How this mathematician manages your money

May 2025

 

Dr Suhas Nayak
Analyst and Portfolio Manager
Allan Gray

What is your day job?

I’m a portfolio manager and investment analyst at fund manager Allan Gray and have responsibility for its Australian Equity Fund. It’s one of the funds used to construct Cornerstone’s portfolios. 

There are a couple of components to my job. The first is to find companies which fit our investment strategy – which are basically stocks that are undervalued and out of favour with other investors, trading at what we think is a discount to their intrinsic value. My days are often spent looking at financial statements to understand the real drivers of a company's profits. 

The second part of my job is monitoring the portfolio of stocks we currently hold and assessing whether there are opportunities to tweak it. 

What are your qualifications and work history?

I have a PhD in mathematics from Stanford University in the U.S. and have been at Allan Gray for almost 14 years. Prior to that I was a management consultant at McKinsey for around five years.

My time at McKinsey gave me a broad overview of how businesses operate, but I wanted to move back towards investing and the contrarian approach of Allan Gray resonated with me.

Our firm is named after its founder, Allan Gray, who started the firm in South Africa in the 1970s. His philosophy was you can only pick up a company at a good price if others in the market are avoiding it or even running away due to bad news or a short-term problem within its business. 
We look three to five years out when we assess a company’s prospects and, coincidentally, that ties into our average holding period for a company.   

What is your favourite part of the job?

I love being an investment analyst as I’m in the engine room of the fund and get to bring new ideas to the table. Finding an undervalued or disliked stock in which you can see a longer-term positive is extremely satisfying.           

How did “Liberation Day” in the U.S. affect your portfolio?

A number of shares currently in our portfolio are defensive companies – which means they typically hold up better than others when markets fall. Telstra is an example. 

In early April, we made some profits on that type of company and redeployed the capital into stocks that were harder hit in the sell-off. These sorts of times can really offer opportunities to investors like us as we try to take advantage of these dislocations.   

Any favourite books or podcasts?

I read quite a bit – but that can mean easy novels that provide a useful distraction without demanding too much from the reader. I’ve been listening to the This American Life podcast for around 20 years too. 

Otherwise, I run and play tennis. And spend time with the kids, currently helping them master skills like riding their bikes. 

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