Sharesify
Sharesify is an online resource for private investors and produced by several former employees of Shares magazine. It aims to help private individuals manage their own money and investment portfolios.
Launched in 2026, we publish daily news content, analysis and thought-provoking written content about stocks, investment trusts, funds, ETFs, ISAs, SIPPs, plus produce podcasts, webinars and more.
Our easy-to-read style and depth of analysis aims to make Sharesify essential reading for those investing today.
We write about all companies on the UK stock market, covering large, mid and small cap stocks on both London’s Main Market and AIM. We also provide extensive coverage of stocks listed in the US, Europe, Asia and other overseas stock markets, interview fund and investment trust managers about performance and the secrets of their investing technique, highlighting products that provide exposure to interesting companies, geographies and growth or income-generating assets.
We also write about ways in which to build a diversified investment portfolio as well as managing your investments once you have started to put money into an ISA (individual savings account), dealing account or SIPP (self-invested personal pension).
Our digital content will be full of ideas for filling your portfolio, whether you are saving for something like a new house or car, or if you are investing to fund your child’s university fees, your grandchild’s Junior ISA, or building a nest egg for retirement.
We show you how to make money and save money by giving you all the important information to help you make informed investment decisions.
Sharesify
Volatile markets, Samsung, Global AI plays, NAV discounts, Gym, Beauty Tech, Bytes Tech and more
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In the latest Podcast, an Ian-less team see James and Steven discuss volatile markets, Samsung (KRX:005930) and investment trusts taking action to address NAV discounts.
Our tech expert Steven explains why the AI infrastructure boom continued to drive demand for Samsung’s memory chips in its latest quarter. However, investors questioned whether earnings have peaked and whether today’s AI spending can be sustained.
Samsung Electronics Q2 2026: Record profits, but investors wanted even more
He also explains how investors can gain exposure to AI through stocks outside the US. These are often trading at considerably lower valuations.
Consumer stock watcher James tells us why fitness operator Gym Group (LON:GYM) is a growth company in decent shape. He also explains why The Beauty Tech (LON:TBTG) has a long growth runway in the at-home beauty device market.
Finally, the guys flag upcoming Q2 earnings in the US, including PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP), Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL), and FTSE 250 IT reseller Bytes Technology (LON:BYIT). They also look ahead to updates from a slew of UK-listed retailers and recruiters next week.
Coming next week: Bytes Technology, Gym Group and Marks & Spencer
Get involved
If you want to get involved, email us your thoughts, suggestions and questions at editorial@sharesify.com. For those tuning in via YouTube directly, please remember to click the like and subscribe buttons on our channel.
You can also follow us across social media, and if you’re a company, fund or investment trust, and you’d like to get your voice heard on the podcast, tell your story and expand your retail investor base, here’s your chance. Just email us at editorial@sharesify.com and we’ll do the rest.
Disclaimer: This content is for information only and is not investment advice. Always do your own research before investing.
Hello and welcome to the latest shares of High podcast. I'm James Crux and I'm joined by my colleague Stephen Fraser. Hi Steve. How are you doing? Yours. Yeah, not too bad. No Ian today. He's wearing out the shoe leather and he's attending the uh AIC summer event tonight, which I'll also be at. So hopefully you'll bring back some good stories and you know get some good contacts there. But uh what's piqued your interest this week, Steve? I see you've uh done some very interesting stories on Samsung and AI stocks outside of the States. Tell us a bit more.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I mean I think the the watchword at the moment uh for markets in general has been volatility. They seem to be uh moving one way one day, moving the opposite way the next day. We've still got this the this um Middle East conflict that refuses to go away. It seems like it's it's calming down, there's some kind of negotiations, and the next thing you know, the you know the hostilities have been flaring up again. So obviously, um we just have to be a bit sensible as investors and just uh ride these these moments of volatility out. Um, but there's been massive volatility also in the AI space. And increasingly, I think investors are are just becoming a little bit worried about um the inflation of uh valuations. Um and it's worth bearing in mind that valuations are far more full in the US than they tend to be elsewhere. So yeah, we've we've written a piece about good um global AI stocks that are outside the US and where valuations are certainly a lot cheaper. So definitely welcome to the website, have a read of that. And Samsung's a great example of one of those lower-valued outside the US um superstar AI stocks, if you like. But it's uh it's recent results. Well, the figures were absolutely outstanding. Um, the shares were rather disappointing, and I think it was largely down to uh markets just expecting a bit more, they just wanted a bit more oomph in terms of forward guidance and and optimism and so on. And you might argue that perhaps Samsung are playing a good hand at just managing expectations. Um, you don't necessarily want CEOs to be out there being too gung-ho with their expectations. So I think over time we'll see um we'll see things sort of calm down a bit in in the AI space, but it's it's just been very, very choppy. And I know you've seen some some pretty choppiness uh in in spaces you've been looking at as well, James.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. So some interesting moves in consumer beauty tech group, which is one we've talked about before, delivered its fourth upgrade since last October's IPO. So that one's really going great guns. Yeah, I mean, broad-based growth, expanding margins. I was actually struck by the fact the global market share is less than one percent for this company of this kind of nascent at-home beauty device market. So, you know, that that sort of upgrade story could have uh further to run. One that didn't upgrade, I think, is bit the market a bit disappointed, was the gym group. So still got positive momentum, you know, the the gym opening program still on track. Uh revenue per member was up five percent. So that shows you know it's got a bit of pricing power, um, but no upgrade. You know, as you say, management being a little bit cautious given you know the backdrop, the cost of living squeeze, and they also guided for an increase in net debt, which I think probably spooked investors a bit.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. I mean it's interesting. You flagged up to Jim Group as something to watch. Um, and last week's uh look ahead piece coming next week, and um and it it does seem to be this fairly astonishing growth story, but it's inevitably gonna go through these slight peaks and slight troughs where you get weakness in uh new subscriptions, etc. etc. And I think that the summer being as hot as it's been over the last month or so, that's probably gonna be quite conducive to keeping people in parks and open spaces and away from from gyms. So maybe they'll they'll they'll be a bit more um uh predictable, you know, when when the weather starts closing in us in a few months' time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's right, within weather normalizes. Uh, lots going on with investment trusts as well, Steve. So we've got boards you know continuing to take action to bring in these wide discounts. Yeah, um, one of them is Brown Advisory US Smallers, which has launched a strategic review that could include a cash exit and a much bigger trust, which is RIT Capital. This is a big global multi-asset fund. Um, launched a 300 million tender at a 15% discount. So I think that's kind of an acknowledgement that buybacks haven't really shifted the dial, still on a 25% discount. And one other final one I thought I'd flag was uh International Biotechnology Trust. Um, that the managers there have got a real knack of spotting takeover targets, and they've they've wrapped up their eighth, their eighth one of 2026 to date. Uh it's just astonishing. So that that MA boom in biotech shows no signs of let up.
SPEAKER_00Well, I won't just just give people a bit a brief little 20-second insight into IBT because it has been just an astonishing performer over years and years and years.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean the the two managers got sort of a grounding in science, they sort of know you know, got commercial hats on as well, so they've got a really good blend. And they just have this knack of uh you know picking companies that will be attracted to big pharma who have this kind of patent cliff issue to solve. So you know it's a really interesting trust, and it's unusual in that it's uh it pays a dividend as well, four percent of nav every year. So it's also got a nice real income angle, which is unusual for that sector.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. Um talking and staying with the investing trust space uh for for a moment as well. We've got a podcast coming up on the 23rd of this month with uh Guy Anderson. Now, Guy Anderson, someone you know you've met a few times, haven't you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, this is uh this is mercantile. So it's uh identifying you know tomorrow's winners today, uh small and mid-cap sort of bias, um very much into growth. And it's also a dividend hero. So that'll be a really interesting chat with Guy. Really looking forward to that one. So listeners, make sure you dial in when that one goes live.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that I mean that is a really fascinating um objective uh because it's got on the one hand, it's tomorrow's winners, but on the other hand, it wants to pay regular and and and quite attractive dividends as well. Balancing those two things, it'd be interesting to get his view about how he manages to do that because you normally expect you to be in one camp or the other camp. Either you're gonna have a very stable cash-generative um income paying type type stops, or you're up with you know super growth kind of companies. So it'd be really fascinating to find out exactly how he balances those two types of objective.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, definitely. And managers see a lot of value in that FTSE 250 space, which is going through a rare sort of patch of underperformance against the FTSE 100. So we'll uh we'll get guys' thoughts on that.
SPEAKER_00I suppose the MLA is starting to dry up a little bit, yeah, in only in relative terms, because the last five years has just been uh absolutely astonishing. So many FTSE 250 companies have been taken out by either um bigger peers or by private equity. And it's just in many ways, it's I think I always feel a bit conflicted. I think on the one hand, some of these high-quality businesses getting taken out at a 30, maybe a 40% premium. You think, well, okay, one in the hands worth, two in the bush, all that jazz. But ultimately, you want these companies to be given the chance to grow over time so you could compound your own returns. So it's a bit disappointing to see high-quality businesses taken out for prices that ultimately could be seen as quite cheap.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly. That's been in the ranks of the London Stock Exchange as well, it's a real shame. So uh, but next week we've got um a couple of more FTSE 250 names reporting. I think we've got Pets at home, Dunelm, um, and it others in the retail patch, watches of Switzerland, so Sandart, Ocado. So it's gonna be a real busy week.
SPEAKER_00I think we're we're starting to see we're starting to see a real acceleration now, aren't we, of uh earnings. And we'll be moving into um into the second quarter of US earnings, maybe the third week of July as well. So it's gonna get certainly a lot busier than it has been over the last couple of weeks, so yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_01I think we've got the banks reporting next week, haven't we? And um back over here we've got recruiters as well, which is always a good bell where they're into the jobs market, what AI is doing. I think we've got Hayes, Robert Waters, and Paige. So Ian will be all over those, no doubt.
SPEAKER_00No, no doubt at all. And and and staying with this week briefly, um, I think um it's tomorrow night, I think Pepsi uh are reporting. And there's also Delta Airlines later this week as well. So so something to keep people quite interested. And tomorrow night as well, uh, so tomorrow daytime on this side of the pond, we've got Bytes Technology, which is again a company we flagged in our coming next week piece. And and this is a bit like Computer Center, if you know computer center listeners, um one of these IT resellers, it's a FT250 company, it's got a lot of scale, and they're seeing a lot of demand because of AI and how you implement AI tools into corporate workflows and gain either efficiencies or cost savings, etc. So that's giving that kind of IT reseller market uh a real demand push. So it'd be very interesting to see um how they uh see the next six months and and beyond going from there. I suppose that's about it for from us, James, isn't it? Keep it nice and tight. Um, thank you very much, listeners, for tuning in. Um, remember to uh look out for that podcast on the 23rd of July with Guy Anderson. Um, and keep up to date with us. We'll join you again on Friday. So till then, have a good week. Take care.
SPEAKER_01Take care.
