AXA Framlington American Growth
Innovation, unique brands and intellectual property are the sort of features that can give companies a competitive advantage, helping them grow into market leaders. These kinds of stories are what manager Steve Kelly and his team hope to uncover for this fund in their quest for growth stocks in the US market.
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Steve Kelly, Lead Manager Stephen joined AXA Investment Managers in 1997 as a fund manager on the US Desk, overseeing the US Growth funds and leading the AXA Framlington American Growth Fund. Before AXA, he worked at Olliff & Partners as a trainee in equity research, focusing on the UK paper and packaging sector. In 1992, he began at Capel Cure Myers as an assistant fund manager on the US Desk, advancing to fund manager in 1995. Stephen graduated with an honors degree in Economics from the University of Exeter in 1990.
David Shaw, Co-Manager Before joining AXA IM, David was a Senior Portfolio Manager at Aerion Fund Management for 13 years, co-managing a $1.5 billion North American equity portfolio. Prior to that, he spent a decade as a UK fund manager and analyst at Aerion Fund Management, NPI Asset Management, and Natwest Investment Management. David holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electronic Engineering from City University, London, is a member of CFA UK (ASIP), and has completed the London Business School Investment Management Programme.
Steve Kelly, Lead Manager Stephen joined AXA Investment Managers in 1997 as a fund manager on the US Desk, overseeing the US Growth funds and leading the AXA Framlington American Growth Fund. Before AXA, he worked at Olliff & Partners as a trainee in equity research, focusing on the UK paper and packaging sector. In 1992, he began at Capel Cure Myers as an assistant fund manager on the US Desk, advancing to fund manager in 1995. Stephen graduated with an honors degree in Economics from the University of Exeter in 1990.
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Quote from the Fund Manager
You need to be able to innovate and change behaviour as a result of innovation, and that leads to certain sector biases that emerge. It’s no good innovating in the consumer staples sector; nobody’s ever going to change the way people wash their hair.
Steve Kelly
Lead Manager
Investment process
As the name suggests, AXA Framlington American Growth has a strong growth bias and Steve aims to invest in companies exhibiting genuine organic growth. Finding the stories that fit his stock-picking framework is what Steve believes will provide investors with superior returns over the long term. Meetings with management are central to the research process; the team collectively conduct more than 200 company meetings per year. Steve and David benefit from the cross-fertilisation of investment ideas provided by Framlington managers, notably in technology, healthcare and biotechnology. Around a third of the portfolio is typically invested in tech stocks. The fund tends to have a considerable weighting in mid-cap stocks. The US equity team support a collaborative environment whereby stock ideas are openly shared between the fund managers.
Risk
The nature of growth companies, which tend to be cyclical, means the fund will be more volatile than the typical large-cap focused US fund. Investors should be aware of the fund’s heavy style bias and the fund may struggle during periods when the value style of investing is in favour.
ESG
ESG - Limited
As a firm, AXA has company-wide investment restrictions based on specific ESG risks – an approach that has been very forward thinking. It monitors and excludes multiple industries for all assets under management (e.g: controversial weapons, palm oil and soft commodities). It has also recently enforced and strengthened its stance on coal-based power production with limits and exclusions on revenue, power generation, expansion and mining development. Beyond this, the fund has no further restrictions. Governance is, however, an important consideration, and Steve and David always engage with management teams of the portfolio holdings.
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