Investment

Chart of the Month – The mystery of stock prices falling despite earnings increasing

by Pierre Mouton

The mystery of stock prices falling despite earnings increasing

Source: Notz Stucki

“Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton asked why.”
Bernard Baruch

Apple and Nestlé, among many popular large-cap stocks did not perform well since September 2020, despite a rising broad market and favorable earnings releases. Between September 2020 and February 2021, Apple fell close to 10% and Nestlé 12%. Although the most important thing for a stock to perform well over the long term is by far its earnings growth, sometimes, shorter term, this isn’t sufficient to compensate for the other most important factor when it comes to asset prices in general: interest rates. This love and hate relationship between equities and interest rates should, in theory, be very simple to assess: falling interest rates are good for equities as it magnifies future flows, while rising interest rates do the opposite. But this has not been the case all the time; popular “risk-parity” strategies were playing against the maths logic as they were long fixed-income and equities in order to have a protection on possible equity downside thanks to supposedly good returns from bonds when it happens. But this is not what the maths tell you: if the discounting factor (i.e. interest rates) moves higher, then the price of your asset, all else things equal, falls.

And this is precisely what happened during the last 6 months (for some listed companies), as the discounting factor rose quite sharply (US 10 year yield went from 0.7% to 1.47%, 20 year yield from 1.24% to 2.15%). Guess what, maths worked perfectly well this time as long duration equities fell, almost in line with the fall in bond prices like the table above highlights. Apple’s Price Earnings Ratio went from 34 to 27 times 2021 estimated earnings, for Nestlé it moved from 26 times to less than 23. Here’s the proof that although higher yields do not really affect the business of these companies, it definitely has an influence on their valuations. But there are equity sectors which show an inverted correlation compared to what the maths say. First and foremost, financials, the most hatred sector of the last decade. Rising interest rates is good for banks and insurance companies. More broadly, cyclical sectors tend to be shorter duration assets than growth and defensive sectors and logically outperform when yields move to the upside. The very good performance from cyclical sectors since interest rates started to move up was the reason why indices were able to grind higher. This is why a balanced approach in terms of sectors is important. We don’t know if yields will keep on rising, stall or fall; but we do know that building a portfolio of good companies, whatever their sectors, with a nice equilibrium between Value/Growth and Cyclicals/Defensives is the surest way to deliver appreciable returns over the long term.

 

 

 

 

 

Past performance is not indicative of future results. The views, strategies and financial instruments described in this document may not be suitable for all investors. Opinions expressed are current opinions as of date(s) appearing in this material only.

References to market or composite indices, benchmarks or other measures of relative market performance over a specified period of time are provided for your information only. Notz, Stucki provides no warranty and makes no representation of any kind whatsoever regarding the accuracy and completeness of any data, including financial market data, quotes, research notes or other financial instrument referred to in this document.

This document does not constitute an offer or solicitation to any person in any jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation is not authorized or to any person to whom it would be unlawful to make such offer or solicitation. Any reference in this document to specific securities and issuers are for illustrative purposes only, and should not be interpreted as recommendations to purchase or sell those securities. References in this document to investment funds that have not been registered with the FINMA cannot be distributed in or from Switzerland except to certain categories of eligible investors. Some of the entities of the Notz Stucki Group or its clients may hold a position in the financial instruments of any issuer discussed herein, or act as advisor to any such issuer.

 Additional information is available on request.

© Notz Stucki Group

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Antonio Mira
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, MEMBER OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Antonio Mira joined NS Partners in 2006 as Group Chief Financial Officer. He heads the corporate functions and is involved in coordinating and implementing the decisions of the Executive Committee.
An experienced bank auditor, Antonio started his career in 1995 with Arthur Andersen, where he worked for some 7 years before joining Ernst & Young in 2002 as a Senior Manager.
Antonio is a Swiss chartered accountant and a Business graduate of Lausanne University (HEC).

Sébastien Poiret
DEPUTY HEAD OF WEALTH MANAGEMENT

Sébastien Poiret joined NS Partners in 2008 and manages funds of hedge funds and private client mandates. He also oversees the development of the Group’s offices in Mauritius.

Prior to joining NS Partners, he served as a Trader, Head of Manager research and Portfolio Manager in the USA and Switzerland for a single hedge fund (1998-2004) and for Optimal (2004-2008), Grupo Santander’s fund-of-hedge funds operations.

Sébastien holds a Bachelor’s degree in Corporate Finance from the ESPEME Business School (EDHEC Group) and an MBA in Finance and Economics from the Institute of Business Administration, both in Nice.

Abir Oreibi
BOARD DIRECTOR

Abir Oreibi joined the Board of the NS Partners Group in 2018, where she brings her truly international perspective and rich experience.
Among many other ventures, Abir set up Alibaba.com’s first European office. After living and working in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bangkok and London, she now lives in Geneva, where she is CEO of Lift Events, an organization that identifies technology trends, their business and social impact through the organization of events and open innovation programs. Issues related to the challenges and opportunities created by new technologies as well as the strategic responses from organizations are at the heart of Lift’s activities.
Abir holds a BA in Political Sciences from the University of Geneva. She is an investor, and member of advisory and innovation boards.

Romain Pidoux, CAIA

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Romain Pidoux joined NS Partners in 2011 and heads the Group’s Risk Management.
He started his financial career in 2005 as Head of Quantitative Analysis for a Swiss Family Office, selecting funds and managing portfolio allocation. In 2008, he switched to the alternative world and joined Peak Partners as hedge funds analyst.
He is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) and holds a Master’s degree in international relations from the Graduate Institute of International Studies at Geneva University.

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