Autonomous cars, once thought to be science fiction are very much becoming a reality. Believe the hype. It’s worth considering investing companies at the forefront of these trends. Mobileye is a great stock to own for the long term, but unlike their automated driving software, Mobileye could take you for a wild ride before you get there! Stay posted – exciting offshore investment opportunities are always on the horizon.

1. Presented by:
By Wade Dawson
Wade Dawson is an American living in Johannesburg
and is the Africa Regional Manager for Austen Morris
Associates. For more offshore investment tips go to
www.austenmorris.com or visit AMA’s LinkedIn page.
Reach Wade via e-mail at wade.d@austenmorris.com
or follow him on twitter @wadedawson4
T
he first half of the year was
defined by alarming headlines
and market volatility. I expect
the second half of 2015 to be
characterized by much of the same. The
strong dollar will continue to weigh heavily
on U.S. multinationals and will help profits
of European exporters. U.S. small cap
stocks will outperform. Healthcare and
biotech have been beating market indices
for years and this dominance will continue.
The banking sector will benefit from rising
interest rates. Companies that tap into
technology and invest wisely into innova-
tive trends will continue to pay big rewards
for their investors. By investing offshore
you can gain exposure into companies at
the forefront of these international mega-
trends. You should also be able to achieve
superior returns by investing into differen-
tiated investment sectors.
Shifting Gears
I wrote about how to profit from the In-
ternet of things (IoT) in my last column in
May. Since then, we have seen the wearable
tech market flourish with the release of the
Apple watch and Fitbit’s successful IPO.
Last month the biggest tech acquisition in
history took place. Avago bought Broadcom
for US$37 billion. Both chipmakers help
fuel global connectivity, but some analysts
are calling this enormous acquisition a clear
sign of a tech bubble. Corrections will occur,
but tech valuations are not overly expensive.
Internet of Cars (IoC)
The IoT revolution shifts into second gear as
cars are becoming smarter, safer, and more
“connected.” The Internet of Cars (IoC) is
the transformation of a dumb vehicle to a
“smart” device. Automated driving systems
and connected vehicles will change the way
we travel. Most large automotive firms and
plenty of tech companies are working on
rolling out various versions of driverless
cars. Itay Michaeli, an automotive analyst
with Citibank says, “this is arguably the most
powerful automotive megatrend in history.”
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) has been test-driv-
ing self-driving cars since 2011. Google is a
great diversified tech play, but most of their
revenue will not be coming from their auton-
omous vehicles. Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) the
largest search engine in China, has partnered
with BMW and will release a self-driving
vehicle soon. Automotive supplier Delphi
(NYSE: DLPH) successfully completed the
longest automated trip covering over 3,500
miles. Uber’s CEO has been vocal about many
things controversial, including wanting to cut
labor costs. Uber cars in the coming decades
will most likely be robo-ubers.
The Road Ahead
Elon Musk is confident that Tesla Motors will
be the leader in electric cars and autono-
mous vehicles. Musk expects to have his
first version of “auto pilot” out this month,
which assists drivers with steering. Buying
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is a smart renewable
converging tech play. TSLA is up 19.9% year
to date and up 29.2% the last three months.
Smart Car Plays
The best way to profit from this multi-billion
dollar self-driving trend is to buy Mobileye
(NYSE:MBLY). Their software already al-
lows hands-free highway driving. The Israel
company, which had its IPO in 2014, is a
leading developer of camera-based advanced
driver assistance systems (ADAS), and its
vision technology is already used by 22 of
the world’s top 25 automakers. Mobileye has
a $13.2 billion market cap, and beat market
expectations last quarter. The stock is up
43.9% year to date, and 32% up over the last
three months. Mobileye is trading at all an
time high so a pull back is inevitable.
Autonomous cars, once thought to be science
fiction are very much becoming a reality. Be-
lieve the hype. It’s worth considering investing
into companies at the forefront of these trends.
Mobileye is a great stock to own for the long
term, but unlike their automated driving soft-
ware, Mobileye could take you for a wild ride
before you get there! Stay posted – exciting
offshore investment opportunities are always
on the horizon.
GLOBAL INVESTMENT TRENDS