Sohn Hearts and Minds: Kerr Neilson of Platinum a winner

Kerr Neilson’s stock pick 58.com has soared by 88 per cent since November.

Kerr Neilson said US stocks had little room to move but those in Asia were well priced. Picture: Hollie Adams.

Platinum Asset Management founder Kerr Neilson has topped the stockpickers who appeared at last November’s Sohn Hearts and Minds Investment Leaders Conference with his recommendation of Chinese internet company 58.com.

The share price of the company, a Chinese online marketplace company that focuses on consumers and local businesses, has risen by 88 per cent since Neilson chose it as his stock recommendation for the conference.

Neilson was followed by fund manager Peter Cooper of Cooper Investments, who recommended US company Brinks, whose shares have risen by 85 per cent since the conference, and fund manager John Ho from Janchor, who recommended Wynn Macau, which has gained 55 per cent.

Shares in the top 10 stocks recommended rose by more than 45 per cent from the date of the conference to the end of last month — more than six times the 7.3 per cent rise in the ASX 200 over the same period.

Last year was the first Sohn Hearts and Minds conference in Australia. Based on the long-running Sohn conference in New York, last year’s conference was at the Sydney Opera House. Attendees paid $2000 a head (to raise money for medical research) to hear top fund managers give a stock tip.

Neilson’s Platinum fund management group has had a strong interest in Asia shares, including Chinese internet stocks.

Neilson told a conference last year that he felt US sharemarkets were near the top while there were many Asian companies that were more fairly priced.

He told a Bloomberg conference that select Asian companies, particularly those with a focus on the consumer, were not as risky as some people might think. He said 58.com, which was founded in 2005, had a strong cash flow and had become entrenched in its market making it very difficult for new players to come into the market.

Other companies tipped include Fairfax Media, Apple, Amaya, Mesoblast and Hong Kong’s Cross Harbour Holdings.

Morningstar analyst Tim Murphy, who attended the conference, was announced yesterday as the winner of the investors who ­attended the conference and who bought into the stock tipped.

Attendees could enter a game using a notional 100,000 digital ­tokens to invest in any combination of the investment ideas presented at the conference.

Their investment portfolio was tracked from the date of the conference on November 10 to August 31 this year.

Mr Murphy’s portfolio of stocks, selected from those tipped at the conference, rose by 82.6 per cent over the 10 months.

“If you invested in the top 10 ideas presented at the conference on an equally weighted basis, your investment would have returned 45 per cent over the last 10 months,” Paul Rayson, managing director of conference sponsor CommSec said yesterday.

“The performance of the investment ideas has made attendance at the conference a very rewarding experience.”

Other successful investors among the attendees were Mark Houghton from King Tide Asset Management, whose digital portfolio based on stocks tipped at the conference, gained 82 per cent over the 10 months followed by Michael Hruby from HRL Morrison and Ferdinand Arapoc from Ariadne Australia, whose portfolios both grew by 81.49 per cent.

This year’s conference will be held on November 17 at the Sydney Opera House.

The cost of attendance has been raised to $3000 a head.

Money raised will go to support four medical charities — the Victor Chang Institute, the Black Dog Institute, MS Research Australia and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Bookings for this year’s conference can be made at www.sohnheartsandminds.com.au