Christopher Ward joined the GAMCO Investors, Inc. Growth Team in 2015 as Vice President and Associate Portfolio Manager. Prior to joining GAMCO, he was Director of Business Strategy and Portfolio Management Associate for The Apollo Group at Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management.
Before joining Morgan Stanley, he was with the GFI Group, Inc., a wholesale institutional brokerage firm. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts. He is a graduate of Boston College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics.
In this exclusive 3,623 word interview in the Wall Street Transcript, Mr. Ward details his portfolio management vision and explains his top picks for 2019:
“The growth strategies that we run begin with a thematic approach. We focus on secular growth industries, and the themes that we are focused on must be long-term structural trends and investable. I say “investable” because there are some interesting growth industries right now, whether it’s cannabis, gene editing, blockchain, etc.
But we are yet to identify investment vehicles in those areas that we have a lot of conviction in. And we run relatively concentrated portfolios. We need to have conviction in every position.”
One of his several top picks is competing against long term winners:
“I have to mention Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) as well, which is another software-as-a-service business, just like ServiceNow. Again, Workday is benefiting from the shift to the cloud.
Workday is disrupting the legacy ERP — enterprise resource planning — vendors like Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) and SAP (NYSE:SAP). Oracle and SAP combined comprise about 35% of the ERP market. Workday has maybe 4% or 5%. And outside of those three big players, the space is hugely fragmented.”
Get the other top picks from Christopher Ward and their details in the complete 3,623 word interview, only in the Wall Street Transcript.
Gamida Cell (GMDA) and Inhibikase Therapeutics (IKT): Phase III Trials Set the Stage for Biotech Upside
August 31, 2022
Janet Kloppenburg Picks Retail Stock Market Winners in the Post COVID 19 Economy
August 11, 2020
OncoMed Pharmaceuticals (OMED) Early-Stage Cancer Antibodies Could Raise Stock 50% in October
September 24, 2013
Fad Clogs Maker – Crocs – Turns to new CEO — Too little too late?
February 26, 2009
