During the first quarter of 2020, strong balance sheets became the most-important factor of focus in the face of an economic downturn.
The Eaton Vance small-cap team said they used an approach of quality, valuation and timing (QVT) when it came to selecting stocks for portfolios. It particularly favoured those companies with healthy balance sheets which had been purchased at attractive free cashflow yields
Aidan Farrell, head of global small cap equities at Eaton Vance, said: “Our QVT investment philosophy is biased toward higher-quality companies with healthy balance sheets, irrespective of the economic cycle. The aim being not only to ensure healthy capital appreciation when markets rise, but also to exhibit a degree of capital preservation in times of challenge.
“Financial strength allows a company to better withstand periods of economic uncertainty, while at the same time amassing capital that can be deployed to strengthen its strategic position, often during periods of uncertainty.”
Farrell noted markets had begun improving over recent weeks and there were steps being taken to re-open economies but the pandemic would still likely have longer-term implications.
“Investors are taking hope from the enormous monetary and fiscal policy responses across the world, and the first tentative steps by some countries to reignite their economies by easing stringent lockdown measures. In the short term, until a vaccine or effective treatment for COVID-19 is developed, equity market sentiment will be shaped by the path the virus takes and any additional policy measures applied,” he said.
“Irrespective of the duration and shape of recovery, we firmly believe that we will look back at factor returns in 20 years’ time and once again see that higher-quality companies with will be a winning strategy for investors.”
