The unsung heroes of Qiao Ma’s portfolio

It wasn’t that long ago that investing in Asia was a foreign concept to most investors. More recently, the rise of national champions like Alibaba, Tencent and Samsung has changed that perception. The success of these behemoths now has investors hunting for the ‘next big thing’.

Qiao Ma, Portfolio Manager at Cooper Investors, says she is genuinely excited about the value on offer from stocks in her Asian equities portfolio but says that’s not because she has found the next Alibaba or Tencent. Cooper Investors has a unique way of thinking about value that focuses heavily on the quality of management and the culture they create. This ‘value latency’ framework helps them see opportunities that don’t necessarily reside on a balance sheet or in some financial model.

In this extended interview, Qiao explains how she applies this approach to uncover great stocks in overlooked industries and why the next big thing may already be one of the mega-cap companies dominating their industry.