The US tech fund that is still aiming for 20% returns: ALLIANZ TECHNOLOGY investment trust
By JEFF PRESTRIDGE, FINANCIAL MAIL ON SUNDAY
PUBLISHED: 21:51, 22 August 2020 | UPDATED: 08:00, 24 August 202
Walter Price is confident that he can keep delivering stellar returns for those invested in the investment trust he runs – the £981million Allianz Technology, listed on London’s stock market.
Price, who runs the fund out of San Francisco with three colleagues, believes there is no reason why the trust cannot continue ‘shooting’ for compound annual returns in the region of 20 per cent – despite uncertainties caused by Covid-19 and the forthcoming US presidential election.
Confident that Democrat Joe Biden will win in the November vote, Price argues that ‘political change will be good for the market and for the economy’ – despite the threat at some stage of higher corporate taxes and raised personal taxes on the wealthy…
The trust’s performance is striking. Over the past year, it has delivered a return of 43 per cent while over three and five years it has generated profits (137 per cent and 307 per cent respectively) that are unsurpassed by any other investment trust monitored by Trustnet. The fund’s charges are reasonable at 0.92 per cent and will come down in percentage terms if the trust continues to grow.
James Carthew, head of investment trust research at fund analyst QuotedData, says Allianz Technology has delivered ‘excellent returns’ under Price’s leadership. But he believes investors interested in technology should look for a fund that is more globally invested.
He adds: ‘The trust’s portfolio is overwhelmingly focused on North American stocks. Trump’s anti-China policy notwithstanding, it is possible that many future technology giants will be Asian.’
Carthew’s preferred technology fund is Polar Capital Technology which has nearly a fifth of its portfolio invested in Japan and wider Asia.
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