Investing in Tech in 2023 (ft. Deepwater AM's Gene Munster and Doug Clinton)

The 7investing Podcast

To help us answer those questions, we've brought in a few expert tech investors. 7investing CEO Simon Erickson recently spoke with Deepwater Asset Management's Gene Munster and Doug Clinton, who have been investing in technology for decades. Deepwater is a global asset manager based in Minneapolis, MN. The three kicked off their conversation by discussing Deepwater's investing philosophy and vision. Gene explains that their firm likes to dive deep into three core areas of technology: AI, automation, and the Metaverse. They use those as a starting point, to further screen for the best-in-breed companies with persistent growth. And finally, they look for the select few which they have the most conviction in; which is something that can't be easily found or simply modeled in spreadsheets. Doug goes on to explain the "three buckets" of investing timeframes. Some investors think only in terms of quarterly earnings and others only in terms of long-term trends. But Deepwater prefers to be in the third bucket -- from 3 to 5 years -- where they can more measurably assess what will happen in the near-term future. It turns out that predicting what the world will look like a decade from now is incredibly difficult. Gene and Doug both then discuss the FinTech sector, which is quickly transitioning from bricks and mortar to digital. Brazil's NuBank, Block, and Apple could all be opportunities for investors, as they are gaining share but without having legacy operational costs. The group then discusses the macroeconomic climate. Gene points to several companies like Home Depot still reporting disappointing earnings, and that is leading to institutional investors being cautious. But bigger-picture, it's more important to find quality companies and to size into positions over time. Simon asks them about valuation, and they described their methodical process for determining a fair price. In the second segment, the three discuss several of Deepwater's larger positions, including Meta Platforms (Nasdaq: META), CrowdStrike (Nasdaq: CRWD), ACV Auctions (Nasdaq: ACVA), and Everbridge (Nasdaq: EVBG). They conclude with a fun "lightning round", where Simon spots them up with questions about AI and the market's largest technology companies. Publicly-traded companies mentioned in this podcast include Meta Platforms, CrowdStrike, Everbridge, ACV Auctions, NuHoldings, Block, Amazon, and Apple. 7investing's advisors and/or its guests may have positions in the companies that are mentioned. Don't miss out on future conversations like this! 7investing will be publishing upcoming interviews with the CEOs of PubMatic, Rocket Lab, and more. Join 7investing's free email list to get our podcasts and investing insights delivered directly to your Inbox.