Saxo

Saxo Morningstar Moat CHF Q3 2021 commentary

SaxoSelect Commentaries
Instruments tradedStocks
Asset classesGlobal equities (excluding emerging markets)
Investment styleHigh quality stocks that are priced at a discount to fair value
Dividend Yield2.46%
Quarterly return-8.55% (net of fees)
Annualised volatility (since inception)
25%

Market overview

The global rally in asset prices has lost momentum in recent times. While some equity markets continue to post modest gains, the total return backdrop has faded in comparison to recent memory, with emerging markets being a particular sore point. Thus far, year-to-date returns still remain strong and the post-pandemic recovery intact. Several factors are at play, but the two prominent influences are inflation fears and the China regulatory crackdown. 

Inflation fears have been with us for most of 2021 yet continue to be regarded as the biggest tail risk—potentially derailing both equities and bonds. More recently, this has included central bank dialogue around a gradual tapering of its loose monetary conditions. While some see the inflation increase as being driven by a rebound from depressed prices in 2020 and/or temporary supply-chain issues, others point to massive fiscal and monetary stimulus contributing to a structural increase in inflation. The reopening of businesses is another contributor, although this has lost some steam as the delta variant continues to create economic challenges. 

The combination of rising inflation worries and central bank tapering translates into rising bond yields. This was perhaps the most noteworthy financial market move late in the third quarter of 2021, influencing the returns of both stocks and bonds. 

For equities, a rise in bond yields typically equates to downward pressure on stock prices—all else being equal—and that’s exactly what has been observed in the third quarter. The obvious exception to this were energy companies, which saw another meaningful boost to returns, supported by higher commodity prices. Japan was another rare bright spot. To the downside, it has been observed a  remarkable shift in Chinese technology companies and the potential bankruptcy of a large real estate developer, Evergrande. These developments in China carried some contagion fears, bringing down the entire emerging market basket and practically wiping the gains year-to-date. Small-cap stocks also fell late in the quarter, giving back some of their lead over to large-cap stocks in the past year.

For bonds, inflation fears are driving yields higher and have helped inflation-protected bonds outperform. On the other hand, nominal government bonds have failed to offset equity risk recently, generally posting modest negative returns. Longer-dated government bonds are now down meaningfully year-to-date, while emerging market bonds in local currency are also down. Higher-quality corporate bonds are generally doing better and broadly flat, despite a rise in volatility. Regarding currency moves,  recent strength has been observed in safe-haven currencies like the U.S. dollar.

 

Portfolio performance (net of fees)

Jul-9.97%
Aug0.80%
Sep0.77%
Inception (May 2017)
68% (cumulative return)


Top 10 portfolio holdings (as of 30/09/2021)
41,36% of total portfolio

NameWeight (%)
WESCO International Inc5,17
ING Groep NV ADR4,46
ABN AMRO Bank NV4,33
Equitrans Midstream Corp4,29
Banco Santander SA4,13
Lloyds Banking Group PLC4,08
Schlumberger Ltd4,07
Adient PLC3,69
Sabre Corp3,63
BorgWarner Inc3,51

Top Performers

  • Equitrans Midstream Corp: Equitrans acquired EQM Midstream in mid-2020, consolidating the midstream family. Equitrans now own EQM assets directly versus just unit ownership. EQM Midstream provides gathering, transmission, and water services to primarily Appalachian producers in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio.

  • ABN AMRO Bank NV: ABN Amro Bank is a Dutch bank, and the Netherlands accounts for around 90% of its operating profit. Operationally, retail and commercial banking contributes the bulk of its operating profit, while ABN Amro continues to reduce its exposure to corporate and investment banking. It views private banking as one of its key growth areas.

  • WESCO International Inc: Wesco International is a value-added industrial distributor that has three reportable segments, electrical and electronic solutions, communications and security solutions, and utility and broadband solutions. The company offers more than 1.5 million products to its 125,000 active customers through a distribution network of 800 branches, warehouses, and sales offices, including 42 distribution centers. Wesco generates 75% of its sales in the United States, but the company has a global reach, with operations in 50 other countries.

  • ING Groep NV ADR: The merger of the Dutch postal bank and NN Insurance in 1991 created ING. Through a series of further acquisitions ING build up a global footprint. The 2008 financial crisis forced ING to seek government support--a precondition of which was that ING should separate its banking and insurance activities, which saw ING revert to being solely a bank. ING has market- leading banking operations in the Netherlands and Belgium, and a range of digital banks across Europe and Australia. Its global wholesale banking operation is primarily focused on lending.

  • Hongkong Land Holdings Ltd: Hongkong Land is a property investor mainly holding prime commercial assets in Hong Kong and Singapore. The company is the second-largest office landlord in Hong Kong with a portfolio of centrally located assets totaling 4.1 million square feet of office space along with 0.6 million square feet of retail space. It also holds 1.6 million square feet of prime office space in Singapore. Rental income accounts for about 75% of the operating profit, with most coming from Hong Kong. Property development projects in Singapore and China contribute the rest. The company was founded in 1889and is dual-listed on the London Stock Exchange, with a secondary listing on the Singapore Exchange. It is 50%-owned by Jardine Matheson Holdings.
     

Worst Performers:

  • Biogen Inc: Biogen and Idec merged in 2003, combining forces to market Biogen's multiple sclerosis drug Avonex and Idec's cancer drug Rituxan. Today, Rituxan and next-generation antibody Gazyva are marketed via a collaboration with Roche. Biogen also markets novel MS drugs Plegridy, Tysabri, Tecfidera, and Vumerity. In Japan, Biogen's MS portfolio isco-promoted by Eisai. Hemophilia therapies Eloctate and Alprolix (partnered with SOBI) were spun off as part of Bioverativ in 2017. Biogen has several drug candidates in phase 3 trials in neurology and neurodegenerative diseases and has launched Spinraza with partner Ionis. Aduhelm was approved as the firm's first Alzheimer's disease therapy in June 2021.

  • Just Eat Takeaway.com NV: Just Eat Takeaway operates an online marketplace that connects restaurants with users in Europe and North America. The company operates mainly as an order-only marketplace, although it also offers last-mile delivery services. The company is the result of the merger of Just Eat Plc and Takeaway.com NV in early 2020. The company had close to 60 million active users on its platform generating revenue of about EUR 2 billion and a gross merchandise value of EUR 13 billion. Excluding the U.S. after its recent acquisition of Grubhub, the company’s largest geographical presence by revenue is in the U.K., followed by Germany, Canada, and the Netherlands.

  • AGL Energy Ltd: AGL Energy is one of Australia's largest retailers of electricity and gas. It services 3.7 million retail electricity and gas accounts in the eastern and southern Australian states, or about one third of the market. Profit is dominated by energy generation, underpinned by its low-cost coal-fired generation fleet. Founded in 1837, it is the oldest company on the ASX. Generation capacity comprises a portfolio of peaking, intermediate, and base-load electricity generation plants, with a combined capacity of 10,500megawatts. 

  • New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc ADR: EDU, founded in 1993, is the largest well-established one-stop shopping private educational services provider in China. EDU has had over 52.8 million student enrollments, including about 8.4 million enrollments in fiscal 2019. As of third-quarter fiscal 2020, EDU had a network of 1,416 learning centers, including 99 schools, 12 bookstores and access to a national network of online and offline bookstores through 160 third-party distributors and over 38,400 highly qualified teachers in 86 cities. EDU offers a diversified portfolio of educational programs, services and products to students in different age groups, including K-12 after-school tutoring for major academic subjects, overseas and domestic test preparations, non-academic languages and services in vocational training, and so on.

  • TAL Education Group ADR: Founded in 2003, TAL Education is one of the leading K-12 after-school tutoring providers in China. The firm offers tutoring services to students from pre-school to the twelfth grade via small classes, one-on-one personalized premium services, and online courses. In fourth quarter fiscal 2021, TAL's small classes account for 53% of its revenue, one-on-one 6%, and Xueersi.com 32%. Its tutoring services cover the core academic subjects in China’s school curriculum, such as Math (K-12), English (K-12), Chinese (K-12), Physics (Grade 8-12), Chemistry (Grade 9-12), and Biology (Grade 10-12). TAL's learning centers currently cover 101 cities in China and a total of 1,098 learning centers. In fourth-quarter fiscal 2021, current normal priced long-term course student enrolment was 6.7 million.

Outlook

The supportive environment is evolving quickly, and all eyes appear to be on inflation at the moment. Regarding the recovery, most of the cyclical upswing may now be in the past, although positives are still being observed. 

In a forward-looking sense, many market participants are still encouraged by the economic recovery, with strong corporate earnings and cheap interest rates, and so continue investing at full speed. Others are beginning to question the durability of the recovery. This type of bifurcation among market participants is very normal at this stage of a recovery, as economic maturity increases, and the positive dataflow somewhat softens. In this regard, the portfolio is broadly positioned for a continuation of the economic recovery, reducing some of the cyclical positioning and retaining a defensive ballast.

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