Global stock markets may be coming under pressure from geopolitical tensions and sticky inflation — but one portfolio manager sees potential in several stocks. “There are always investment opportunities to be found in all market conditions. We’re looking out for stocks that we think are better than the market currently believes,” Rob Hinchliffe, managing director and equity analyst at PineBridge Investments, told CNBC Pro last month. Hinchliffe oversees more than $1 billion of PineBridge’s assets via its Global Focus Equity Fund . The fund — launched in 1999 — has holdings in around 40 stocks. Morningstar gives the fund its top rating of five stars indicating that it is among the best performers. As of March 31, PineBridge’s Global Focus Equity Fund had year-to-date returns of 9.9%, beating the 8.1% registered by its benchmark MSCI All Country World Index. In 2023, the fund gained 27.4%, surpassing the 22.2% posted by its MSCI benchmark. “The average stock we own has been in our portfolio for over four years. What we are trying to do is beat the benchmark by constructing our portfolio to be similar to the market from a risk perspective,” Hinchliffe said. This means the fund is style-neutral and focuses purely on stock selection. “We’re not taking a view that small caps are better or worse this year than last year; we’re not taking the view that growth stocks are better than value stocks. We just want to make sure we have similar amount of growth to the market, a similar market cap, minimize risks we don’t want and focus on where we think we have the tools to help us to find the right stocks to invest in,” he added. Stock picks Several stocks stand out to Hinchliffe as good plays right now. Among the top holdings in his fund are Microsoft (6.5% holding), Alphabet (4%) and Nvidia (3.7%) — all part of the so-called “Magnificent Seven.” The portfolio manager noted that they “clearly led the market last year based on fantastic earnings growth by and large.” However, Hinchliffe said that his fund has an underweight rating on the Magnificent Seven. He instead has his sights set on five under-the-radar stocks offering “lots of opportunities.” They include U.S.-Swiss electronics component company TE Connectivity and France’s Legrand , which designs and manufactures electrical devices. “We’ve owned TE Connectivity for years and years. It is considered an IT company but its biggest business is supplying to the auto industry. It also supplies data centers so it covers a lot of scope,” Hinchliffe said. As for the consumer discretionary space, the fund manager likes supermarket chain Walmart . “We have owned it for several years … Our investment thesis revolves around the potential growth in digital advertising for Walmart [driven by] the volume of customer data they have and can monetize and benefit from,” Hinchliffe said. This segment has a “much higher profit margin than their traditional retail business,” he added. Elsewhere, he is looking at the health-care sector — specifically, Thermo Fisher . The company accounts for 3.1% of his fund and is among the 10 holdings. “Thermo Fisher is a neat one, because they are really in segments ranging from drug discovery all the way to drug production. And so they have parts of the company [that] are at the forefront, and parts of it are, much further down the line in the [health care sector],” he said. He expects to see the company’s “true performance” going forward, as demand for its products picks up in tandem with a rise in healthier living and the need for better health-care equipment.
