Already a subscriber?Investors in the Australian sharemarket are piling into unprofitable growth stocks this year, defying the threat posed by high for longer interest rates that have battered some companies on Wall Street.
And while the yield has sent those US stocks tumbling 19 per cent this year, the same cohort in Australia have soared 26 per cent.“Fundamentally it is difficult to explain this divergence,” said Goldman Sachs’ head of Australian equity research Matthew Ross. Additionally, loss-making firms often need to raise capital to continue operations, so they will be forced to either find an acquirer, issue dilutive equity, or issue debt at elevated current rates.
Indeed, US stocks that are expected to turn a profit this year or next have fallen 4 per cent year-to-date, those projected to become profitable in 2026 have dropped 15 per cent, while those after 2026 have fallen by 28 per cent.