Robeco Asset Management Podcast

Value stocks are in revival – this after what seemed like an endless run of underperformance relative to growth stocks. But, is this the long-awaited value rotation? Andhow big is the opportunity from here onwards? David Cohen is portfolio manager for the Boston Partners Large Cap Value strategy and our guest in our latest podcast episode. Tune in

It’s never a dull moment in the asset management industry. Innovation, market swings, increasing regulatory pressure, the rotation from growth to value and, of course, the growing importance of climate investing solutions, are among the pressing themes in the industry. Each change and challenge offers opportunity to excel. Chief investment officer Mark van der Kroft discusses these topics – and more – in our latest podcast episode. Tune in.

It’s inevitable that the forceful fiscal stimulus and exceptionally loose monetary policy currently in place will result in higher inflation. But, say Rikkert Scholten and Bob Stoutjesdijk, portfolio managers in the Robeco Global Macro Fixed Income team, the impact will be temporary. “There are a number of very strong secular forces keeping inflation in check”. Tune in to hear why they’re not falling for the inflation fearmongering.

“The more you read about climate change, the more worried you become”, says Carola van Lamoen, Head of Sustainable investing. However,  “mankind is hugely creative, and we can live up to the challenge”, says Climate Strategist Lucian Peppelenbos. The two experts discuss the risks and opportunities of climate change for asset managers in our latest podcast episode. Tune in. 

Keep questioning the consensus in 2021, do your research and stay contrarian, says Victor Verberk, Robeco’s CIO Fixed Income, in our latest podcast episode. “Bond yields are controlled, independence of central banks is out of the window. Joe Biden is going to print another USD 2 trillion in stimulus and the Fed will finance it. It’s a concerted effort to keep the economy going.” To go back to normal, we do need defaults, though, he says. Tune in.

Will value stocks make a comeback in 2021? Robeco’s Chief Quant Researcher, David Blitz, acknowledges that mean reversion isn’t always inevitable. And if it does occur, it’s difficult to predict the timing. “It will take a change of investor sentiment. But valuations cannot be detached from fundamentals forever.” Listen to the full podcast.

With several vaccines on the way, 2021 promises to be a great year for equities. Earnings could reach double-digit growth and the trend of underperformance in value stocks could grind to a hold, say Jeroen Blokland and Peter van der Welle in our latest podcast episode. It’s also a time for non-US stocks to outperform their US equivalents. Tune in to hear it all.

Covid-19 seems to have increased the speed at which trends are changing our world. Share prices of companies related to ecommerce and digitalization have surged. “The stock market is known for exaggerating every now and again, and certainly we have seen some really outrageous moves in stock prices. But there is still no reason to think that stocks should go down dramatically,” Steef Bergakker and Sam Brasser claim in our latest podcast episode. Tune in to hear the full story.

Central banks are navigating through unchartered territory. “The longer you have negative interest rate policies, the harder it will become to offset the negative side effects and to retain the positive effects of it,” says Martin van Vliet, strategist in the Global Macro team. But the Fed and BoE are still very reluctant to cross the Rubicon into below-zero rates, he argues. Meanwhile, since the money being created is not pursuing goods, the risks for inflation are well within control. Tune in.

Value has underperformed growth in the large-cap space by 43% in the past year. “The pressure on value investors to reevaluate and potentially discard their philosophy and change their processes is immense,” says Jay Feeney, CEO and CIO of Boston Partners.