Bestinvest says
The style of the fund is to mix Newton's in-house global thematic ideas with individual stock picking. However, the manager is not constrained by the house view and is given enough freedom to apply his flair to the fund. The manager's strength is selecting good quality stocks on bottom up grounds (i.e. understanding a company in it's own right). Unfortunately fund performance has not lived up to expectations and this is largely a factor of Newton's global house themes being out of favour since 2008. However, more recently, there are signs that some of the fund's defensive themes such as Healthcare are beginning to find favour.
The fund focuses on companies with above-average growth potential whose share price does not reflect their prospects adequately. Sectors and industries that are likely to experience higher growth are often identified through Newton's in-house global themed research, which identifies trends based on how they view the state of the world and financial landscape. However stocks will not be bought solely on that basis and the manager does have the freedom to research stocks that he believes to have good growth characteristics.
Stocks that are actively considered, within the investment universe, are given price targets as the manager believes that this concentrates the minds of his analysts.
The portfolio typically consists of 50 core stocks the majority of which held on a long term basis with modifications occurring around the edges of the portfolio. Stocks will generally have a market capitalisation of at least €1bn with the aim of maintaining liquidity and scalability.