My thoughts are that the market under performance is due to the conservative approach by management.

So perhaps they've read the market wrong, possibly, but if there's a big pullback they are well positioned.

I've bought a few more today. I think the company is taking a defensive approach, which won't suite some people, but I think it's worth having in the portfolio.


From the AFR back in July:

Why Hamish Douglass is worried

Magellan's Hamish Douglass says equities could grind higher, or the market could be heading for another COVID-19 crash. He's gone defensive in a world of uncertainty.

Jul 14, 2020 – 11.59am

Hamish Douglass is torn between two visions of the future for financial markets.

The first is a best-case scenario where the world starts to get on top of the COVID-19 pandemic, work on a vaccine progresses, economies reopen, and governments and central banks continue fiscal and monetary support.

In that world, it’s foreseeable that the tailwind of low interest rates helps equities grind 20 per cent higher. But the Magellan chairman and chief investment officer believes a much uglier outcome is just as likely.

The pandemic continues to spread, with developing countries hit hard and developed nations suffering second and even third waves of infection as a vaccine proves elusive.