What do Australia’s top women portfolio managers expect in 2025?

Ahead of International Women’s Day, Morningstar Manager Research Australia has collected the expert views of several women portfolio managers and what opportunities they have their eye on for the year ahead.

Eva Cook, Senior Principal of Manager Research at Morningstar Australia, spoke to four portfolio managers working with both retail and institutional clients across sectors including private markets, fixed income, Australian equities and global equities.

Sandra Lee – Head of Private Markets, UniSuper

“The world of investment management embodies these characteristics, [where no two days are the same, where each day is dynamic and ever-evolving and presents new challenges and opportunities that demand a fresh perspective and new ideas], and more. In private markets and infrastructure investing, we are fortunate to work across a broad range of assets, high calibre investors, and thought leaders around the world,” Lee said.

Lee told cook that she also actively takes on opportunities and finds it “incredibly rewarding” when she can lead, guide and mentor others. She told Morningstar that she is also a strong advocate for “diversity of thoughts in the workplace” due to its wide range of benefits.

“The greatest satisfaction I derive from my work is to be able to play a small role in creating value and helping our members grow and protect their wealth. The sense of fulfilment and pride is sometimes immeasurable when you see the very people you’ve had an influence over go on to build highly successful careers and businesses,” she said.

“When it comes to investment decision-making, we need to have people who bring varying viewpoints, operate differently, and challenge groupthink. I have seen firsthand through my own team dynamics how a truly diverse group of talented individuals can enhance our overall culture and performance.”

Lee expects 2025 to be dominated by “compelling opportunities driven by key global thematics such as digitalization, decarbonization, and demographics”.

“We will be closely monitoring certain sectors that have experienced a crowded trade offering less relative value currently and are circumspect of industries with a strong connection to potential market or political interference,” she said.

Dawn Kanelleas – Head of Australian Small and Mid-Cap Companies, First Sentier Investors

Kanelleas told Cook that she was first attracted to portfolio management due to its many relations to scientific research and matched with her problem-solving skills and tendency to “question data to establish facts”.

“Diversity of thought is important because it tests conviction and helps to mostly reach the right answer just as it does in science,” Kanelleas said.

“Our long-term investments in Domain Group and Insignia, for example, recently realized significant value via corporate activity. While we believe many years of building conviction and understanding the underlying value of these companies played out in the last few months, we cannot predict the timing or the realization of this value.”

“The investment universe comprises many single-industry companies that need capital to grow. A lot can go wrong in this segment of the market, and many do not succeed. Dawn’s team seeks to invest in companies that have excellent compound growth prospects but recognizes that these opportunities are not ubiquitous in our investment universe,” Cook said.

“In addition to identifying quality growth companies with durable competitive advantages, they look for companies with predictable earnings and the ability to generate strong cash flow through cycles thanks to the privileged nature of their assets. This preserves capital through economic cycles:

“Capricorn Metals—Australia’s lowest-cost gold producer was added to the small-cap strategy and mid-cap strategy in 2019. Following the successful development of the Karlawinda Gold Project led by Executive Chairman Mark Clark, the gold producer is on track to double its output with a greenfield mine in development at Mt Gibson. Mark is well-known to the team from previous portfolio companies and
has a track record growing mining companies at Equigold and Regis Resources. It sits at the smaller end of the ASX 200.

“Technology One—Lying just outside the ASX 50, Technology One is an enterprise resource planning software company the team has held for more than a decade. It has delivered high levels of recurring revenue from its market leadership position in the government and education sectors in Australia and New Zealand and is growing its presence further in the UK and investing in research and development to maintain its edge. Technology One has a strong rate of compound earnings growth and has not raised capital in the team’s time of ownership.”

Emma Lawson – Fixed-Income Strategist, Janus Henderson

According to Cook, Lawson has worked to gain “a good understanding of real-world outcomes” as she believes it helps to support individuals in achieving their financial goals.

“2025 is shaping up as yet another interesting year for markets, with the RBA easing cycle coinciding with global market volatility,” Lawson said.

“There are opportunities in active credit positions, particularly in REITs, semi government bonds are providing attractive yields, while we will be patient with duration bond positions, taking advantage of any pronounced volatility.”

Lawson told Cook that “some risks are partially priced into markets already, like an expansion of fiscal policy curtailing the RBA easing. The difficult ones to price, such as the US debt situation—given the US’ role as the global safe haven—or broad geopolitical risk bear close monitoring. These present unique opportunities if they begin to be priced into cautious markets”.

Vihari Ross – Portfolio Manager, Antipodes

“It is an always interesting role that combines what is happening in the world, analysing what the future might look like, and then backing the judgments you form,” Ross told Cook.

“Diversity (and not only on the basis of gender but all kinds) leads to an unearthing of unique perspectives and gives teams a better chance of understanding an investment case and its potential risks, thereby increasing the teams’ consistency and success.

“When it comes to global equities, we are reticent regarding the index level, where market concentration has become extreme; however, we are optimistic about the breadth of value opportunity present in the market at the same time, particularly outside the US mega-caps.

“We see a potential for a broadening out in the stocks participating in market performance in 2025. We continue to monitor the risks of market narrowness, geopolitics, the level of inflation, and the interest rate and credit cycle.”

According to Morningstar, Ross’ team sees strong potential in two particular stocks:

“Capital One (NYSE: COF): Trading at just 7 times earnings, Capital One is a popular North American lender that’s achieving cut-through against its larger US competitors with its own line of loans and credit card products. The stock could also benefit from US President Donald Trump’s commitment to deregulating financial services.

“JD.com (NASDAQ: JD): Trading at 8 times earnings, the Chinese e-commerce giant offers compelling value relative to its growth potential, especially compared with US alternatives like Amazon.com. The company would also be a key beneficiary of stimulus measures designed to boost China’s domestic consumption.”