International inventory markets could also be coming underneath stress from geopolitical tensions and sticky inflation — however one portfolio supervisor sees potential in a number of shares. “There are always investment opportunities to be found in all market conditions. We’re looking out for stocks that we think are better than the market currently believes,” Rob Hinchliffe, managing director and fairness analyst at PineBridge Investments, instructed CNBC Professional final month. Hinchliffe oversees greater than $1 billion of PineBridge’s belongings through its International Focus Fairness Fund . The fund — launched in 1999 — has holdings in round 40 shares. Morningstar provides the fund its prime score of 5 stars indicating that it’s among the many finest performers. As of March 31, PineBridge’s International Focus Fairness Fund had year-to-date returns of 9.9%, beating the 8.1% registered by its benchmark MSCI All Nation World Index. In 2023, the fund gained 27.4%, surpassing the 22.2% posted by its MSCI benchmark. “The average stock we own has been in our portfolio for over four years. What we are trying to do is beat the benchmark by constructing our portfolio to be similar to the market from a risk perspective,” Hinchliffe stated. This implies the fund is style-neutral and focuses purely on inventory choice. “We’re not taking a view that small caps are better or worse this year than last year; we’re not taking the view that growth stocks are better than value stocks. We just want to make sure we have similar amount of growth to the market, a similar market cap, minimize risks we don’t want and focus on where we think we have the tools to help us to find the right stocks to invest in,” he added. Inventory picks A number of shares stand out to Hinchliffe nearly as good performs proper now. Among the many prime holdings in his fund are Microsoft (6.5% holding), Alphabet (4%) and Nvidia (3.7%) — all a part of the so-called “Magnificent Seven.” The portfolio supervisor famous that they “clearly led the market last year based on fantastic earnings growth by and large.” Nonetheless, Hinchliffe stated that his fund has an underweight score on the Magnificent Seven. He as a substitute has his sights set on 5 under-the-radar shares providing “lots of opportunities.” They embody U.S.-Swiss electronics element firm TE Connectivity and France’s Legrand , which designs and manufactures electrical units. “We’ve owned TE Connectivity for years and years. It is considered an IT company but its biggest business is supplying to the auto industry. It also supplies data centers so it covers a lot of scope,” Hinchliffe stated. As for the patron discretionary house, the fund supervisor likes grocery store chain Walmart . “We have owned it for several years … Our investment thesis revolves around the potential growth in digital advertising for Walmart [driven by] the volume of customer data they have and can monetize and benefit from,” Hinchliffe stated. This phase has a “much higher profit margin than their traditional retail business,” he added. Elsewhere, he’s wanting on the health-care sector — particularly, Thermo Fisher . The corporate accounts for 3.1% of his fund and is among the many 10 holdings. “Thermo Fisher is a neat one, because they are really in segments ranging from drug discovery all the way to drug production. And so they have parts of the company [that] are at the forefront, and parts of it are, much further down the line in the [health care sector],” he stated. He expects to see the corporate’s “true performance” going ahead, as demand for its merchandise picks up in tandem with an increase in more healthy residing and the necessity for higher health-care tools.
