Stocks in Focus: Fidelity Special Values

This week Harry Scargill of NW Brown looks at at Fidelity Special Values (FSV), an investment trust that has recently released results for the year to 31 August 2017 and is celebrating five years under the management of Alex Wright.

Mr Wright adopts a contrarian and value style to picking stocks. This means that he focusses on finding out of favour companies that he feels are being priced substantially below their true value. This undervaluation usually stems from the market over-reacting to negative news concerning a stock or sector.

The trust sits within the UK All Companies sector and is able to operate in a completely unconstrained manner versus its FTSE All-Share benchmark. This has allowed Mr Wright to have a higher level of exposure to medium and small sized companies relative to his peers. This area is where Mr Wright and his colleagues are currently finding the most value. They are also looking at companies that earn the majority of their earnings in Sterling, as the team feel those with substantial overseas earnings are currently looking more expensive.

With the current uncertainty surrounding markets, the ability to pick stocks successfully on a bottom-up basis becomes evermore important. Mr Wright’s contrarian and value-based approach can sometimes result in a share price that underperforms the wider market in the short-term. However, his track record since taking over the management of FSV in late 2012 is impressive and suggests that his approach is adding value over the long term. 



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