Portfolio Manager comment Coeli Global Select August 2020

As economies open up, risk tolerance and capital are returning to the stock market. This was a good month for the fund, which was up 6.87 percent in August and beat the benchmark by 2.11 percentage points. Three stocks that performed especially strongly were: a) tech giant Apple, driven in particular by the good quarterly report that it presented at the end of July (see our analysis of the report); b) payments company Mastercard, which has seen a relatively weak share price development this year but which finally gathered momentum during the month; and c) US graphics processor manufacturer NVIDIA, which has seen an incredible share price run this year, up more than 100 percent so far (read more about why this company is so exceptional).

The weakest performer during August was German real estate company Aroundtown, which holds a large share of office and hotel properties. Few were interested in buying into this share this month.

Key market events and trends affecting performance

Much of what is happening on the markets right now depends, of course, on how companies are affected by the coronavirus situation. Our focus, on the other hand, is less on this crisis, which will be over in the foreseeable future, and more on which new trends it has created or strengthened and which risks we will see in the future. One thing is clear: we will undoubtedly see more geopolitical disruptions and a world in which two technological systems – the western world’s and the Chinese – collide and compete. This will entail not just risk but also, in the short term, an increased willingness by many companies and governments to make investments. Right now, we are spending a lot of our time analysing how this will play out and which companies we will invest in and which we’ll avoid.

Portfolio changes

We made no changes to our portfolio during the month.

The fund’s positioning

The fund is well-positioned in the market, increasing in rising markets and holding up well when the market has somewhat worse days. We have a decent balance between our sectors and are not especially affected by the development in any particular one. Some of the holdings that we see considerable upside in within the next 6-12 months are spread across diverse sectors – everything from hospitals to building materials. It is with some pride that we can say that through the fund, you own a splendid mixture of the world’s best companies.