VOLVER


Quarterly Letter

First Quarter 2025

Quarterly letter

Dear investor,

 

A few months ago, in our newsletter for the third quarter of 2024, we said that the market is like an angry teenager incapable of controlling their frustration. If we had known what the stock markets had in store for the beginning of 2025, we would probably have saved that comment for this quarterly newsletter. In just three months, the narrative that has guided stock markets over the past few years has shifted dramatically, triggering one of the greatest positioning turnarounds in history. 2025 kicked off with a sharp
adjustment of global stock market indices to what appears to be a new economic map of the world.

This new map is part of a shift in sentiment around the so-called Trump effect. From being considered the start of an era in which Mark Giacopazzi, CIO – Chief Investment Officer de BESTINVER “America would become great again”, it is now source of uncertainty due to announcements of tariffs, customs duties and tax adjustments by the new US Government. Measures that have led to a drastic downgrading of growth expectations for the country, which have gone from expecting a strong reacceleration of the economy to above 3% to a slight increase of around 1.5%. The USA has shifted from optimism to pessimism in just three months.

Developments in Europe, a former pariah of the world economy, have been exactly the opposite. In addition to a possible end to the war in Ukraine, the market has begun to discount a period of greater expansion due to the huge stimulus package announced by Germany. This plan breaks with a long tradition of austerity and lays the foundations for a Union truly united by a political project based on growth and investment. A possible end to 15 years of strategic drift that the market has welcomed with enthusiasm, demonstrating that it only trusts Europe if it is under German leadership.

The stock markets have simply adapted to this new economic map, in which the less frugal regions —mainly the USA— have decided to save and the most austere —such as Germany— have begun to spend. Consequently, there has been a sharp turnaround in positioning, which explains the 5.18% rise in the Stoxx 600 compared to the 8.67% fall in euro terms in the S&P500, that the German DAX has outperformed the Magnificent Seven by nearly 60% or that it was the worst quarter in more than 20 years for the US stock market
compared to the rest of the world. The market pendulum has swung from
one extreme to the other in record time.

Amidst all this noise, it is advisable to carefully assess the situation. The truth is that it is still early to estimate the real impact that the tariffs and customs duties, on the one hand, and the tax cuts and greater deregulation, on the other, will have on the of the US economy. In addition, deficit control and reduction of public debt —which currently exceeds 120% of GDP— are essential to ensure the region’s growth in the coming years. Similarly, in Europe, Germany’s stimulus plan may put an end to the country’s recession and give way to an expansion process for the rest of the continent. Therefore, as regards fundamentals, what we are seeing on both sides of the Atlantic seems positive to us in the medium and long term.

As regards valuation, the movements of the main regional indices have rebalanced most of the differentials that existed at the beginning of the year and that we explained in our previous newsletter. The excessive pessimism that has shaken North America has lowered the premiums at which many of its companies were trading, driving multiples to attractive levels that we had not seen in a long time. In Europe, stock markets have begun to distinguish between winners and losers in a context of higher growth, creating the appropriate framework to unleash the enormous potential of our European companies. Uncertainty such as we are experiencing at the beginning of 2025 is not foreign to equities that in nearly half of the positive years since 1980 —a very profitable period for the US stock market—, have suffered doubledigit corrections at some point during the year. Volatility is not only normal, but also necessary for good opportunities to arise.

The major shifts in the world’s major stock market indices are allowing us to rotate our portfolios. The enormous noise and obsession with the short term are creating a false dilemma between the USA and Europe which we categorically reject. We consider it absurd to have to choose between two regions with good long-term fundamentals and where, thanks to the uncertainty, we are finding quality companies at good prices. For this reason, if the market continues to behave as emotionally as an angry teenager over the next few months, we will continue to take advantage of the opportunities that always arise during periods of volatility and attractive valuations.

Thank you again for placing your trust in us.
Yours sincerely,

Mark Giacopazzi.

 

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