8AUGUST 2023THE NEWTONIAN PHYSICS OF INVESTING: INVESTIGATIVE RESEARCHBy Raphael Lewis, Head of Specialist Research, Newton Investment Management, North AmericaWhen a falling apple conked Sir Isaac Newton on the head, the law of gravity made itself abundantly clear to the great English scientist and thinker. Newton's epiphany altered the trajectory of human discovery forevermore. But for investors, the markets can sometimes feel impervious to fundamental realities, the financial equivalent of the animated predator Wile E. Coyote running off a cliff only to plummet once he has realized his terrible mistake.While Newton Investment Management shares no known lineage with its illustrious scientific namesake, we do share in his belief in gravitational pull, and ultimately, the underlying reality of a given company's competitive positioning, leadership quality, and profit drivers should reveal a firm's true value in the markets.To that end, we at Newton have invested significant time, effort and resources into a "specialist investment research" team that has professionalized the search for reality-based qualitative inputs that drive our investment models and actions. The specialist group is comprised of, first and foremost, an investigative team driven by old-school journalistic means and methods, including an analyst dedicated to separating fact from fiction when it comes to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) inquiries. The group also boasts a forensic accounting unit that works hand-in-hand with our quantitative investment analytics OPINIONIN MYRaphael Lewis
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