AGF U.S. Technology and Innovation Strategy
Approach
Fundamental, Top down, Bottom up
Cap
All-Cap
Benchmark
MSCI World Net Index
Inception Date
February 2021
Key Reasons to Invest
1Distinct Investment Philosophy
Concentrated, high-conviction approach to investing in companies expected to capitalize on emerging trends and breakthrough innovations
2Innovation and Market Leadership
Invests in market leaders expected to benefit from the development, advancement and use of technology to create a strong competitive advantage.
3Experienced Team
Track record of managing growth-oriented strategies through a variety of market environments.
Overview
Philosophy
AGF Technology & Innovation Strategy seeks to provide superior capital growth. It invests primarily in shares of companies that capitalize on emerging trends and breakthrough innovation.
Process
The Portfolio Manager seeks to achieve the investment objective of the mandate by investing in the common stocks of companies expected to benefit from the development, advancement, and use of technology and breakthrough innovation. The focus will be on companies that benefit from fast-paced shifts in consumer and enterprise trends, such as artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure, cyber security, e-Commerce, mobile technology, robotics, renewable energy, and companies that are levered to areas that enhance quality of life such as health & wellness, genomics, precision medicine and bioinformatics.
The Portfolio Manager’s process for identifying companies uses a “top down” approach (identifying major themes, structural shifts, large addressable markets and finding beneficiaries) in addition to a “bottom up” approach (positive revenue and earnings revisions, above average revenue and growth, and strong profitability metrics).
When selecting investments, the Portfolio Manager pays attention to the following criteria:
- Major emerging themes.
- Structural shifts and potential ramifications.
- Large addressable markets.
- Above average sales and earnings growth rates.
- Strong sales and earnings momentum and positive sales and earnings revisions.
- Technical factors, such as security's relative strength, price supports and trading volume.
Investment Process
-
1. Idea Generation
- Management meetings
- Conferences
- Quantitative Screens
- Publications
- Sell-side research
- Management meetings
- Conferences
- Quantitative Screens
- Publications
- Sell-side research
-
2. Fundamental Analysis
- New products or services
- R&D productivity
- Macro developments
- Corporate announcements
- ESG analysis*
- Catalyst driven events
-
3. Purchase Candidate List
- Attractive valuation
- Relative strength
- Market leaders
- High conviction
- Innovation
- Thematic beneficiaries
Investment Team
Mike Archibald serves as a portfolio manager of AGF Investments' U.S., Global and Canadian Growth Equity strategies. He uses a bottom-up investment approach that leverages quantitative, fundamental and technical inputs to identify companies with strong earnings growth and momentum, high-quality management and solid free cash flow.
Mike joined AGF Investments as an Associate Portfolio Manager in 2015, focusing on research, analysis and selection of North American equities. Before joining AGF Investments, Mike was a Portfolio Manager with Aurion Capital Management Inc. where he was responsible for research, security selection and portfolio management of equity investments for pension plan clients. Prior to that, he was with Computerized Portfolio Management Services (CPMS), an equity research firm providing fundamental and quantitative investment data to institutional and retail money managers.
Mike holds an Honours Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Wilfrid Laurier University and is also a CFA®, CMT and CAIA charterholder.
Auritro Kundu serves as a portfolio manager of AGF Investments' U.S., Global and Canadian Growth Equity strategies. A staunch believer that innovation can be found in every industry, his investment philosophy is rooted in identifying innovative companies who boast strong earnings growth, free cash flow and return on equity.
Auritro joined AGF Investments in 2015 and previously served as an Analyst responsible for fundamental research and analysis of the Information Technology and Consumer Discretionary sectors. Prior to joining AGF Investments, he was an Equity Research Associate Analyst at National Bank Financial, where he was responsible for coverage of Canadian Information Technology equipment companies. Prior to that, he worked at Rogers Communications in corporate development and at Research in Motion in product management.
Auritro has a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto and earned an MBA from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.
Portfolio Manager under AGF Investments Inc. and AGF Investments America Inc.
Abhishek Ashok
M.A., MFE, CFA®
Rasib Bhanji
MBA, CFA®
Ling Han
M.Sc., MBA, CFA®
Grace Huang
MBA, CFA®
Marko Kais
CFA®
John Kratochwil
MBA, P.Eng.
Henry Kwok
MBA
Lazar Naiker
Pulkit Sabharwal
MBA
Wai Tong
MBA, P.Eng., CFA®
Wyeth Wright
CFA®
Lillian Zhang
MBA, CFA®
Wai Tong
MBA, P.Eng., CFA®
Izabela Siwoski Uliana
LLB (hons), CIM
The AGF Equity Analyst Team consists of individuals from AGF Investments Inc. Personnel of AGF Investment Inc., an affiliated adviser located in Canada that is not registered with the SEC, provide research services to clients of AGF Investments America Inc through an Affiliate Resource Arrangements.
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