Fund and trust research rating agency FundCalibre has named the five newest additions to its Elite Rated list and one addition to its Elite Radar, as part of a summer rebalance.
Starting with global equities, the team has awarded the £525m Invesco Global Equity Income trust led by Stephen Anness, which primarily targets discretionary consumer companies, with the Elite rating.
“Rather than simply targeting the highest-yielding companies, Invesco Global Equity Income Trust invests across dividend compounders, businesses with strong capital growth potential and companies capable of restoring future dividend payments,” analysts said.
Analysts also praised the firm’s balanced investment approach and willingness to be flexible, investing in companies with little or no dividend yield if capital appreciation potential is attractive and the balance between value and growth.
This has contributed to the strategy’s “excellent” long-term track record, with a 243.5% total return over the past 10 years, well above the 130.7% average for an IT Global Equity Income strategy.
For US exposure, FundCalibre rated the Capital Group Investment Company of America, one of the world’s oldest US equity strategies.
The strategy’s distinctive manager structure sees seven experienced portfolio managers independently manage sleeves of the portfolio alongside the firm’s research analysts to help reduce key-person risk, FundCalibre said.
Medium-term returns have been strong for the strategy, outperforming the S&P 500 over the past three and five years. However, over the past 12 months and 10-years, performance slipped into the third quartile.
“The strategy has historically generated attractive long-term returns with lower volatility than the wider US market, although its diversified approach may lag during periods when performance is driven by a narrow group of mega-cap stocks,” analysts noted.
Another new addition was the Polar Capital Artificial Intelligence fund, which has been one of the top five best-performing strategies in the IA Global sector over the past one, three and five years. Over the past three years, it has delivered a 129.9% total return, compared with an average sector peer of just 41.4%.
“Managed by Xuesong Zhao and supported by Polar Capital’s specialist technology team, the fund invests not only in companies building AI infrastructure but also in businesses across multiple sectors that are expected to benefit from adopting artificial intelligence, providing investors with differentiated exposure to the theme,” analysts said.
Its stablemate, the Polar Capital Global Technology fund, also received an elite rating.
Its long-term track record is “outstanding”, and it has maintained a strong focus on valuation and technological disruption, the team added. According to data from FE fundinfo, over the past one, three, five and 10 years, the fund is the second-best performing strategy in the tech sector.
It is up 855.9% over the past decade, while the average tech sector peer rose 434.8%.
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For a more specialist option, the team has now rated Schroder’s International Biotechnology Trust, managed by Ailsa Craig and Marek Poszepczynski. It aims to achieve long-term capital growth by investing in businesses developing innovative medicines, therapies and healthcare, through companies of different sizes.
Because of the diversified nature of the portfolio and ability to invest across the biotech sector from global leaders to early-stage companies, the trust has been successful in both up and down markets, according to analysts.
Across standard timeframes, it has delivered second-quartile results or higher in the IT Healthcare and Biotechnology peer group.
See also: The next phase of biotech’s growth story
“While they invest in very different parts of the market, they all share the characteristics we look for when awarding an Elite Rating: experienced managers, clearly defined and repeatable investment processes, and the ability to deliver attractive long-term outcomes for investors,” Juliet Schooling Latter, research director at FundCalibre, said.
Finally, the team have added the IFSL Marlborough Global Small Cap fund to their elite radar, reserved for funds that have caught the team’s attention but have not yet achieved the criteria for an elite rating.
Following the recent merger with the IFSL Marlborough Global Innovation fund, FundCalibre analysts have identified it as a strategy to watch.
“We have been impressed by the team’s disciplined approach, and we’re looking forward to monitoring the strategy as the enlarged portfolio develops,” Schooling Latter concluded.
