Im Juli 2021 entwickelten sich Umwelttechnologie-Aktien besser als der breite Markt in Gestalt des MSCI World Index, wobei Titel aus dem Bereich der Energie-Effizienz besonders hohe Positivbeiträge leisteten. Auch Halbleiterwerte entwickelten sich überdurchschnittlich, einzig Aktien der Erneuerbaren Energien standen unter Druck. In diesem Marktumfeld generierte der Pictet – Global Environmental Opportunities P EUR (WKN A1C3LN, ISIN LU0503631805) eine attraktive Wertentwicklung von +2,50 Prozent auf Monatsbasis und liegt seit Jahresanfang mit +12,00 Prozent klar im Plus. Der aktuelle Monatsbericht von Pictet-FondsManager Luciano Diana analysiert für alle Investoren der FondsStrategie SJB Nachhaltig die Veränderungen im Portfolio und liefert einen Ausblick für die Aktienmärkte des Environmental-Sektors.
Market review
Equities performed reasonably well during the month, picking up 0.7% on the month, led by the US, which was up 2.4%. Chinese stocks, however, did suffer from heavy losses as Beijing’s regulatory crackdown on industries, such as tech, education, and property, raised concerns about future profitability and could further reduce valuations for high-growth sectors. This dragged down emerging market assets, though EM Asia stocks took the brunt of the losses, down some 7.5%. Japan also suffered, although concerns about a serious wave of Covid also played its part, knocking more than 2% off the market. Growth-oriented stocks far outperformed value on the month, returns from these two factors are now neck and neck for the year: value was a big winner for the first few months of 2021. On the environmental front, the European Union’s ”Fit For 55%” legislative package was released, which is the EU’s proposed set of measures, which would put the bloc on a path to meet a new 2030 target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% vs. 1990 levels, up from the previous target of 40%.
Performance analysis
The strategy outperformed the global equity market over the month. The segment that contributed the most positively was Energy Efficiency, especially Industrial efficiency names, which all posted good results as the industrial recovery unfolds, driven in part by a drive towards a higher level of automation in the postCovid world. Also within Industrial Efficiency, two semiconductor companies showed the continued strength and tightness over their respective markets. Within Building efficiency, an energyefficient kitchen appliance supplier surprised positively, with results positively impacted by a resilient catering market.
Pollution control also had a strong month across the board, with particularly good performance boosted by environmental infrastructure spending and by ongoing exposure to Covid testing for companies that also have some exposure to healthcare. Dematerialized economy contributed nicely, too, with impressive results again from simulation software holdings. The only segment that was negative was Renewable energy, as worries about raw material price increases continued to linger.
Portfolio activity – overweightings & underweightings
During the month, we divested from two companies within the Dematerialized economy segment. We sold a US work-from-home company, after disappointing results, which made us re-evaluate the business franchise component of our scoring. We also sold a Chinese telemedicine company as part of an effort to reduce our exposure to Chinese-based companies given current regulatory uncertainty. Along the same line of thought, we reduced our position in an EV name in Energy Efficiency and a solar holding in Renewable Energy. We increased our position in a water technology company that is benefiting from infrastructure plans geared towards water management and green technologies. The extreme weather events that we are experiencing worldwide should also translate into more business for these types of solutions over time.
Market outlook
The outlook for the environmental theme looks promising for the remainder of 2021. The governments of Europe, China and now also the US – the world’s three major economic blocs – are finally all aligned on supporting technologies aimed at making their economies more efficient, less resource intensive and ultimately more sustainable. Even more importantly, corporates continue to invest in innovation and drive down the cost curves of many disruptive environmental technologies. For example, the electrification and the digitization of entire sectors of the economy, such as transportation, manufacturing, buildings and construction, is poised to accelerate as the global economy reopens. This will benefit disruptive solution providers across the Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency and Dematerialized Economy segments of our portfolio. In addition, companies that contribute to a cleaner environment are also likely to see robust demand, for example those in our Pollution Control segment. These companies reduce the negative health effects of pollution, help prevent future diseases and in general help rebalance the relationship between humans and nature.
Portfolio strategy
Our strategy remains firmly focused on investing in environmental solutions providers. We believe that exposure to environmental trends offers investors attractive risk-adjusted returns, regardless of the stage of the economic cycle. We favour solutions providers with wide economic moats, robust profitability, healthy balance sheets and business models that don’t rely on government subsidies. These companies are not only likely to weather a difficult economy, but also to perform well during the recovery phase. We favour exposure to defensive business models and avoid the more cyclical parts of the economy. Our bottom-up investment process results in a concentrated global portfolio with a growth and quality bias. Long term, the trends of population growth and rising living standards are inescapable and so is the growing strain on natural resources. Awareness of environmental issues has grown tremendously in the last few years and is now deep-seated, top of mind for an entire generation of citizens, consumers and investors.
Pictet – Global Environmental Opportunities Management Team
Luciano Diana
Gabriel Micheli
Yi Du
