The Dark Matter of Finance: How Intangible Assets Influence Modern Markets

Not long ago, the global economy was powered by tangible assets. Companies like Exxon, General Motors and AT&T were the largest US stocks by market capitalization. Today our information economy is increasingly driven by intangible assets like brand equity, intellectual property, customer loyalty and more.

Sparkline Capital’s Kai Wu calls intangible assets the “dark matter of finance” because they are extremely difficult to measure and “comprise a significant portion of [total] financial matter and are essential for explaining the modern economy.”

Intangible assets may have previously been an obscure footnote in corporate balance sheets, they now influence markets in key areas like valuation, corporate earnings and the value versus growth paradigm.

Listen to this webcast with Michael Mauboussin, Head of Consilient Research at Counterpoint Global, part of Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Kai Wu, and Kai Wu, CIO of Sparkline Capital, to learn how intangible assets are affecting almost every aspect of modern markets.

Moderated by Jamie Catherwood of Investor Amnesia, this webcast covers:

• Quantifying the unseen impact of intangible assets
• Investors’ expectations and the role of intangible investments
• How investors should approach quantifying intangible value
• Why “intrinsic value” should be updated for the information economy
• Problems with the outdated accounting frameworks investors still use
• Role of fundamental research & expert networks in evaluating intangible assets

There is a Q&A session with Michael and Kai as the end of the discussion.