SJB | Korschenbroich, 10.10.2023.
Globale Aktien erlebten im September einen schwachen Handelsmonat, da enttäuschende Wirtschaftsdaten und ein anhaltender Inflationsdruck zusammenkamen. Im Berichtsmonat entwickelte sich innerhalb der Pictet-Umweltstrategie der Sektor Abfallmanagement und Recycling am besten im Portfolio, wo sich die Aktien von Unternehmen wie Stora Enso und Westrock stark zeigten. Schwächer tendierten hingegen Werte aus dem Bereich der Erneuerbaren Energien. In einem insgesamt angespannten Marktumfeld generierte der Pictet – Global Environmental Opportunities P EUR (WKN A1C3LN, ISIN LU0503631805) eine Wertentwicklung von -1,34 Prozent auf Monatsbasis und notiert seit Jahresbeginn mit +10,59 Prozent 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
September was a gloomy month for global markets as investors fretted about lacklustre economic data and ongoing inflationary pressures. Equities lost 3.5% in local currency terms while bonds were down 1.9%. In the US, the “rates higher for longer” signal from the Fed pushed up yields on benchmark 10-year Treasury bonds to 4.5%, the highest since 2007. Similar trends were at work elsewhere, with yields in France, Germany, the UK and even Japan all hitting multi-year highs. In equities, some of the steepest losses were sustained in IT and real estate sectors. The only positive performance came from energy, which added 3.4%, reflecting a jump in the oil price after several key oil producers, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, have pledged to reduce production, helping push crude towards USD 100 a barrel.
Performance Analysis
The strategy underperformed the MSCI ACWI during the quarter. Waste Management & Recycling stocks outperformed, led by Westrock following the announcement of a proposed merger with Smurfit Kappa, as well as by Stora Enso, which re-rated on early signs of a pulp market recovery. The Pollution Control segment also outperformed, supported by the solid quarterly results of environmental consultants WSP Global and Aecom, and a re-rating in Danaher. Renewable Energy detracted from performance: Solaredge guided to a weak US residential solar market and persistent elevated channel inventories in Europe, while Orsted announced a series of impairments on its US portfolio. Energy Efficiency also detracted. Strong performance from Carrier and Trane Technologies was offset by weak performance from Johnson Controls; strong performance from Eaton was offset by weak performance from Infineon, Shimano, Keyence and ASML. Water also detracted, with weak performances from Xylem and American Water. In Dematerialized Economy, strong performance from software suppliers Synopsys and Cadence was offset by weak performance from Hexagon, Dassault Systemes and Ansys.
Portfolio-Aktivity – Under- and Overweightings
During the quarter, we added to our exposure in Waste Management & Recycling and we reduced exposure in Energy Efficiency. Within Waste Management & Recycling, we added to our positions in Waste Connections, Republic Services and WM while taking some profits in Westrock. In Energy Efficiency, we took some profits in Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron and Eaton following strong performance while we continued to build our position in Carrier. In Pollution Control, we added to WSP Global on a positive business outlook, we reduced Thermo Fisher, and we added to Agilent on weakness. In Dematerialized Economy, we increased our position in PTC and we reduced Hexagon due to governance concerns. In Renewables, we exited our position in Orsted following disappointing developments in their US offshore business, we reduced Solaredge and we initiated a position in Terna Rete Elettrica, an Italian electric utility focussed on transmission and renewables integration.
Market Outlook
Energy Efficiency and Dematerialized Economy, two of our largest portfolio segments, continue to show strong fundamentals for the rest of the year. Demand for energy-saving technologies remains robust, and our companies are starting to benefit from the positive impact of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the US. These represent a multi-year investment cycle for semiconductor and battery plants, electricity grid modernization, renewable energy capacity, green buildings and EV infrastructure, which adds growth and revenue visibility to our companies. As a consequence of this, the end-market demand for environmental services within the Pollution Control segment also remains very healthy, particularly in the US. Within Dematerialized Economy, demand for simulation software, Electronic Design Automation and Product Life-Cycle Management solutions is accelerating. US Waste Management companies will continue to experience positive business trends. In general, most of our portfolio holdings have sufficient pricing power and balance sheet strength to navigate well in the current environment. Supply chain constraints are easing and this should provide a tailwind for margins in the coming months.
Portfolio Strategy
Our strategy focuses on investing in environmental solutions providers. Exposureto environmental trends offers investors attractive risk-adjusted returns, regardless of the stage of the economic cycle. We favour solutions providers withwide economic moats, robust profitability, healthy balance sheets and businessmodels that don’t rely on government subsidies. Our bottom-up investmentprocess results in a concentrated global portfolio with a growth and quality bias.Long term, the trends of population growth and rising living standards areinescapable and so is the growing strain on natural resources. Awareness ofenvironmental 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
