AXA Framlington American Growth

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.

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 - 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.