Investing in Growth & Change

"The reality is that AI is working right now in our economy and it’s only going to grow. We’re asking where can we make smart investments that have a long duration exposure to the overall theme." Alger Mid Cap Growth Strategy Portfolio Manager, Brandon Geisler, discusses how predominant AI has become in our everyday lives, the future of "small language models" and mid cap opportunities to consider.

"I can’t think of an industry that won’t be impacted by artificial intelligence. And it will be a lot easier to roll out than electricity, the internal combustion engine or even the Internet." Alger Director of Market Strategy, Brad Neuman, CFA, discusses why he considers AI the most important innovation of our lifetime, and how most businesses will need to adopt it to remain viable.

In celebration of Alger's 60th anniversary, we present part one of a special interview series with Chief Investment Officer Dan Chung, reflecting on his 30-year journey with the firm. In this conversation, Dan shares insights into his formative years as a research analyst, learning the ropes and discovering a special affinity for the tech sector.

"AI represents a massive TAM. If you can replace or significantly enhance the productivity of labor, a $30-40 trillion market, that is a massive TAM. And even a fraction of that market is still a significant TAM." Portfolio Manager Patrick Kelly discusses the recent launch of the Alger AI Enablers and Adopters strategy and why he thinks artificial intelligence is the most generationally transformative investment theme of this era.

"We think Wingstop is a category leader with a strong moat. That combination of strong same-store growth, durable unit growth and asset-light franchise model really exemplifies what we look for in Small Cap Focus." Alger Small Cap Focus Portfolio Manager Amy Zhang discusses why she thinks Wingstop is really a technology company that happens to serve chicken.

"Forty percent of the U.S. population are technically obese and over ten percent are severely obese. So, we think a lot of the excitement is that, wow, we could apply these therapies to tens of millions of people." Alger Senior Healthcare Analyst, Keye Chow and Associate Analyst Yinglu Zhang, Ph.D., discuss GLP-1's origins as a diabetes drug and some barriers it may face in its attempt to revolutionize the weight loss market.

"Within the mid cap space, some pretty significant macro headwinds are becoming tailwinds. We believe that this has created significant opportunity in the mid cap space, and possibly the biggest mid cap growth discounts that we've seen in decades." Alger Mid Cap 40 ETF Portfolio Manager Amy Zhang, CFA, and Product Specialist Art Nowak, CFA, weigh in on why investors may want to stop underestimating mid caps.

"People forget about the compounding aspect of dividends. But over the past fifty years, approaching 75% of the S&P 500 return is from reinvesting those dividends back into the index and getting that compounding element." Alger Growth & Income Portfolio Manager Greg Adams, CFA, takes a look at one of the most underappreciated areas of growth investing: innovative companies that also generate dividends and maintain high free cashflow.

"Profitability and consistency of revenue has been very important to us. We like to play with a top three player. We don’t want to necessarily participate in a languishing asset." Alger Mid Cap Growth Portfolio Manager Brandon Geisler discusses portfolio construction and why mid caps may be the most underappreciated asset class.

"Post-Covid, the digitization of cash and contactless interactions has accelerated. Today's POS systems can collect and track data that helps a clothing store operate their loyalty program, a restaurant track reservations, or a bike shop manage its inventory." Alger Senior Analyst Darryl Ah Now takes a comprehensive look at the rapidly changing world of Point-of-Sale Systems.