Actual investors think in decades. Not quarters.

Transformational growth companies such as Amazon and Tencent are rare. Finding them requires patience and resolve. Yet many investors think they can find them based on short-term trading patterns and believe decisions can be made by computer algorithms.

What really matters is change in the real world. Investing can’t be reduced to neat formulas such as the Capital Asset Pricing Model, which so widely underpins the investment industry. Investing is not about confusing everyone about alpha, beta, factor exposures and high-frequency trading. It is the deliberate, imaginative act of directing your capital to new ideas and new business models that provide people with better, cheaper or completely new ways of meeting their needs and wants.

That’s what we focus on, and that’s why we build strong relationships with the companies actually doing it.

Some investors might be able to predict fleeting market fluctuations, but it’s not a skill Baillie Gifford offers.

We have no idea what stock markets will do in the next three, six or 12 months or how a company’s share price will perform day-to-day.

In a market dominated by short-term speculators, investors set prices trying to anticipate what their competitors will do next.

In the short run, a listed company’s value has only a very loose connection to its fundamental progress. In the long run, it’s all that matters.

We believe investing is more art than science. The creative part lies in anticipating change at the company, industry, society and individual level.

Actual investors know some of the companies we back will not succeed. Balance comes from the asymmetric nature of returns: gains can be manyfold, but losses are limited to what you invest.

We think in terms of decades because it’s only over longer periods that a clear picture emerges.

Opportunities emerge from technological progress or new business models. By building relationships with the management of the most forward-thinking companies, we can understand what is becoming possible.

Companies that grasp opportunities and can build their profits, particularly those with economies of scale and price-setting power, have the best chance of being excellent long-term investments. Our approach also helps us to understand which companies may be most threatened by disruption.

Actual investors should be looking for businesses capable of sustaining progress over decades.

We consider the size of the opportunity, adaptability, quality, competitive advantage and commitment of management – founder-managers often score highly.

Understanding the intrinsic qualities of a business and the world in which it competes makes it easier to make predictions over 10 years. That’s far more important than what happens over a few quarters.

Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited provides investment management and advisory services to non-UK clients and is authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority. Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited is not licensed under the Regulation of Investment Advising, Investment Marketing and Portfolio Management Law, 5755-1995 (the “Advice Law”) and does not carry insurance pursuant to the Advice Law.

Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited markets and distributes Baillie Gifford’s range of collective investment schemes to Qualified Clients and Qualified Investors in Israel, as listed in the First Addendum to the Regulation of Investment Advising, Investment Marketing and Portfolio Management Law, 5755-1995 (the “Advice Law”) and in the First Addendum to the Israel Securities Law, 5728-1968 (the “Securities Law”). Detailed disclosure of the collective investment schemes can be found within this website and in the relevant scheme prospectus.

Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited does not provide investment advice. If you are in any doubt about whether an investment is suitable, you should seek independent advice.

No action has been or will be taken in Israel that would permit a public offering or distribution of the Funds mentioned in this website to the public in Israel. This website and the Funds mentioned herein have not been approved by the Israeli Securities Authority (the “ISA”). In addition, the Funds mentioned in this website are not regulated under the provisions of Israel’s Joint Investment Trusts law, 5754-1994 (the “Joint Investment Trusts Law”). This website and the Funds mentioned herein will only be distributed to Israeli residents in reliance on an exemption from any advice or marketing restrictions [in a manner that will not constitute “an offer to the public” under sections 15 and 15a of]/[in reliance on an exemption from the prospectus requirements under] the Israel Securities Law, 5728-1968 (the “Securities Law”) or the Joint Investment Trusts Law, and any guidelines, pronouncements or rulings issued from time to time by the ISA as applicable.

Any stock examples, or images, used on this website are not intended to represent recommendations to buy or sell, neither is it implied that they will prove profitable in the future. It is not known whether they will feature in any future portfolio produced by us.