Auckland Airport
I haven't had many good individual company ideas this year - like a lot of people I mainly use ETFs these days instead, sometimes leveraged - but this is one I've been very happy with:
I do enjoy investing in a strong monopoly business, although Auckland Airport can periodically bump up against related complaints and accusations of squeezing out excess profits through charging greater and greater fees to consumers.
This one is a 'Well 3' or long-term investment for me i.e. straight into the bottom draw, as no doubt the next year or two could involve some...well, turbulence.
My thesis is simply that travel trends will be much more back-to-normal than they will be different, and probably much sooner than people presently think.
Sydney Airport (ASX: SYD) has also looked far more attractive with a 4-handle this year than it did at $9 last year, and I’ve invested there too, although Sydney Airport arguably doesn't quite have the monopoly strength of Auckland International, while remaining a 'tollbooth' type of company.
Please note that this is not personal advice: it's suitable for me, not necessarily for you, DYOR, etc.
Grand closing
While on the subject of travel and reopening dates, there were 42 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 today in Victoria, and very little else around the country, save for a few returned travellers in quarantine.
The 7-day average for newly confirmed cases fell to precisely 50, which is the lowest figure since June.
There are 16 cases remaining in ICU in Australia, down by 10 from a week earlier.
There are still 1,172 'active' cases in Australia, although this only includes known cases, so there may be a great many more.
This still leaves the question of how the Grattan Institute et al think that eradication or "zero active cases" is an achievable goal, since it could apparently involve locking down almost the entire Victorian economy for months (with no actual guarantee of success).
The Victorian Government presumably must know this, and so 'aggressive suppression' is officially the order of the day.
To some degree the big end of town has been supported through this crisis, but small businesses in Victoria are now being creamed, or in many instances outright destroyed.
Meanwhile in Sweden the virus has run its course and life is back to normal with even the weekly deaths figures barely registering now.
In fact, total deaths in Sweden have been running well under the 10-year average for weeks now, but as new and important evidence comes to light few are prepared to update their views on what has become a highly emotive issue, as explored by the Washington Examiner here.
