Good morning!

There are lots of interesting things going on today, so I'll try to get through as many as possible.

I've been further pondering yesterday's thoughts on whether we've hit a market top. Obviously I don't know whether we have or not, I can only comment on things I observe. It seems to me that the momentum trade - of everything (growth stocks anyway) rising simultaneously, might have ended. Or at least is having a correction.

I think the danger is that we can all think we're ace stock pickers, but afterwards it becomes apparent that we just happened to buy a random growth stock, which went up along with all the others! Then when they fall, they all tend to fall together.

For me, the key thing is positive newsflow. To take growth stocks to new highs, it really does now require excellent newsflow. Not spurious contract wins (which often turn out to be immaterial), but beating expectations, and upgrading forecasts. That's what I particularly look for all the time, but especially now that valuations are very high, and the market feels more nervous. If a company is only meeting, not beating expectations, and the valuation is very high, then maybe it's time to bank some profits?


Purplebricks (LON:PURP)

(at the time of writing, I hold a long position in this share)

Talking of which, I'm very impressed with the announcement this morning from Purplebricks (LON:PURP) and have this morning bought them back for both BMUS and my real portfolio. Yes, the valuation of c.£1.1bn (at 414p per share) looks crazy. However, its results today show that the UK operation is operating at breakeven after spending £14.4m on marketing. It is now by far the market leader in online or hybrid agents in the UK, and is in a virtuous circle of success giving it more marketing firepower, driving further growth. Consider this;

UK marketing spend in the first half of this financial year is now anticipated to increase by some £3.5m year-on-year, with spend in the second half also likely to rise, should the expected returns come through. As a result UK revenue expectations for the current year are raised to some £80m; a near doubling from the £43m reported for FY17


Bear in mind that this…

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