HEAD-TO-HEAD: MFS versus Robeco

123456

Natalia Wolfstetter, Morningstar

Introduction

Several fund managers continue to be positive on US equity markets.

Dough Forsyth, Allianz Global Investors’ CIO for growth and income strategies, believes that there is a possibility that the US equity market can provide double-digit returns this year on the back of positive earnings.

“With a 10% earnings growth rate, could the US equity market produce double-digit returns? It doesn’t mean it is going to happen. But it is more likely that it will happen,” he said.

Tan Hui, Asia chief market strategist at JP Morgan Asset Management, believes that while US equities, especially technology stocks, are expensive, they will deliver strong earnings growth this year, which will drive markets higher.

Grant Bowers, portfolio manager for US equities at Franklin Templeton, also believes that US equities should perform positively this year. However, he warned that investors should not expect the same returns that the asset class delivered in 2019.

But other investment professionals believe that investors should consider allocating more to other markets, with the view the US equity market will underperform global peers this year.

For example, Normal Villamin, chief investment officer for wealth management at UBP, believes that with the US dollar weakening, other markets will outperform.

“The US dollar started to weaken in the second half last year, and we expect that to continue going forward. So the story of the US leading the world has started to reverse.”

Year-to-date, the US equity market has underperformed the rest of the world. The S&P 500 Index has a -7.52% return compared to the MSCI ACWI Index (-4.28%), according to data from FE Fundinfo.

Against this backdrop, Natalia Wolfstetter, director for manager research at Morningstar in Germany, compares two US large-cap equity products: the MFS Meridian US Value Fund and the Robeco BP US Large Cap Equities Fund. The Robeco fund is sub-managed by Boston Partners, which is an affiliate of Robeco.

Source: Morningstar, FE Fundinfo

*24 February 2017 – 26 February 2020

**25 February 2017 – 21 February 2020

123456