After the fear, Geoff Wilson sees ‘phenomenal buying opportunities’

Veteran stockpicker Geoff Wilson says the markets meltdown will eventually ­present ‘phenomenal buying ­opportunities’.

Veteran stockpicker Geoff Wilson. Picture: John Feder/The Australian.

Veteran stockpicker Geoff Wilson, whose stable of listed investment companies has more than $3bn of funds under management, says the global meltdown on equities markets will eventually ­present “phenomenal buying ­opportunities” but that this bullish outlook is currently clouded by fear, uncertainty and turmoil.

Mr Wilson held an investor call on Thursday for his leading investment funds, following a decision to cancel a series of national roadshows with public gatherings now shunned due to the coronavirus pandemic. While conceding that further share price falls were still ahead, there would be a tome of “acceptance” where normality would return and share bargains would present themselves.

“What we do know is that we are in a bear market, we don’t know how far away we are from the bottom,’’ Mr Wilson told investors.

“What I do know is there will be some phenomenal buying opportunities and we have talked about this internally … we all know the market performs over time, we all know this is a period of adjustment because we are moving from the longest bull market ever to a bear market and you can never pick the top of the bull market and you never pick the bottom of the bear market. But if you can pick towards the bottom then you’ll know it will be an exceptional buying opportunity.’’

However, the fund manager’s opportunity to invest at the moment was crimped when one of his listed investment companies, WAM Active, decided on Thursday that it was in the best interests of shareholders to cancel the share purchase plan and return all amounts to shareholders who participated in the capital raising.

Meanwhile, Mr Wilson said the crisis would eventually pass as investors became accustomed to the new normal that included the new coronavirus, COVID-19, becoming a part of daily life along with the flu, obesity, car accidents and other medical issues.

“There will be a time maybe in six months or 12 months, 18 months or two years and it will be part of life as people now live with the flu,’’ Mr Wilson said.

“The difficult part we are in is the dislocation phase, which is creating significant, potential economic impacts and when you look at the market, the market is a forecaster, that’s why it looks like there is a high probability we are going to have a recession globally because the market forecasts what’s going to happen in the economy in six to nine months’ time.”

He said bear markets could last years and at the moment we were only one month in. “We have to wait and all we do know is that it will take some time to play through,” he said. “How this feels to me is a combination of 1987, in terms of the pain and severity, and similar to the GFC in terms of the relentlessness.’’