SJB | Korschenbroich, 07.06.2021
Der April war ein weiterer guter Monat für europäische Aktien, wobei der MSCI Europe um 2,0 Prozent zulegen konnte. Europäische Unternehmen legten überzeugende Quartalszahlen vor, nachdem sich die Lage in der globalen Wirtschaft verbessert hatte. Das Portfolio des ECP Strategic Selection Fund – European Value (WKN A14YQK, ISIN LU1169207518) mit seinem Fokus auf ausgewählte europäische Value-Aktien zeigte sich in diesem Marktumfeld gut unterstützt und legte seit Jahresbeginn um +10,14 Prozent zu. In seinem aktuellen Monatsbericht für April analysiert ECP-FondsManager Léon Kirch die jüngsten Marktbewegungen und gibt Auskunft darüber, welche Veränderungen er im Portfolio des ECP-Fonds vorgenommen hat.
April was another positive month for European equities with MSCI Europe up 2%. Global economies
continue to improve as vaccination rates are picking up while the monetary and economic stimulus is
increased by central banks and governments. European equities are delivering one of their best
earning seasons on record. With more than half of companies in the STOXX 600 having published Q1
results to date, 38.9% are beating upgraded consensus. Not surprisingly, most earnings surprises come out of the most cyclical sectors like consumer discretionary, financials, and industrials. According to Morgan Stanley, this quarter is on track to become the broadest earnings beat since 2007. Interestingly enough, it was not only our industrial names driving our performance. Consumer staples also contributed significantly lead by Ontex, Jeronimo Martins, and Cloetta. This shows that our quality value portfolio is so much more than a simple play on the reflation trade as these defensive companies are benefiting from unlocking value in undervalued turnaround stories ( the former ) or very strong fundamentals and results ( the 2 latter).
Consumer discretionary was the weakest sector in our portfolio driven by some profit-taking in
Husqvarna, Michelin, and Porsche, after the recent strong share price performance. Energy was also
weak again during the month due to Total that saw negative return despite the strong results the
company showed. The investment cases in all these companies are intact.
We did not exit or acquire any new businesses during the month as we still have a sufficient margin of
safety in our existing holdings and did not see any investment cases deteriorate. We keep enough dry
powder in the portfolio in terms of cash to seize new investment opportunities. We are however not
compromising on our due diligence process. It is all about investing in quality businesses presenting
undervalued earning power. What could go wrong now from a top-down perspective we are asking
ourselves? We currently see inflation, virus mutations, political turbulences, and higher taxes as some
risks. European equities still look relatively inexpensive after years of underperformance, are at the
beginning of a certain normalization of economic activity, earnings are recovering and value stocks,
which are particularly sensitive to an economic rebound, are at an unseen discount to their growth
counterparts.
We repeat that “All that’s required is the passage of time, an inner calm,” as began a sentence in
Warren Buffett’s 2020 letter to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway. This is exactly our mindset
when we look at our portfolio of businesses and invest for the long term.
