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For the past decade, I have written memos to capture my views on our highest conviction ideas and thoughts on the coming quarters. To date, I’ve used memos like this one to organize my thoughts regarding what the Franklin Innovation Team is seeing in the marketplace and to record our expectations for how these ideas may evolve. This piece captures eight ideas that offer you a glimpse into our thinking on a number of themes that matter to us:

  1. History suggests that the period immediately after a pandemic is met with very good economic growth.
  2. We expect a stock pickers’ market in innovation: Losers finally fail.
  3. 2023 will be the year of the chief operating officer.
  4. Oil is dead. Long live oil.
  5. The US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) signed in 2022 is a likely accelerant of energy transformation. Other countries will need to respond.
  6. Payments: A button is not enough. Payments are the fourth leg of profitability for internet websites.
  7. mRNA drugs move beyond COVID-19.
  8. 2023 and 2024 may see one of the largest drug launches in history.


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