Alphinity Concentrated Australian Share is an Managed Funds investment product that is benchmarked against ASX Index 200 Index and sits inside the Domestic Equity - Large Growth Index. Think of a benchmark as a standard where investment performance can be measured. Typically, market indices like the ASX200 and market-segment stock indexes are used for this purpose. The Alphinity Concentrated Australian Share has Assets Under Management of 98.95 M with a management fee of 0.8%, a performance fee of 15.00% and a buy/sell spread fee of 0.4%.
The recent investment performance of the investment product shows that the Alphinity Concentrated Australian Share has returned 1.51% in the last month. The previous three years have returned 6.06% annualised and 14.93% each year since inception, which is when the Alphinity Concentrated Australian Share first started.
There are many ways that the risk of an investment product can be measured, and each measurement provides a different insight into the risk present. They can be used on their own or together to perform a risk assessment before investing, but when comparing investments, it is common to compare like for like risk measurements to determine which investment holds the most risk. Since Alphinity Concentrated Australian Share first started, the Sharpe ratio is NA with an annualised volatility of 14.93%. The maximum drawdown of the investment product in the last 12 months is -6.25% and -59% since inception. The maximum drawdown is defined as the high-to-low decline of an investment during a particular time period.
Relative performance is what an asset achieves over a period of time compared to similar investments or its peers. Relative return is a measure of the asset's performance compared to the return to the other investment. The Alphinity Concentrated Australian Share has a 12-month excess return when compared to the Domestic Equity - Large Growth Index of -2.12% and -2.03% since inception.
Alpha is an investing term used to measure an investment's outperformance relative to a market benchmark or peer investment. Alpha describes the excess return generated when compared to peer investment. Alphinity Concentrated Australian Share has produced Alpha over the Domestic Equity - Large Growth Index of NA% in the last 12 months and NA% since inception.
For a full list of investment products in the Domestic Equity - Large Growth Index category, you can click here for the Peer Investment Report.
Alphinity Concentrated Australian Share has a correlation coefficient of 0.96 and a beta of 0.82 when compared to the Domestic Equity - Large Growth Index. Correlation measures how similarly two investments move in relation to one another. This establishes a 'correlation coefficient', which has a value between -1.0 and +1.0. A 100% correlation between two investments means that the correlation coefficient is +1. Beta in investments measures how much the price moves relative to the broader market over a period of time. If the investment moves more than the broader market, it has a beta above 1.0. If it moves less than the broader market, then the beta is less than 1.0. Investments with a high beta tend to carry more risk but have the potential to deliver higher returns.
For a full quantitative report on Alphinity Concentrated Australian Share and its peer investments, you can click here for the Peer Investment Report.
For a full quantitative report on Alphinity Concentrated Australian Share compared to the ASX Index 200 Index, you can click here.
To sort and compare the Alphinity Concentrated Australian Share financial metrics, please refer to the table above.
This investment product is in the process of being independently verified by SMSF Mate. Once we have verified the investment product, you will be able to find more information here.
If you or your self managed super fund would like to invest in the Alphinity Concentrated Australian Share please contact Level 2, 5 Martin Place, Sydney NSW 2000 via phone +61 133 566 or via email info@challenger.com.au.
If you would like to get in contact with the Alphinity Concentrated Australian Share manager, please call +61 133 566.
SMSF Mate does not receive commissions or kickbacks from the Alphinity Concentrated Australian Share. All data and commentary for this fund is provided free of charge for our readers general information.
The Fund outperformed nicely in August with a number of decent winners and almost no losers. The best contributors to returns were from a variety of sectors and, pleasingly, from some of our larger active weights: industrial property (Goodman Group), online advertising (carsales.com), pallet pooling (Brambles Industries), medical devices (Cochlear), gaming (Aristocrat), health insurance (Medibank), and building materials (James Hardie). Not owning medical device company (Resmed), tech company WiseTech or supermarket operator Coles also added to returns. The only noticeable detractors were mineral sands producer Iluka Resources and financial services company Perpetual.
The portfolio’s skew towards companies with positive earnings momentum was well rewarded in August. So was also our reluctance to pay overly large premiums even for companies with positive earnings sentiment given the outsized risk from any disappointing earnings news for highly valued companies. Relative performance was also helped by the emergence of more cautious investor sentiment during the month. This came about largely due to stubborn inflation and stronger-than-expected economic growth, particularly in the US, which saw market participants hit the pause button on the goldilocks scenario of soft landing and quickly normalising inflation.
Frequent and rapid shifts in macro sentiment has been a challenge for all active managers to deal with over the last year or two, ourselves included, and while we are fully expect thatthis volatility will happen again at some point, it was pleasing to see bottom-up stock picking being rewarded during the August reporting season. Solid earnings announcements, and importantly generally positive outlook statements, were provided by a mix of companies that have been in the Fund for quite some time and also by some of our more recently added positions. Some of the highlights in the former category were Goodman Group, Medibank Private, carsales.com, QBE Insurance and Steadfast Group. Some of the relatively new positions that contributed positively included Brambles, James Hardie Industries, Cochlear and Worley. We were pleased that our winners came from many different sectors, meaning it was stock selection, rather than sector allocation, that added the most value.
Commodities continues to be a sector in which positioning is tricky. Cost and capex overruns were recurring themes from Resource companies during reporting season, and economic reports out of China continued to be concerningly weak. As always this led to hopes of government stimulus, and in recent weeks, modest stimulus measures were actually announced by the Chinese authorities. While undoubtedly positive for commodity demand, this stimulus still appears to be more focused on stabilising and improving consumer confidence in the general Chinese economy, and in the hard-hit property sector specifically, than meaningfully boosting construction activity, and therefore demand for our commodities, in the way previous stimulus programs did. Although we remain underweight the Resource sector, at the same time we are staying alert to any concrete evidence of a pick-up in activity in China. Encouragingly, supply discipline from resource-producing companies remains solid at this point.
The Alphinity team is travelling far and wide in September and October. This will see us doing on the ground research in the US, Mexico, Latin America, Israel, China, Korea and Japan, covering a range of industries and sectors including Healthcare, Consumer, Technology, Building Materials, Resources and Energy. We look forward to relating some of our findings in coming reports.
The Fund underperformed somewhat in July. The best contributors were energy company AGL, packaging company Orora and not owning Macquarie Group; worst were lithium play IGO, pallet pooler Brambles, mineral sands/rare earth miner Iluka, and supermarket Woolworths; not owning ANZ Bank also hurt.
The Fund remains skewed to stocks which are going into reporting season with positive earnings momentum: i.e. the Fund’s holdings on average have had more positive changes to earnings expectations than the market over the last several months. This is typically a good lead indicator that there will be further earnings changes in the same direction. Our quantitative insights back up our fundamental research which also suggests the portfolio has solid prospects for ongoing positive earnings surprises. Of course, given the prevailing economic environment, this could actually mean they have less risk of disappointing earnings than the overall market.
We have taken the opportunity to further increase our underweight to Resource companies as many of their share prices – temporarily in our view – strengthened on the back of sentiment in China that so far looks to us to be overly optimistic. This sector could present us with some interesting opportunities later in the year as medium-term price expectations, especially for iron ore-producing companies, currently look undemanding. The near-term outlook, however, is more uncertain.
Increased supply, combined with the likely reintroduction of steel production caps by the Chinese Government in order to support steel prices and reduce the risk of over-supply, risks further iron ore price weakness in coming months.
As always, the August reporting season will bring new insights and possibly new investment opportunities. We look forward to reporting on them next month.
The Fund performed in line with the market in June, and lagged slightly over the June quarter. The best contributors were global insurer QBE, pallet hirer Brambles, lithium play IGO, advertising platform carsales.com; not owning resource giants South32 or Rio Tinto also helped. Offsetting these however were holdings in resource giant BHP and medical device maker Fisher & Paykel Health; being underweight ANZ Bank and not owning high tech companies Xero and Wisetech also detracted from returns.
The Fund lagged the market a little in May, with a holding in respiratory products maker Fisher & Paykel and not holding accounting software provider Xero both detracting from returns. The portfolio benefitted from no exposure to Wesfarmers and gold miner Newcrest, while overweight holdings in CSL and Lynas Rare Earths also contributed to returns.
respiratory products maker Fisher & Paykel and not holding accounting software provider Xero both detracting from returns. The portfolio benefitted from no exposure to Wesfarmers and gold miner Newcrest, while overweight holdings in CSL and Lynas Rare Earths also contributed to returns.
Portfolio outlook
In a market with limited overall earnings growth and earnings revisions that, despite some stabilisation more recently, appears to have more risk to the downside than upside, companies which can deliver growth, and especially growth ahead of market expectations, should be well rewarded. The Fund remains well exposed to these types of companies overall and we look forward to confirmation of this as we approach the August reporting season.
During May we further reduced our Bank exposure as increased mortgage competition and higher funding costs will be a challenging combination for the Banks’ net interest margins, especially in a low credit growth environment. We remain less concerned about large credit losses for the banking sector as a whole given large unused provisions that were raised during the Covid period. A moderate underweight to the sector is appropriate, in our view. We have also reduced our exposure to the Resources sector in face of weaker economic data out of China. We remain firmly underweight that sector in aggregate with a maintained preference for iron ore exposure, albeit at lower levels.
We have however built positions in James Hardie and Cochlear during the past months. We previously had concerns with Hardie’s ability to manage margins and continue taking market share in a soft US house siding market that is increasingly competitive. While the overall market environment remains challenging, housing starts have stabilised at lower levels in recent months. More importantly however, James Hardie has managed the weak environment well from a cost and sales perspective resulting in a better than expected margin outlook and likely further earnings upgrades.
The Fund performed essentially in line with the market in April, and there were few companies of note on either side of the ledger. The only meaningful positive contributor was not owning diversified miner Rio Tinto; the only meaningful detractors were owning resource giant BHP and not owning big bank ANZ.
Despite ongoing macro uncertainty, the portfolio has continued to exhibit better earnings revisions than its benchmark with March quarter updates from Brambles, Viva Energy, Medibank Private and Woolworths some of the highlights. Indications of stronger-than-anticipated increases in mobile pricing plans across the telecom sector has also benefitted Telstra.
The mixed news out of China, especially the suggestion that there might be a Government-mandated cap on steel production, has seen weakness across the commodity price complex. The portfolio remains underweight this sector and we trimmed our iron ore exposure somewhat as near term earnings upside has become more limited.
The Fund has for a long time been underweight gold mining stocks, preferring to invest in companies with more sustainable growth prospects. Despite sharply higher interest rates around the world, which has increased the opportunity cost of investing in assets such as gold with no income stream, the gold price has been strong thus far in FY23, and this has detracted from the Fund’s relative performance. The strength has been largely due to gold’s status as a “safe haven” in times of trouble, and this appeal has more than offset its lack of income. In addition, the weakness of the $US against major currencies has bolstered the price of gold, which is traded in $US. We will continue to monitor the situation but at this stage we are not convinced that the current strength in the gold price will be sustained.
We trimmed the Fund’s exposure to the Bank sector earlier in the year to close to a neutral position as mortgage pricing competition intensified. This trend appears to have continued and we trimmed our exposure further, even though strong balance sheets and attractive dividend yields should cushion the fallout from a faster than expected normalisation of net interest margins.
We remain confident in our ability to identify companies with stronger earnings prospects than forecast by market participants. We believe this will ultimately be rewarded by investors, notwithstanding continued volatility in market sentiment.
The Fund performed a little better than the market over the March Quarter. The material contributors were a diverse mix: gaming company Aristocrat Leisure, health insurer Medibank Private, petrol distributor Viva Energy and pallet pool provider Brambles, and also not owning ANZ Bank. These were partially offset by our positions in National Australia and Commonwealth Banks and not owning gold miner Newcrest.
Following a brief period of individual company earnings focus, macro factors are again dominating the headlines. And following an even briefer period of market nervousness investors appear to have decided, for now at least, that the main upshot from the US regional banking calamity is further arguments for the US Federal Reserve and other central banks to end the current rate hiking cycle. The rationale behind this view is that reduced credit availability will now do some of the work higher interest rates would otherwise have had to do. Our own central ban ’s decision to not raise interest rates further in April is likely to have been at least partly influenced by this thinking.
As rising interest rates have been the main headwind for global equity markets a peak in interest rates is, everything else being equal, clearly positive. However, things are seldom equal. As we have argued for some months now the focus for equity investors should move from whether rates have peaked, or are close to peaking, to how long they will stay around current levels and how significant the impact on the economy, and in consequence, corporate earnings, will be from the sharp hikes we have already had.
While central bankers have shown they can change policy direction swiftly if the economic data surprises them, positively or negatively, they have also shown that they are concerned about repeating past mistakes of taking the foot off the brake too early. In Australia, this concern is likely to have been reinforced by the support from Federal and some State governments for CPI-equivalent minimum wage increases, which will likely flow on to substantially higher awards wages as well.
The Fund outperformed the market nicely in February, helped by strong returns from some of our key positions. The best contributors to overall performance came from health insurer Medibank Private, global insurer QBE, packaging company Orora, pallet company Brambles Industries, gaming machine maker Aristocrat Leisure and insurance broker Steadfast. The only detractors of note were our positions in BHP and Commonwealth Bank.
The February reporting season was a welcome break from the many macro factors that had been dominating individual share price performances. The Fund had a good month with most portfolio holdings which reported delivering strong results, positive outlook statements and, as a consequence, strong share price performance. Some of the highlights were pallets pool company Brambles, global insurer QBE, retailer Super Retail Group, packaging/distribution company Orora, logistics specialist Qube, airline Qantas and asset manager Macquarie Group, in addition to The Lottery Corporation, Medibank Private and Woolworths. While the earnings drivers naturally varied amongst this very diverse group of companies, common features were strong operational performance, the ability to manage cost pressure from higher input costs through a combination of operational efficiency and pricing power. We added to our positions in both Woolworths and Medibank Private after their 1H results with increased confidence in their renewed operational momentum with diminishing challenges from Covid disruptions and November’s cyberattack respectively.
In the banking sector, only CBA reported first half earnings while the others released 1st quarter updates. CBA delivered a strong set of numbers but also indicated that increased competition and a gradual rise in funding costs will start to impact margins in the second half. We continue to like the banks for their positive margin leverage from higher interest rates and strong balance sheets. However, we have trimmed the sector to a more neutral sector weight while monitoring for further evidence of their earnings resilience.
Product Snapshot
Product Overview
Performance Review
Peer Comparison
Product Details