Thorney Investment Group chief executive Alex Waislitz knows what he’s talking about when it comes to investments.
He founded Thorney Group after overseeing the investments of cardboard magnate Richard Pratt and Australia’s first billionaire Robert Holmes a Court.
These days he’s in the rich list himself, ranked the 73rd wealthiest person in the nation on the current The Australian rankings.
As well as a private fund, Waislitz runs 2 ASX-listed investment funds — Thorney Technologies Ltd (ASX: TEK) and Thorney Opportunities Ltd (ASX: TOP).
He recently named 3 ASX shares those funds hold that he currently has the most hope for:
Signing up massive clients and cash in the bank
Perth business Yojee Ltd (ASX: YOJ) makes software that manages logistics and supply-chain management.
The share price hasn’t done a great deal this year, dropping from 20 to 18 cents as of Thursday’s market close.
But Waislitz likes how it looks ready for explosive growth.
“This is a company that’s progressively signed up 4 of the largest 10 logistics companies in the world,” he told a Reach Markets webinar.
“It’s got cash in the bank to roll out that growth with those companies and it’s time is coming.”
For the 2021 financial year, Yojee reported 63% revenue growth — but that failed to sustainably push the stock price up.
The Thorney team is willing to be patient though.
“We’re quite excited about them,” said Waitslitz.
“It’s a company to watch… At the moment the revenues are relatively small, but we’re hopeful that over the next 1 to 3 years you might see them really power ahead.”
2 engineering ASX shares that’ll cash in on infrastructure boom
The other 2 ASX shares, which are both engineering-related, are held by the Thorney Opportunities fund.
Southern Cross Electrical Engineer Ltd (ASX: SXE) provides services to clients like data centres, mining sites, and utilities.
For a business that provides a 6% dividend yield, the share price is very low.
“We think it’s really cheap because it’s trading at just over 3 times EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation] to the enterprise value,” said Waislitz.
“Sitting on cash, it’s really well-positioned to win a lot of work into that [resources and infrastructure] thematic.”
He also thought management was “too conservative” in its performance forecasts.
Southern Cross shares closed Thursday at 66 cents, after starting the year at 57 cents.
Construction engineering company Decmil Group Limited (ASX: DCG) has just been a nightmare for investors recently.
Its stock price has dropped about 90% over the past 2 years.
But after dealing with those “bad contracts”, Waislitz is convinced the ASX share has hit the bottom now.
“They had to recapitalise their balance sheet to deal with their debt and allow them some growth capability, which they’ve done,” he said.
“They’ve had a change of leadership at the CEO level, which has happened, and some other executives.”
The Thorney team thinks Decmil is set to rake in more than $500 million of revenue for the current financial year, compared to $298.1 million for the 2021 financial year.
“In a sense, a new beginning for this company that’s been around for a while.”
