Factsheet: April 2021
Strategy
The Fund's objective is to achieve optimal long-term capital growth through active management of a portfolio of large-capitalisation stocks based primarily in North America.
The investment strategy is based on fundamental analysis. The stock selection process is based in particular on the activities of the companies, their governance, financial structure and development perspectives. The fund aims above all to identify companies with dominant positions, with a significant reinvestment capacity and low levels of gearing.
The recommended investment period is 5 years. The reference currency is the US Dollar.
Markets
April was a positive month for the US markets with some equities even attaining new records. This upward trend was confirmed by some encouraging signs of recovery as witnessed by positive indicators in both the industrial and service sectors, which were especially influenced by the Government's support program.
Unemployment claims were surprisingly lower than expected. Companies have also started publishing their results and these have also exceeded expectations, thus confirming the positive trend. Moreover, the pressure on long-term rates has eased, with the US 10-year rate consolidating around 1.50% / 1.60% mark.
In this context, the S&P 500 gained 5.29% and the Dow Jones Industrials +2.54%.
From a sectoral point of view, freight transport has recorded an excellent month (+11%), while semi-conductor equipment declined (-6.10%).
The Fund
After a first quarter marked by the strong rebound of the most distressed stocks, driven by the hope of a return to normal thanks to the vaccination campaigns, markets have somewhat stabilized during the month of April.
This easing off allowed the fund to post a positive performance (+6.47%) with a renewed outperformance of the indices over the month, boosted in particular by excellent result publications.
Alphabet (Google's parent company, +14%), Idexx Laboratories (global leader in veterinary diagnostics, +14%), and Paypal (+11%) skyrocketed into the top three performers of the month of April.
The only slight drops were recorded by Black Knight (mortgage calculation software,-1.8%), CME Group (derivatives exchange, -1.5%), and Automatic Data Processing (payroll management, -0.9%).
For more information, please email us: contact@fisconsult-sinews.com