Investments we love and hate this Valentine’s Day

February the 14th. Excitedly anticipated by some, dreaded by others.

When it comes to investments, our relationships can be long-term or short-lived too. They can even be volatile: experiencing euphoria one minute followed by despair another.

Here, we asked a selection of Elite Rated multi-asset managers which asset classes are catching their eye this Valentine’s Day, and which are suffering from unrequited love.

Investments we’ve fallen in love with

Richard Parfect, co-manager of VT Momentum Diversified Income, is finding love in specialist property.

“Being multi-asset investors, we would like to think we share the love across all our assets but perhaps specialist property within the portfolio is worthy of particular mention – with Home Reit a good example,” he said.

“With inflation rising, linkage and consistency is key and with bonds challenged to deliver, alternatives such as Home Reit can meet the need with solid rent generation over long-term leases. And who couldn’t find some love for a business model that works with local authorities in the refurbishment of the UK’s housing stock to house homeless and vulnerable individuals and families?”

Matt Stanesby, co-manager of Close Managed Income fund, is going steady with music royalties.

“We first invested in music royalties in 2020 and added to our holding in 2021,” he told us. “This gives us access to an income stream from more than 150,000 songs, across all music genres, and with new areas like streaming or placement in films and commercials, potential for capital upside too.

“One of the big benefits of this area is that it is genuinely uncorrelated to market movements – we play music when we are happy or when we are sad, when we are in love or have just been dumped.”

Kelly Prior, investment manager in the multi-manager team behind BMO MM Navigator Distribution is swiping right for Absolute Return funds (and in particular market neutral strategies).

“The devil is in the detail for this asset class,” she said. “We have come a long way from the time when long-only managers tried their hands at a bit of shorting and then suffered the pain of covering positions that they had got wrong.

“Market neutral strategies – while often unspectacular – can smooth returns for a broader portfolio in more volatile times if done well.”

Commodities have caught the attention of David Coombs, manager of Rathbone Strategic Growth Portfolio.

“We believe inflation fears will remain elevated in the first half of this year and maybe longer if a more virulent strain of COVID were to materialise,” he said. “In order to mitigate both inflation and geopolitical risk, we think an exposure to more economically sensitive commodities makes sense, industrial metals, energy and agricultural.”

John Stopford, co-manager of Ninety One Global Income Opportunities, is attracted to sustainable dividends.

“Over the long run, owning equities with an above average, resilient dividend yield has resulted in similar performance to broad equity indices but with less drawdown and volatility,” John explained.

“The narrowness of markets over the last two years, when high-growth equities have dominated, has left sustainable-dividend stocks attractively valued whilst also possessing the ability to grow income – a valuable trait at a time of heightened inflation.”

Investments we’d rather live without

Amanda Sillars, co-manager of Jupiter Merlin Income fund, has recently dumped Chinese equities.

“If you feel like you are becoming increasingly less of a priority, then it is probably time to move on – as it was for the Jupiter Merlin Portfolios with our exposure to Chinese equities,” she said.

“We have had concerns for some time about investing in China and, as their communist ideology has firmed, we now believe that the interests of minority investors in Chinese companies are well down the pecking order for the State and, by extension, companies which have to adhere to their rules. Partners who prioritise transparency, clarity and shared goals are best sought elsewhere.”

Kelly Prior, investment manager in the multi-manager team behind BMO MM Navigator Distribution is unimpressed by crypto.

“I don’t believe in investing clients’ money in an asset if I can’t see a path to its worth,” she said. “When people think of crypto, they think ‘Bitcoin’, but it’s much wider than that with over 13,000 different crypto currencies and a total market cap of around $2 trillion (but this could be very different by the time you’re reading this given the volatility).

“I have little to offer in original analysis, and have yet to read anything, or had explained to me, how these assets are good investments. Just because someone’s dog-owner friend made a mint, doesn’t mean my clients are going to do the same.”

David Coombs, manager of Rathbone Strategic Growth Portfolio is also swiping left on emerging market debt.

“Emerging market debt forms part of our equity risk allocation,” David explained. “Following the recent sell-off in higher growth areas of the US equity market, we prefer to use our risk budget to take advantage of this volatility, which should provide superior returns to those we can see from emerging market debt in a rising US interest rate environment.”

John Stopford, co-manager of Ninety One Global Income Opportunities is over infrastructure.

“The theory of infrastructure is appealing: an income driven return with low equity sensitivity,” John said. “Their performance during the big market drawdowns of the last 10 years, however, has shown the asset class’ fragility caused by concentrated holdings registers, reduced liquidity and underlying exposures with greater economic sensitivity as public-private partnerships have dried up. We think there are better ways to achieve the desired return profile.”