On the hunt for global future leaders

Note: This extract was taken from Livewire Live 2024’s panel: '5 seismic shifts happening right now and how to take advantage of them' filmed 17 September 2024.

I could hit you with a tired trope about how technology will continue to change our lives for the better but, in this context, its ability to generate positive investment outcomes is equally, if not more important. 

Fidelity International's James Abela seems to agree, noting that "half of our fund is actually tech" at the recent Livewire Live event. 

"If you look at consumer tech, healthcare, tech, industrial tech, if you add them all up, it's half the fund," says Abela, before going on to list a handful of names - REA Group (ASX: REA), Car Group (ASX: CAR), Seek (ASX: SEK), Pro Medicus (ASX: PME), and WiseTech (ASX: WTC) - that have been "huge share price performers" here in Australia (later in the clip, Abela shares some global tech names in the portfolio right now). 

Abela adds that tech has also allowed investors to weather some of the challenging economic forces that have been in play:

"So when you use the word "tech", for me, it has been a facilitator of surviving this environment, which is high inflation, high labour, high cost. 

"Technology is a way to solve that for the whole world as individuals, families, companies, and governments. 

"That's why half of our global fund is tech-related, which gives us productivity right across that social spectrum", says Abela. 

To find out more about Abela's views and where else he is finding opportunities, you can watch the full panel here.