Morgan Stanleys Asien-team slår et slag for at skifte investeringsstrategi fra vækst- til value-aktier. Det skifte er begyndt verden over, men Morgan Stanley tror, det får særlig stor effekt i Østasien, hvor Kina fejrer Tiger-året. Investorerne skal være glubske, modige og intelligente som tigeren, mener bankens Asien-team. Teamet hæfter sig også ved, at Kina vælger en helt anden pengepolitisk strategi end USA og Europa, nemlig en moderat lempelse, og det vil give nye muligheder for Østasiens virksomheder og for investorerne.
WELCOME TO THE YEAR OF THE TIGER
Welcome to the Year of the Tiger from the Morgan Stanley team in Asia. Ferocious, brave, and intelligent, the tiger inspires us to navigate the multitude of risks which confront investors today. For us in Asia, we’re at first sight on the sidelines of the action as expectations build for a sea-change this year in monetary policy in the US and Europe.
Indeed, we have a degree of sympathy with the argument that the different phase of the monetary and fiscal cycle in China, in essence a moderate easing, is a key reason to be more constructive on Asian markets performance this year in both absolute and relative terms.
However, divergent policy cycles are only part of the story. North Asia has already benefited substantially from the major shift towards good spending and away from services, which has been such a unique feature of the COVID driven recession and recovery. Now, as that starts to reverse, given the reopening trend in the US and Europe, we may see earnings growth in markets like Korea and Taiwan slow. Moreover, significant challenges in relation to COVID management still beset the region, most notably in Hong Kong, which is experiencing its largest surge in cases since the pandemic began.
A key call that Morgan Stanley’s equity strategy team made three months ago, in our year ahead outlook, was that investors on a worldwide basis should rotate away from growth stocks. That is, stocks with high expected earnings growth and high valuations towards value stocks. That is those with lower valuations, more dividend yield support, and lower anticipated earnings growth, not least due to the fact that many businesses in the value style category tend to be more established than growth stocks.
This rotation has indeed taken place, as evidenced not just by Nasdaq’s underperformance in the US, but also the underperformance of growth stocks in Asia and emerging markets. This has been reflected in indices like Kosdaq in Korea or the TSE Mothers Index in Japan. In fact, in Japan banks and insurers, stocks which investors have not focused on for a long time, are leading in performance in 2022. Whilst in China, bank stocks have been outperforming internet stocks for some time now.
For those of us who worked through the 1999 to 2002 cycle in global equities, things seem very familiar. History rhymes rather than repeats, but the catalyst for growth stock underperformance then, as now, was a sudden repricing of interest rate hike expectations with a shift higher in nominal and real interest rates. That higher hurdle rate depresses valuations for equities generally, but particularly for higher multiple growth stocks, further motivation for the rotation towards value stocks.
So, investors may need to start thinking like the tiger in order to leap over that hurdle and land safely on the other side.
