Is the rally in US tech stocks losing steam? This fund, which outperformed its peers by 86%, chooses to reduce its holdings
Findlay Park Partners LLP reduced its holdings of NVIDIA stock and lowered its stake in Microsoft in the third quarter, as the attractiveness of tech stocks weakened. The fund has outperformed 86% of its peers this year, with a return of approximately 29%. CEO Simon Pryke pointed out that despite the significant performance growth of the seven tech giants in the US, profit growth expectations have slowed down, and valuations may no longer reflect strong growth
According to the Zhitong Finance and Economics APP, for Findlay Park Partners LLP, whose fund performance has outperformed 86% of its peers this year, the technology stocks that have been driving the rise in US stocks this year are no longer attractive. According to a client report, Findlay Park Partners LLP, with approximately $11.3 billion in assets, cleared its holdings of NVIDIA (NVDA.US) stock in the third quarter. The report indicates that NVIDIA's stock once accounted for 5% of the fund's total holdings this year. Furthermore, the report also shows that as of the end of September, the fund's holdings of Microsoft (MSFT.US) stock decreased from 4.8% in August to 3%, while Microsoft has been the fund's top holding for most of the past decade.
Analysts currently expect that during the third quarter, the earnings growth of the "Magnificent Seven" stocks in the US stock market will slow from 36% in the previous quarter to 18%. Findlay Park Partners LLP CEO Simon Pryke stated, "To some extent, the earnings growth of the 'Magnificent Seven' in the US stock market has proven their outstanding performance, but now the earnings growth expectations are quite moderate, and valuations still reflect a strong growth pattern continuing. One of them must be wrong."
Reportedly, Findlay Park Partners LLP operates under the European UCITS framework aimed at protecting retail investors and mainly invests in the US market. Data shows that the fund has a return rate of about 29% over the past year, compared to around 16% for its peers, with lower volatility; in 2023, the fund outperformed 90% of its peers.
Findlay Park Partners LLP focuses on betting on stocks that have significant connections to the US domestic market and supply chain. Simon Pryke stated that this approach means they have never held stocks of Tesla (TSLA.US) or Apple (AAPL.US). The fund stated in its client report that the proportion of the stocks of the "Magnificent Seven" in the US stock market it holds is only 4.8%, while the benchmark weight exceeds 28%.
Rose Vangerven, the investment manager of Findlay Park Partners LLP, stated that about 40% of the fund's portfolio consists of companies with market capitalization between $5 billion and $50 billionSimon Pryke added that they prefer to invest in B2B companies rather than consumer-facing companies because "they are usually asset-light businesses with high recurring revenue and high free cash flow generation capabilities".
The US stock market has repeatedly hit new highs this year. For most of the first half of the year, this upward trend was concentrated in a few stocks (mainly in the technology sector). However, as concerns about economic recession waned and doubts arose about the returns from massive investments in artificial intelligence, the stock market gains expanded to small-cap stocks in the third quarter.
Nevertheless, the overall outlook for the technology sector remains optimistic. Analysts predict that the S&P 500 Information Technology Index, composed of companies like NVIDIA, Apple, and Microsoft, will reach around 4962 points in the next 12 months, indicating a potential upside of about 14%