Here’s the news and moves that shaped the global economy, the local economy, and the Spaceship Voyager portfolios in February 2025.
What happened around Australia?
Australia won the Women’s Ashes, Charli xcx headlined Laneway, the RBA finally announced a rate cut, and Australians were predicted to spend more than half a billion dollars on Valentine’s Day for their nearest and dearest.
China conducted military drills off Eastern Australia, the Government approved Qatar Airways to buy a 25% stake in Virgin Australia, and Forbes announced that Australia’s 50 richest people increased their combined wealth by nearly 10% to $243 billion in the past 12 months.
What happened in the market?
There were two big drivers of market moves in February 2025.
1. Earnings reports
Generally, publicly listed companies must report their quarterly, half yearly, and annual earnings performance to their shareholders.
If their results diverge from expectations, it can influence their stock prices up and down.
This is because stock prices are largely based on investor expectations of a stock’s future performance.
A bad report can shake confidence in the stock’s future, and conversely, a good report can cause more investor interest.
In February, some of the biggest stocks in the Spaceship Voyager portfolios reported their earnings.
2. Trade wars
Toward the end of February, talk of a tariff war really started to move the markets.
Generally, tariffs make it more expensive for companies to import products from foreign suppliers.
Extra costs can get passed onto consumers, add pressure to the cost of living, and threaten to increase inflation.
This can lead to a reduction in the amount and type of goods that get imported from different countries, negatively impact those economies, and provoke retaliatory tariffs.
Tariffs are a whole thing.
So the market’s been freaking out. The US’ introduction of tariffs on some of its major trading partners was expected to have broad impacts to the US economy, and flow on effects to its stock market.
Markets hate uncertainty because investors want to know what they’re working with.
It’s hard to make or feel confident about investing decisions when they can’t be sure of what the economic policy will be.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 both finished lower at the end of February.
As we wrote last month, we view tariffs as negotiation tools that lead to evolving policies and implementation.
We remain invested in Where the World is Going trends and are unlikely to make adjustments due to tariff concerns.
What happened in the Spaceship Universe and Spaceship Earth portfolios?
Let’s look at the biggest moves in the Spaceship Voyager Where the World is Going (WWG) portfolios, the Spaceship Universe and Spaceship Earth portfolios.
Moving up
Megaport Ltd
(Returned +30.52% for the Spaceship Universe Portfolio in February, from 1-29 February 2025, converted in Australian dollars and not annualised.)
Megaport reported its half-yearly earnings in late February including increases in revenue across all regions, and a slight increase in its revenue guidance - which means forecast - for full-year results.
Australian Ethical
(Returned +24.85% for the Spaceship Universe Portfolio in February, from 1-29 February 2025, converted in Australian dollars and not annualised.)
Australian Ethical also reported half-yearly earnings, which included an increase in revenue and funds under management.
Temple & Webster Group Ltd
(Returned +19.99% for the Spaceship Universe Portfolio in February, from 1-29 February 2025, converted in Australian dollars and not annualised.)
Temple & Webster reported half yearly earnings that included reaching an all time high market share for the Australian furniture and homewares market. Revenue, new, and repeat customers all grew vs. the year before.
Tencent Holdings Ltd
(Returned +19.85% for the Spaceship Universe Portfolio in February, from 1-29 February 2025, converted in Australian dollars and not annualised.)
Remember DeepSeek, the new AI that freaked the market out last month? Tencent added it to their WeChat social media platform, and they had their best day since 2021.
Unity Software Inc
(Returned +15.81% for the Spaceship Universe Portfolio in February, from 1-29 February 2025, converted in Australian dollars and not annualised.)
Unity’s quarterly report showed they beat their own expectations for earnings and revenue.
Moving down
Illumina Inc
(Returned -32.96% for the Spaceship Universe and Spaceship Earth portfolios in February, from 1-29 February 2025, converted in Australian dollars and not annualised.)
Illumina was placed on China’s ‘Unreliable Entities’ list in early February, shortly after President Trump’s additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods was implemented.
Companies that are added to this list can be restricted or prohibited from trade.
The company says it’s working to find a positive resolution, but in the meantime, its share price has taken a hit.
Block Inc
(Returned -27.90% for the Spaceship Universe Portfolio in February, from 1-29 February 2025, converted in Australian dollars and not annualised.)
Block’s quarterly earnings report showed earnings and revenue were lower than investors were expecting, even though revenue had increased 4.5% from a year earlier.
Wisetech Global Ltd
(Returned -27.71% for the Spaceship Universe Portfolio in February, from 1-29 February 2025, converted in Australian dollars and not annualised.)
Wisetech’s been under pressure with serious allegations against its CEO, who stepped down into a different role, the resignation of four of its non-executive Directors, news that key products will be delayed, and that it’s expecting to report revenue toward the bottom end of its forecast.
Tesla Inc
(Returned -27.39% for the Spaceship Universe and Spaceship Earth portfolios in February, from 1-29 February 2025, converted in Australian dollars and not annualised.)
Tesla’s also been under pressure, largely due to CEO Elon Musk’s public behaviour influencing investor sentiment, alongside reports of decreasing sales across Europe even as electric vehicle adoption is picking up.
IDP Education Ltd
(Returned -24.66% for the Spaceship Universe Portfolio in February, from 1-29 February 2025, converted in Australian dollars and not annualised.)
IDP’s half yearly results reported declines across revenue, income, and profit margin vs. the same time the year before. It’s been struggling against international student market contraction, caused by more cautious approaches to migration by governments in its key markets.
The bottom line
As we like to remind our community, Spaceship Voyager portfolio investments are long-haul flights, and turbulence comes with the territory.
The Spaceship Universe and Spaceship Earth portfolios have very high risk and have high-growth investment strategies so they have minimum suggested timeframes of 7 years. You can check out the Spaceship Universe Portfolio PDS and Spaceship Earth Portfolio PDS for more information on our investment strategies.
One or more of the Spaceship Voyager portfolios invest in Megaport, Australian Ethical, Temple & Webster, Tencent, Unity Software, Illumina, Block, Wisetech Global, Tesla, and IDP at the time of writing. Please refer to the Spaceship app or our website for more information on what each portfolio invests in.
Important! We’re sharing with you our thoughts on the companies in which Spaceship Voyager invests for your informational purposes only. We think it’s important (and interesting!) to let you know what’s happening with Spaceship Voyager’s investments. However, we are not making recommendations to buy or sell holdings in a specific company. Past performance isn’t a reliable indicator or guarantee of future performance.
