After a long run for growth stocks, value has shown some signs of coming back into favor in 2021, and many investors wonder whether it may represent a changing of the guard among investment styles.
Those in the value camp note several trends that could favor the stocks going forward, including an ongoing economic recovery and continued signs of inflation. The latter could lead to a rise in interest rates, which penalizes the valuations of growth stocks more than value.
From a valuation standpoint, value benchmarks are also more attractive relative to their historical averages than growth indices. Perhaps more simply, many believe that after growth stocks outshined value for more than a decade, maybe it's time that value had its day.
Whatever the reason, if advisors and their clients believe value is set for a longer run, a key question is: How best to invest in the trend? It may not be as simple as making a modest asset allocation shift toward value strategies. The reason: Most value strategies still have a high correlation to the broader market. For example, the Russell 1000 Value Index has a correlation of 0.95 and a beta of 1.00 to Russell 1000 Index.
That means an investor who pivots toward value strategies will not see much difference in their portfolio returns than had they kept their original allocation or simply invested in a core equity strategy. And if markets fall — a concern for some investors given where valuations sit today — the high correlation means the value-tilted portfolio will still bear much of the market's returns, even if it outperforms growth.
A different way to invest behind the trend is through long/short equity funds, or other alternative strategies that use factors as the basis for determining which stocks to short.
Isolating the Divergence
For advisors who believe value is poised to outperform growth and want to invest behind the change, long/short equity funds may provide a better option to isolate that view.
