Der DNB Renewable Energy Fund (WKN A0MWAL, ISIN LU0302296149) übertraf im Mai seine Benchmark, den NEX-Index, während er zugleich leicht hinter der Wertentwicklung des MSCI World zurückblieb. Bester Performer im Monat waren Cornerstone Building Brands, die starke Quartalszahlen vorlegen konnten. DNB-FondsManager Christian Rom analysiert in seinem aktuellen Monatskommentar die jüngsten Marktentwicklungen in der Zukunftsbranche der Erneuerbaren Energien. Investoren der SJB FondsStrategie Nachhaltig finden hier den aktuellen Marktbericht des DNB-Aktienexperten.
Marktkommentar
The MSCI World was up 1.3% in May, delivering positive returns for the fourth consecutive month. Inflation has been high on the agenda with US CPI figures showing the sharpest increase in more than 12 years on the back of the US economic recovery and high energy prices. Note that this is compared to a low base 12 months ago, due to shutdown of the US economy due to Covid. The Fed expects this jump to be temporary and that inflation will settle around the 2% target range later this year.
Performance
The fund again outperformed our NEX index benchmark but ended slightly behind MSCI World. Best performer was Cornerstone Building Brands which yet again delivered a strong report highlighting continued strength in the residential construction market and keeping the deleveraging ahead of plan. Wind turbine suppliers and power generation names held back the performance for the month as the market calibrates transitory effects of higher transport and logistics costs and general input cost inflation. However, the longer-term case for these names remains solid as highlighted in this month s report from IEA. On Norway s national day (May 17th), the IEA published their first comprehensive study on how to transition to a net zero energy system by 2050. The report highlights: 1) ~90% share of renewable production by 2050; 2) 5x increase in annual wind/solar additions (from ~200GW to 1TW); 3) USD~5trn annual clean energy investments (~1trn today); 4) ~5x increase in critical minerals demand; 5) No new ICE car sales and 50% of heavy truck sales electric by 2035; 6) Major leap needed in clean energy innovation, to improve the economics of electrification, clean hydrogen, bioenergy and CCUS.
It was an active month where we had the opportunity to add on weakness in some of our core holdings. Among the top additions for the month was our initiation in Verisk. The company provides predictive analytics and decision-support solutions to customers in the insurance industry and other industries. It s AIR business helps stakeholders to price the risk of natural disasters and thereby understand and adapt to increasingly frequent severe weather events (hurricanes, flooding, forest fires, winter storms, etc.). High quality business and with the stock down significantly year to date we find the risk reward attractive.
Outlook
Aggregated estimates remained positive in May. The fund trades at a premium to MSCI World valuation, but the fund also have a significantly stronger growth outlook. The need to lower emissions remains huge and is a secular theme supporting the fund. We continue to find the long-term outlook for the portfolio attractive when we look at valuation compared to its normalised earnings power. Keeping in mind that we are in the very early innings of the green energy transition.
