The science and art of picking growth stocks

Short Briefings on Long Term Thinking - Baillie Gifford

What counts as a growth stock is ever-changing. Mark Urquhart shares lessons from 27 years of investing to explain how he decides what to buy and how long to hold as he continues his hunt for outsized returns.

Background:

In 1996, our largest investments included oil and gas companies and high street banks. These days, our biggest holdings specialise in computer chips, ecommerce and biotech. We still pursue long-term growth – companies we believe will reach their potential given time. But we find it in different places.

In this episode, partner Mark Urquhart explains how he tries to identify companies that can grow for a decade or longer, allowing their sales, profits and share prices to compound along the way. He discusses the changing nature of the businesses that qualify and what gives him the confidence to back maverick founders. Other topics he covers in conversation with managing editor Malcolm Borthwick include lessons from the pandemic and the growth companies that most excite him today.

Resources:

The changing face of growth

Four cardinal questions for growth investors

Mark Urquhart’s LinkedIn page

1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare

Past podcasts

Timecodes:

00.00 Introduction

1:20 Joining Baillie Gifford in the pre-Google era

03:45 An evolving attitude to growth companies

05:20 Looking for stronger compound growth

06:35 Investing in Microsoft

08:00 The quest for companies like Hermès

09:55 Learning to be open-minded in Japan

12:10 The importance of mavericks

13:40 How Tesla hit its targets

14:40 Investing in times of crisis

17:35 What the Covid pandemic teaches growth investors

23:05 Today’s most exciting growth companies

25:15 Book recommendation

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Companies mentioned include:

Alphabet (Google)

Apple

ASML

Dexcom

Don Quijote

Hermès

MercadoLibre

Microsoft

Netflix

Peloton

SpaceX

Tesla