Technology Investing from Railroads to the Internet and Beyond

By Alasdair Nairn

Find the most lucrative markets of the future by looking to the past

Some of the biggest technological innovations in the world have followed similar market and social patterns – scepticism is replaced by enthusiasm; venture capital is supplied; many companies are started and their stocks rise. But as the technology is developed and financial reality sets in, companies disappear, stocks collapse, and naive investors lose money.

Through exhaustive research, Alasdair Nairn captures this pattern and examines the impact that some of the greatest technological inventions of the past 200 years have had on financial markets and investors’ fortunes. Each chapter explores a different technological innovation, and provides valuable insights on how to apply these lessons to appraise the ‘new technology’ companies of the future.

Some of the key historical episodes examined include:

– electric light and its commercial exploitation
– the railway boom in Britain and the United States
– the development of the automobile industry
– the discovery and early development of crude oil
– the rise of the PC
– the wireless world
– the Internet and dotcom bubble.

Don’t be left behind when the next technological innovation revolutionises the market. With Engines That Move Markets you’ll learn how to recognise the familiar patterns unfolding in today’s economy so you can profit from these market-shaping events.

Read an extract of the book on Biblet https://b2l.bz/jcCSeR

Alasdair (Sandy) Nairn is one of the founders of Edinburgh Partners, an independent fund management company which was acquired by Franklin Templeton in 2018. Prior to establishing Edinburgh Partners he was chief investment officer of Scottish Widows investment Partnership, and between 1990 and 2000 was employed by Templeton Investment Management where he was executive vice president and director of global equity research.
Before joining Templeton investment Management, Sandy spent four years at Murray Johnstone as a portfolio manager and research analyst. Prior to that, he spent a year as an economist at the Scottish Development Agency. He is currently Investment Partner and CEO of Edinburgh Partners and Chairman of the Templeton Global Equity Group.

Sandy graduated from the University of Strathclyde and has a PhD in economics from the University of Strathclyde/Scottish Business School. He is an Associate of the UK Society of Investment Professionals in the UK and is a CFA charterholder with the CFA Institute in the United States. In 2020 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

In 2001, he published the first edition of Engines That Move Markets, with the updated second edition being published in 2018. He has won multiple performance awards for the management of global equity portfolios over his 37-year investment career. In 2012 he co-authored the book Templeton’s Way With Money with Jonathan Davis.