Fidelity Investments, a leading global asset management firm and provider of the largest lineup of actively managed sector funds2, today published a new report that articulates the top 30 investment themes the firm’s equity sector specialists believe are likely to have the greatest influence on the performance of each sector in 2012 and beyond. Available to investors and their advisors, the paper, “Equity Sectors: Investment Themes for 2012 and Beyond,” was developed to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Fidelity Select Portfolios.
Fidelity manages more than $40 billion in 44 sector-based strategies across the 10 major market sectors, such as consumer discretionary, health care and energy, and subsectors such as gold and biotechnology, with 39 funds representing the Select Portfolios product line.3
Over the past three years, nine out of 10 of the Fidelity sector level Select Portfolios have outperformed their ETF peers.4 In addition, Fidelity’s Select Health Care Portfolio (FSPHX), Select Technology Portfolio (FSPTX) and Select Utilities Portfolio (FSUTX), which were all launched in 1981, have beaten the S&P 500’s historical average since their inception.5
“Active sector investing continues to be a performance-driven opportunity for investors looking to diversify their portfolios to the best sector stocks over short- and long-term horizons,” said Brian B. Hogan, president, Fidelity’s Equity Group. “By employing a deep, bottom-up global research process, Fidelity’s sector funds can provide investors the opportunity to invest within a specific segment of the economy, allowing for targeted exposure to certain industries and the potential to reduce some of the company-specific risk of investing in an individual stock.”
“Over time Fidelity’s sector fund track record has had impressive performance,” said Chris Bartel, senior vice present, Global Equity Research, Fidelity’s Equity Group. “We have an incredibly deep bench of investment professionals that are both sector-based and globally focused, enabling them to find valuable sector-specific stocks that can deliver on behalf of shareholders.”
Pioneer in Sector Investing and Research
Fidelity’s Select Portfolios are designed to provide exposure to companies across each of the 10 major market sectors: consumer discretionary, consumer staples, energy, financials, health care, industrials, information technology, materials, telecommunications and utilities. The 10 broadly invested sector funds are supported by additional industry-specific funds that focus on a certain segment, or subsector, within the overall industry (e.g., gold, automotive, etc.). Subsector opportunities often are identified through a unique set of attributes, including a distinct cycle or growth opportunity.
A deep, global research team supports Fidelity’s portfolio managers, including more than 420 research professionals in Boston, London, Miami, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Toronto.6 Organized by sectors, the research organization helps generate investment ideas from all over the world — in all sectors, styles and market capitalization ranges. For example, more than 30 analysts around the globe support the commodity sector.
“Many of Fidelity’s Select funds have largely outperformed their benchmarks over the long-term, delivering alpha during various market cycles,” said Hogan. “We believe our sector team can fine-tune the Select Portfolios and set them up to own both the best ideas and take advantage of the biggest opportunities in a particular sector.”
Following are the 30 equity sector investment themes identified by Fidelity’s sector team in the report “Equity Sectors: Investment Themes for 2012 and Beyond.”
“Identifying the most compelling themes within each sector can be a critical component to the stock selection process,” said Bartel. “At Fidelity, we believe in-depth, fundamental research at the company level can determine the best investment opportunities within each sector. Maintaining a global equity sector staff also provides a comprehensive point of view on the key themes and ongoing dynamics within each sector.”