeo | Apr 23rd 2025

This blog explains our custom groups feature, including strategies that can help you gain deeper portfolio insights and make more informed investing decisions.

Timing the market with ETFs

You can time the market – and ETFs are the way to do it

by Marcus Padley | Apr 15th 2025

Marcus Today founder and director Marcus Padley discusses timing the market, and how investors can do this using exchange-traded funds (ETFs).