Fidelity Global Demographics is an Managed Funds investment product that is benchmarked against Developed -World Index and sits inside the Foreign 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 Fidelity Global Demographics has Assets Under Management of 88.03 M with a management fee of 1.15%, a performance fee of 0.00% and a buy/sell spread fee of 0.6%.
The recent investment performance of the investment product shows that the Fidelity Global Demographics has returned 1.06% in the last month. The previous three years have returned 7.59% annualised and 11.34% each year since inception, which is when the Fidelity Global Demographics 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 Fidelity Global Demographics first started, the Sharpe ratio is NA with an annualised volatility of 11.34%. The maximum drawdown of the investment product in the last 12 months is -5.78% and -22.29% 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 Fidelity Global Demographics has a 12-month excess return when compared to the Foreign Equity - Large Growth Index of -4.08% and 0.27% 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. Fidelity Global Demographics has produced Alpha over the Foreign Equity - Large Growth Index of NA% in the last 12 months and NA% since inception.
For a full list of investment products in the Foreign Equity - Large Growth Index category, you can click here for the Peer Investment Report.
Fidelity Global Demographics has a correlation coefficient of 0.95 and a beta of 0.89 when compared to the Foreign 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 Fidelity Global Demographics and its peer investments, you can click here for the Peer Investment Report.
For a full quantitative report on Fidelity Global Demographics compared to the Developed -World Index, you can click here.
To sort and compare the Fidelity Global Demographics 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.
SMSF Mate does not receive commissions or kickbacks from the Fidelity Global Demographics. All data and commentary for this fund is provided free of charge for our readers general information.
Stock picking across the consumer discretionary, consumer staples and health care sectors proved rewarding. The overweight exposure to IT and underweight allocation to financials were other sources of strength. However, holdings within communication services pared gains. Shares in luxury conglomerate LVMH rose on the back of its impressive top line in the fourth quarter, despite weakness in China. Investors focused on the prospect of wealthy Chinese households returning to physical stores and starting to travel again. Cosmetics major L’Oréal benefited from optimism surrounding China’s reopening and expectations of slower interest rate hikes by the Fed. Software business Salesforce rebounded in line with other growth stocks. Microsoft’s shares benefited from the launch of a new version of its search engine Bing, now powered with artificial intelligence, which blends advanced text creation capabilities and adds recency data from a typical web search. Shares in Taiwan Semiconductor were up as its fourth quarter revenue and gross margins increased due to a more favourable foreign exchange rate and cost improvement efforts. Overall, China’s reopening was a catalyst for the stronger performance of Asian technology stocks as the market anticipated increases in technology exports to China. The underweight allocation to technology conglomerate Apple weighed on returns as its shares rebounded amid increased investor optimism. The lack of exposure to Meta Platforms was another source of weakness. Its shares continued to gain momentum after it reported decent fourth-quarter results towards the end of January. Diagnostics tool company Danaher underperformed in a risk-on market as many healthcare stocks started the year on full valuations or with questions over litigation, pricing power or demand.
Key contributors
Shares in drainage solutions manufacturer Advanced Drainage Systems rallied, driven by strong results across the board, with a 9% beat on revenues and 32% beat on earnings before interest taxes depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA). E-commerce leader Amazon benefited from a solid second quarter. While net sales beat consensus estimates as improving in-stock levels and delivery times drove demand, its Amazon Web Services (AWS) segment grew c.33% year-on-year, supported by strong backlogs. Guidance for the third quarter was also ahead of expectations. Holdings in innovative medical solutions provider Boston Scientific and medical equipment and consumables manufacturer Stryker also supported returns.
Key detractors
Hearing aid manufacturer Sonova was a notable detractor from returns, given uncertainties around slowing customer demand and elevated input costs, which cut its FY 2022 outlook. Elsewhere, the current macroeconomic environment and lower biotech funding dampened investor sentiment towards contract research organisation IQVIA. Life insurer AIA was another key detractor from performance amid a resurgence in COVID-19 cases as a new variant (B.A.5.) was found in Shanghai. Chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor also traded lower.
The position in AIA, the largest independent life insurer in Asia, was the most notable contributor to performance. Shares benefitted from the relaxation of Covid restrictions in Shanghai and other Chinese cities. As China reopens its border, we expect value of new business to grow, something that will be crucial for the stock to rerate further. The lack of exposure to NVIDIA was also an expected source of strength as shares in the graphic processing units manufacturer declined amid rising fears of a slowdown in economic growth. In addition, the impact of rising interest rates on demand and investment, as well as the normalisation of inventories added to investor concerns. The position in one of the largest contract research organisations (CRO), IQVIA, advanced on decent first quarter results with an in-line topline and a 2% beat in earnings-per-share (EPS) estimates.
Shares in e-commerce giant Amazon tumbled due in our view to a rising interest rate environment, disappointing first quarter results and a weaker outlook due to higher costs. While earnings missed estimates, likely driven by weaker gross margins and higher fulfilment costs, guidance for the second quarter was also disappointing. The position in leading vacation rental business AirBnB was a notable detractor from performance, despite consensus-beating results for the first quarter of 2022. The company also released an upgraded guidance for the second quarter. However, additional Covid outbreaks and the impact of inflation on consumers’ purchasing power continue to weight on investors’ confidence. While our long-term thesis in these names remains intact, we managed position sizing at the margin to reflect earnings risk and mitigate the overall risk profile of the Fund. Consumable manufacturer, Stryker traded lower. Despite the positive recovery in elective procedures, the sub-sector saw widespread weakness probably reflecting market concerns over increase cost pressures due to supply chain issues and inflation. Financial services company Schwab Charles declined after reporting first quarter results that missed estimates, including a lower-thanexpected earnings per share versus consensus estimates.
The Fund invests in companies where earnings are driven by predictable and long-term structural drivers related to demographics. Sector positioning is aligned to demographics driven growth to harness the benefits from factors such as longer lives, with higher life expectancy; better lives, reflecting expanding middle class wealth, particularly in emerging markets; and more lives stemming from the trend of population growth. Additionally, the pandemic has accelerated many of the longterm trends that have already been in place, such as digitalisation, automation and a greater focus on health care and wellbeing. The Fund has significant exposure to these themes, and the managers expect that it will benefit from the winners in the space, thereby delivering strong growth.
In healthcare, the ageing population, which has increased health care needs, is the key demographic driver. Healthy longevity coupled with strong spending power, especially for early retirees, means that many health care companies are seeing structural growth in demand for their products. The Fund has sizeable exposure to this sub-theme and the bulk of our exposure is in the Life Sciences & Tools space, with key holdings being Thermo Fischer, ICON and IQVIA. In consumer discretionary, increasing spending capacity of the emerging middle class in developing countries provides interesting opportunities. We expect that wealth creation will continue, especially in Asia, and hold several companies that are well positioned to benefit from this trend. The Fund owns the most attractive players in luxury goods, ecommerce, sporting goods, cosmetics and high-end spirits. In addition, we observe a growing appetite for travel and leisure after two years of enforced constraints. This is reflecting in, for example, the rebound in air traffic and hotel occupancy rates. The Fund holds several stocks, such as Booking and Airbnb, that are well positioned to benefit from the uptick in consumer demand for “experiences”.
We started a position in two managed care businesses UnitedHealth and Anthem (Elevance). The managed care subsector is well positioned versus the current macroeconomic backdrop: insurers generally have pricing powers and premiums continue to grow, with profitability being largely driven by healthcare utilisation, which does not follow the economic cycle. Rising rates are also likely to provide an earnings uplift as managed care companies have significant investments in floating rate instruments and, conversely, debt denominated in fixed rate instruments. We have also taken advantage of the sharp market correction to add ASML, the leading supplier of lithography tools. Meanwhile, holdings in cleaning and sanitization products provider, Ecolab were exited over reduced risk-reward potential. We also sold the position in Naspers, the South African internet conglomerate with a c.30% stake in China’s Tencent, to mitigate our overall risk exposure to Chinese internet.
Strong security selection in the communication services and consumer discretionary sectors contributed to returns. However, selected holdings in the industrials sector and the overweight stance in consumer discretionary held back gains. Key detractors Shares in Brookfield Renewables declined. The company has faced a particularly hostile environment due to rising oil prices and snowstorms, which paralyzed renewablesbased electric grids in some US states. On a positive note, the company has a strong financial position and agreements to expand wind generation. In Japan, holdings in electronic component maker Murata Manufacturing and Keyence, a leading factory automation group, held back gains due to rising tensions between the US and China. However, Murata stands to benefit from radio frequency connectivity growth in the fifthgeneration (5G) era as well as structural growth in ceramic condensers. Direct sales consulting and fabless production (integrated circuit design and software done in-house) puts Keyence in a strong position to gain new customers and maintain high margins. Holdings in Midea and Daikin also detracted from returns.
Designed to benefit from demographic trends by investing in 50 to 70 companies where demographic factors are likely to be the single most important driver of company earnings growth over the medium- to long-term.
Product Snapshot
Product Overview
Performance Review
Peer Comparison
Product Details