Active ethical global equity fund returns beat passive during COVID-19

covid-19 ethical sustainable ESG active passive global equities

2 November 2020
| By Jassmyn |
image
image
expand image

Active ethical/sustainable global equity funds have beaten their passive counterparts during the COVID-19 pandemic but one passive fund stood out when it came to a longer time period, according to data.

According to FE Analytics, there were 27 active ethical/sustainable global equity funds compared to seven passive funds in the Australian Core Strategies universe.

When all 34 funds were considered, four of the top five performing funds were active funds since the start of 2020 to 30 September, 2020.

Since the start of the year the active ethical/sustainable global equity funds have returned between a range of 44.35% and a loss of 8.85%. However, almost half of those funds did not make a return.

On the passive side the return range was between 17.5% and a loss of 4.14%. Of which only one fund made a loss.

The top-performing funds were CFS Baillie Gifford Global Stewardship A at 44.35%, followed by BetaShares Global Sustainability Leaders ETF (17.5%), AtlasTrend Clean Disruption (16.2%), and Pengana International Ethical (9.7%). This was compared to the global equity sector average of a loss of 0.99%.

Top five ethical/sustainable global equity funds since start of 2020 to 30 September 2020

Source: FE Analytics

The Baillie Gifford fund had its largest stock holdings in Tesla (6.2%), JD.com (1.56%), Shopify (1.39%), Amazon (1.33%), and Wayfair (1.2%), according to its latest factsheet.

However, over the longer term, two passive funds made it into the top five with the BetaShares fund returning significantly higher than its active counterparts to top the charts. Over the three years to 30 September, 2020, the fund returned 83.69%.

This was followed by Macquarie Walter Scott Global Equity (51.99%), CFS Generation Wholesale Global Share (48.35%), Pengana High Conviction Equities (41.27%), and passive fund State Street Climate ESG International Equity (40.7%).

The global equity sector average return at this time was 29.55%.

Top five ethical/sustainable global equity funds over the three years to 30 September 2020

Source: FE Analytics

The BetaShares fund tracked the performance of the NASDAQ Future Global Sustainability Leaders index that provided exposure to 200 large global stocks which were climate change leaders.

According to its latest factsheet, the fund had its largest sector weighting towards IT (38.7%), healthcare (15%), consumer discretionary (14.8%), financials (13.9%), and communication services (6.4%).

Its highest stock exposures were to Apple (5.3%), NVIDIA Corp (4.9%), Mastercard (4.1%), Visa (3.6%), and Home Depot (3.6%).

When it came to the five years to 30 September, 2020, there was only one passive fund that had five year returns. The fund, UBS IQ MSCI World ex Australia Ethical ETF, returned 54.7%. This was not enough to beat its top five active counterparts that returned between 159.8% and 62.6%.

These funds were Pengana High Conviction Equities (159.8%), CFS Generation Wholesale Global Share (99.49%), Macquarie Walter Scott Global Equity (75.83%), CFS Stewart Investors Wholesale Worldwide Sustainability (64.78%), and AXA IM Sustainable Equity (62.6%).

The global equity sector average over the five years was 52.53%.

Four out of the five largest holdings of the Pengana fund were healthcare stocks including Bavarian Nordic, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Photocure, and Telix Pharmaceuticals.

Top five ethical/sustainable global equity funds over the five years to 30 September 2020

Source: FE Analytics

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest news and developments in wealth management industry

MARKET INSIGHTS

Interesting. Would be good to know the details of the StrategyOne deal....

3 days 18 hours ago

It’s astonishing to see the FAAA now pushing for more advisers by courting "career changers" and international recruits,...

3 weeks 1 day ago

increased professionalism within the industry - shouldn't that say, FAR register almost halving in the last 24 months he...

4 weeks 1 day ago

Insignia Financial has made four appointments, including three who have joined from TAL, to lead strategy and innovation in its retirement solutions for the MLC brand....

2 weeks 3 days ago

A former Brisbane financial adviser has been charged with 26 counts of dishonest conduct regarding a failure to disclose he would receive substantial commission payments ...

2 days 16 hours ago

Pinnacle Investment Management has announced it will acquire strategic interests in two international fund managers for $142 million....

1 day 19 hours ago