Find shelter in Swiss stocks

Published:27 July 2023 13:05 CET
Analyst:
Nadiia D, Content Manager, nadiia.d@adviscent.com

There are many reasons to favour defensive stocks in the current market environment, which speaks in favour of Switzerland, a region that boasts one of the most defensive markets with a bias towards high-quality companies. Swiss equities have a strong long-term track record and are currently not expensive, as valuations have come down significantly.

We are constructive on Swiss equities, both in the short and long term, and thus believe that they deserve a core allocation within a portfolio. The first quarter of 2023 is now behind us, and it was quite a ride. In the global equity market, cyclical stocks had a strong start into 2023, leaving defensive stocks in their wake. However, this outperformance was not destined to last, and, indeed, by the end of March we were back to where we had started. This reversal was driven by inflation, which failed to cool off as expected, and by leading central banks walking the walk and increasing policy rates further. In addition, the banking sector crisis further spooked markets. Defensive stocks are now looking more attractive, with growth and quality stocks currently leading the year-to-date rally.

Recent stock market wobbles and central bank actions are only two of the reasons why we like defensive stocks. With the notion of ‘growth scarcity’ back in investors’ minds, we also see an opportunity to add high-quality growth stocks now. All of this speaks in favour of the Swiss equity market, which is one of the most defensive markets of all. There are many other arguments in favour of Swiss equities. On average, they offer higher balance sheet quality and are fundamentally less susceptible to economic cycles thanks to their market-leading profit margins and superior pricing power. They are also attractively valued at the moment. For all of these reasons, we are constructive on Swiss equities in both the short and long term. Whilst we must accept that past performance cannot be relied upon to be a predictor of future results, the historical performance of Swiss equities since 1970 has been impressive: they have outperformed their US counterparts by an average of 1.5% per year (in Swiss francs).

Equity table
Analyst:
Nadiia D, Content Manager, nadiia.d@adviscent.com

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