Many growth funds are facing the same problem. What do they do when their investing style is out of favour after a long period of being successful?

In this scenario investors should be most concerned when a fund manager changes their approach to try and make gains from whatever is working in the market.

It rarely works out well when portfolio managers move out of their comfort zone and change their investment style.

James Thomson, lead manager on popular fund Rathbone Global Opportunities (B7FQLN1), is adamant he won’t go down this route.

He tells Shares that while it is true that we’re going back to investing in a world which isn’t so binary and it is important for investors to have balance in their own portfolios, he is not going to change how his fund is run.

Thomson says: ‘You shouldn’t rip up the script in difficult times – styles come in and out of favour – but we have a track record of long-term success.’

This means the fund will continue to avoid the commodities sector, where companies’ fortunes are dictated by market prices which are outside of their control. Thomson will also avoid firms in what he calls ‘sunset industries’ where there is waning or no growth.

Aiming to be consistent doesn’t mean doing nothing. In 2021 the Rathbone fund moved out of some of the ‘stay at home’ Covid winners like Netflix (NFLX:NASDAQ) and software firm Salesforce (CRM:NYSE). The fund also reduced its technology exposure from 29% during the height of the pandemic to less than 20% today.

TRACK RECORD

On a one and three-year view Rathbone Global Opportunities has underperformed its benchmark, the Investment Association’s global sector. However, over five years it has returned 44.4% against 37.1% from the benchmark, which equates to an annualised return of 7.6%. Over 10 years it has returned 222.5% versus 165.6% from the benchmark or an annualised return of more than 8%.

Investors might need to be patient and past performance is no guarantee of success, but this does at least suggest the fund can deliver on a longer-term view.

THE SECRET SAUCE

The strategy which has underpinned this performance is relatively straightforward. Thomson and his team, which includes co-manager Sammy Dow, look to buy what he describes as ‘under the radar growth companies which are shaking up their industries and have high levels of recurring revenue’.

Investment decisions are based on ‘qualitative judgements’ on individual stocks and Thomson suggests this, rather than any particular metric, is the fund’s ‘secret sauce’.

Under the radar doesn’t necessarily mean businesses which are obscure – Thomson cites the example of Amazon (AMZN:NASDAQ) which was added to the portfolio 12 years ago.

‘It was well known even then but the growth potential and the ability to go to different areas, get involved in different markets and create another floor for its business was underappreciated,’ he says.

The £3.5 billion Rathbone fund is comprised of around 60 mainly large cap companies. The top holdings include membership-only retailer Costco (COST:NASDAQ) and chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA:NASDAQ).

There are also some lesser-known names including French medical equipment maker Sartorius Stedim Biotech (DIM:EPA) and US electronics specialist Amphenol (APH:NYSE).

SELL-OFF CREATES OPPORTUNITIES

In theory the widespread sell-off in growth stocks means there should be plenty of opportunities to benefit from similarly ‘underappreciated’ growth to that which Thomson perceived in Amazon all those years ago.

Recent additions to the portfolio include Apple (APPL:NASDAQ), Louis Vuitton-owner LVMH (MC:EPA) and US DIY store chain Home Depot (HD:NYSE).

Thomson says the market is acting as if their ‘growth potential is permanently impaired rather than there being a temporary pause in their potential’.

Why the Rathbone fund has invested in Home Depot

Home Depot has been caught up in the consumer discretionary storm that’s hitting many retailers. But it could buck that negative trend for several reasons, says Rathbone.

First, 90% of US DIY customers own their own homes, which means they continue to benefit from the strong rise in house prices seen in the country.

In addition, Home Depot’s sales to professional customers are almost exclusively destined for jobs for homeowners.

Furthermore, 93% of Home Depot’s home-owning customers have a fixed-rate mortgage (most US mortgages run for 30 years) so they’re somewhat shielded from rising rates.

The retailer’s professional customers simply pass on their inflated costs to the underlying homeowner.

Arguably, Home Depot is shielded from some of the headwinds confronting more generic retailers.

These positives, combined with one of the lowest valuations seen for this retailer in 20 years, have driven the Rathbone fund back into the stock after selling it last year following the immediate post-pandemic reopening rally.

In terms of which stock in the portfolio excites him most, Thomson’s response is to self-deprecatingly reveal he has never prevailed in the team’s stock picking competition in nearly 20 years of trying.

‘It is about trying to build a portfolio, so you have lots of shots at a goal. You don’t know which will work best but by buying high quality growth companies with a track record of success over multiple cycles you’re not going to go too far wrong.

‘Whether it is Apple, Home Depot or LVMH we’ve bought after 30% to 40% pullbacks in the belief they will be outstanding long-term investments, even if we can’t say with precision which will be at the top of the list.’

VALUATION FOCUS

While it is a growth fund, Thomson and Dow do pay attention to valuation and how this compares with a company’s prospects, with Thomson observing unprofitable technology stocks ‘went parabolic’ during the pandemic.

However, he says many of the large cap, mainstream ‘mission-critical’ tech companies with 80% to 90% recurring revenues and deeply embedded into clients’ work and consumers’ lives now have reasonable valuations.

He points to the fact that 20 years ago during the dotcom bubble the tech industry didn’t really make any profits. In 2022 many of its constituents do and yet the pain being felt in share price terms is similar. Thomson flags the average earnings multiple for the sector is now around 25-times compared with more than 80-times when the dotcom bubble burst.

Rathbone Global Opportunities’ performance has struggled along with so many other investments this year, but Thomson has been managing the fund for almost two decades and won’t be too fazed by short-term volatility in the markets.

For patient investors, now could be a good time to buy the fund as the indiscriminate selling seen in recent months should be fertile ground for those under the radar growth opportunities sought by Thomson and the team. The fund’s ongoing charge at 0.77% is reasonable.

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