Columbia Threadneedle: Identifying 2020’s successful challengers

February 10, 2020

By Philip Dicken, Head of European Equities

Europe is still growing, if slower than expected. And so, looking ahead, there are exciting opportunities – for example in challenger brands or new business models disrupting the old guard.

Looking ahead to the rest of 2020, Europe will again see plenty of political noise. The departure of Angela Merkel is a milestone after her long tenure as German chancellor; Brexit negotiations continue while Spain has produced another inconclusive election result. But we do not see this political uncertainty as a reason to adjust portfolios, which are mainly driven by bottom-up stock selection rather than by second-guessing complex political outcomes.

What do we expect from now? Europe is cheap compared to the US, a helpful starting point. However, this general valuation support needs to be complemented by careful stock selection in order to generate the best returns. Our job is to pick high-quality stocks for the long term.