Adventurous Investing For Grown Ups, The Adventurous Investor

Adventurous Investor

Adventurous Investing For Grown Ups

The Adventurous Investor

Introducing private investors to adventurous investment ideas. What does this mean in practice? I’d identify several core themes: Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) both in the US and the UK. I’ll look both at the theory underlying these very popular funds as well as the constant stream of new launches. I’ll also feature some model portfolios, with a simple mix of ETFs to suit all tastes. Alternative investment ideas. This is a deliberately wide brief but takes in everything from real asset-backed funds (property and infrastructure for instance) through to music and art…and most things in between. I’ll also journey on adventures overseas and look at alternative emerging and frontier countries and markets that should feature in your portfolio. From Russia to Africa and plenty of exciting places in between. For a UK audience I will also continue to regularly analyze and comment on the listed closed-end fund segment and investment trusts. Last but by no means least I’ll try and make sense of the big macro stories that impact investors. I’ll also weave into this my own slightly idiosyncratic views which I’m afraid mark me out as a liberal/ social-democratic inclined centrist Dad (which is I fear sometimes seen as a tag of shame in these radicalized days).

Cross Asset Strategy

<ul><li>Macro-wise, next week is crucial for labour market data, culminating in August’s US employment report (Fri), along with ISM’s manufacturing and services PMIs, revised Q2 productivity, and the Fed’s Beige Book.</li><li>The Bank of Canada meets Wednesday and is expected to hold. Palo Alto Networks, Broadcom, and Snowflake report earnings this week, following the strong reception given to Nvidia, Salesforce, and CrowdStrike last week.</li><li>The ISM surveys (manufacturing Tuesday, services Thursday) will also be closely watched as real-time indicators of whether the US economy is cooling in line with the softer labour data. </li></ul>

Macro-wise, next week is crucial for labour market data, culminating in August’s US employment report (Fri), along with ISM’s manufacturing and services PMIs, revised Q2 productivity, and the Fed’s Beige Book.The Bank of Canada meets Wednesday and is expected to hold. Palo Alto Networks, Broadcom, and Snowflake report earnings this week, following the strong reception given to Nvidia, Salesforce, and CrowdStrike last week.The ISM surveys (manufacturing Tuesday, services Thursday) will also be closely watched as real-time indicators of whether the US economy is cooling in line with the softer labour data. 

Weekly letter: Warsh reassures bond investors and hurts gold prices, Nvidia’s impressive numbers...

Independent research on the U.S. markets, Baptista Research

Baptista Research

Independent research on the U.S. markets

Baptista Research is an independent financial research house focused on the U.S. markets. We provide equity research as well as credit research reports on the top-listed U.S. companies with most of our focus on technology, consumer goods and services, automobiles, industrials, oil and gas, pharma, and healthcare. Our research has served more than 3000 institutional investors including mutual funds, hedge funds, banks, family offices, and various buy-side firms. We operate a research subscription service where institutions, as well as retail investors, can have priority access to all our research. We also have a wide distribution of our research reports across some of the top global financial platforms. Apart from equity research and credit research, we also provide advisory services with respect to mergers & acquisitions (M&A), private equity/ venture capital fundraising, valuation reports, and investment management services for corporates.
Baptista Research is owned and managed by Ishan Majumdar, an ex-Venture Capitalist/ Investment Banker, a Chartered Accountant, and a Masters’ degree holder in Management from HEC Paris. Ishan has nearly a decade of experience in Mergers and Acquisitions, Leveraged Buyouts (LBOs), Venture Capital Investing, Corporate Strategy, and Valuation in front-office roles at the likes of BNP Paribas CIB, Credit Agricole CIB, Groupe Danone, and TIW Private Equity. He has worked on and closed multiple acquisition deals, leveraged buyouts, and start-up investment transactions.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul><li>Palo Alto Networks, a prominent entity in the cybersecurity sphere, recently disclosed its fiscal Q2 2026 outcomes marked by both favorable accomplishments and pressing challenges.</li><li>The company's adherence to its platformization strategy yielded commendable financial metrics, reflecting robust demand for comprehensive cybersecurity solutions amid rising digital threats.</li><li>Palo Alto Networks reported a 15% revenue surge, reaching $2.59 billion, bolstered by the performance of its next-generation security (NGS) offerings, which grew 28% on an organic basis.</li></ul>

Palo Alto Networks, a prominent entity in the cybersecurity sphere, recently disclosed its fiscal Q2 2026 outcomes marked by both favorable accomplishments and pressing challenges.The company's adherence to its platformization strategy yielded commendable financial metrics, reflecting robust demand for comprehensive cybersecurity solutions amid rising digital threats.Palo Alto Networks reported a 15% revenue surge, reaching $2.59 billion, bolstered by the performance of its next-generation security (NGS) offerings, which grew 28% on an organic basis.

Palo Alto Networks: Building the AI-First Cybersecurity Platform for the Next Decade!

External broker reports(aggregated public sources), CMB International

CMB International

External broker reports(aggregated public sources)

Incorporated in Hong Kong, supported by the mainland and targeting in global market, CMB International Capital Corporation Limited (“CMBI”) is an integrated financial institution providing comprehensive and professional services. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Merchants Bank ("CMB"), by leveraging on the Group’s synergy and coordination in domestic and overseas markets, as well as CMB’s strong resources and outstanding social reputation, CMBI and its subsidiaries have been actively implementing diversified business strategies and set up an overall layout of main business segments including Corporate Finance, Asset Management, Wealth Management, Global Markets and Structured Finance, etc. Adhering to the philosophy of “being clients oriented and increasing our own values by the way of creating value for clients”, CMBI endeavors to provide quality and integrated financial services to institutional, corporate and individual customers both domestic and overseas including Hong Kong IPO sponsorship and underwriting, share placement and rights issue for listed companies, financial advisors, bonds issuance services, asset management, direct investment, wealth management, equity sales and trading, etc.

<ul><li>Palo Alto Networks (PANW) announced 2QFY26 (year-end Jul) results: revenue was up 14.9% YoY to US$2.59bn, 1% ahead of Bloomberg consensus, and non-GAAP net income reached US$732mn, up 29.4% YoY and 9% better than consensus.</li><li>Management highlighted that PANW has completed the acquisitions of Chronosphere and CyberArk, respectively, on 29 Jan and 11 Feb (UST), which in our view should help enhance PANW’s product deployment in the AI era.</li><li>We remain positive that PANW is one of the key beneficiaries in the Gen-AI era as demand for security should grow steadily with an increasing scale in AI-related deployment. </li></ul>Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

Palo Alto Networks (PANW) announced 2QFY26 (year-end Jul) results: revenue was up 14.9% YoY to US$2.59bn, 1% ahead of Bloomberg consensus, and non-GAAP net income reached US$732mn, up 29.4% YoY and 9% better than consensus.Management highlighted that PANW has completed the acquisitions of Chronosphere and CyberArk, respectively, on 29 Jan and 11 Feb (UST), which in our view should help enhance PANW’s product deployment in the AI era.We remain positive that PANW is one of the key beneficiaries in the Gen-AI era as demand for security should grow steadily with an increasing scale in AI-related deployment. Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

Palo Alto Networks (PANW US) - AI-Related Security Brings New Waves of Growth Opportunity

CEO / Founder, Crea8

Kim-Hwa Lim

CEO / Founder

Make an Impact

Crea8

Crea8 blends AI-driven precision, big data scalability, and rigorous quantitative frameworks with seasoned human insight. By extracting actionable intelligence from vast global datasets, we eliminate emotional bias and deliver optimal risk-adjusted returns. Our hybrid approach uncovers hidden market efficiencies and ensures your capital is dynamically positioned across markets.

<ul><li>The strategy seeks to invest in a subset of stocks owned by globally renowned fund managers, but limited to those that are Shariah compliant. </li><li>The fund managers followed are: Berkshire Hathaway Inc (Warren Buffet, Greg Abel) , Duquesne Family Office LLC (Stanley Druckenmiller), etc</li><li>By adopting a portfolio of stocks instead of individual stocks, the strategy is diversified across  countries and industries; and optimised with respect to their expected risks and returns.</li></ul>

The strategy seeks to invest in a subset of stocks owned by globally renowned fund managers, but limited to those that are Shariah compliant. The fund managers followed are: Berkshire Hathaway Inc (Warren Buffet, Greg Abel) , Duquesne Family Office LLC (Stanley Druckenmiller), etcBy adopting a portfolio of stocks instead of individual stocks, the strategy is diversified across  countries and industries; and optimised with respect to their expected risks and returns.

Global Top Fund Managers (Shariah) Portfolio (18-Aug-2026)

<ul><li>The strategy seeks to invest in global companies with sustainable competitive advantages and are Shariah compliant.</li><li>By adopting a portfolio of stocks instead of individual stocks, the strategy is diversified across countries and industries; and optimised with respect to their expected risks and returns.</li><li>Previous portfolio returned 4.1% vs. MSCI World (4.2%) – underperformed the benchmark by -0.1%.</li></ul>

The strategy seeks to invest in global companies with sustainable competitive advantages and are Shariah compliant.By adopting a portfolio of stocks instead of individual stocks, the strategy is diversified across countries and industries; and optimised with respect to their expected risks and returns.Previous portfolio returned 4.1% vs. MSCI World (4.2%) – underperformed the benchmark by -0.1%.

Global Competitive Barrier (Shariah) Portfolio (18-Aug-2026)

United States

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. provides network security solutions. The Company offers firewalls that identify and control applications, scan content to stop threats, prevent data leakage, integrated application, user, and content visibility. Palo Alto Networks serves customers worldwide.

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Palo Alto Networks (PANW US)

Weekly letter: Warsh reassures bond investors and hurts gold prices, Nvidia’s impressive numbers...

The ISM surveys (manufacturing Tuesday, services Thursday) will also be closely watched as real-time indicators of whether the US economy is...

Adventurous Investor

Palo Alto Networks: Building the AI-First Cybersecurity Platform for the Next Decade!

Palo Alto Networks, a prominent entity in the cybersecurity sphere, recently disclosed its fiscal Q2 2026 outcomes marked by both favorable...

Baptista Research

Global Top Fund Managers (Shariah) Portfolio (18-Aug-2026)

The strategy seeks to invest in a subset of stocks owned by globally renowned fund managers, but limited to those that are Shariah...

Crea8

Global Competitive Barrier (Shariah) Portfolio (18-Aug-2026)

The strategy seeks to invest in global companies with sustainable competitive advantages and are Shariah compliant. By adopting a portfolio of...

Crea8

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52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)

Weekly letter: Warsh reassures bond investors and hurts gold prices, Nvidia’s impressive numbers...

The ISM surveys (manufacturing Tuesday, services Thursday) will also be closely watched as real-time indicators of whether the US economy is...

Adventurous Investor

Palo Alto Networks: Building the AI-First Cybersecurity Platform for the Next Decade!

Palo Alto Networks, a prominent entity in the cybersecurity sphere, recently disclosed its fiscal Q2 2026 outcomes marked by both favorable...

Baptista Research