The Active Share - William Blair

Understanding China: Economic System

May 31, 2023

China’s share of global gross domestic product (GDP) shrank to just 5% in 1978, but a series of market reforms supercharged the country’s economic growth. Today, China is the world’s second largest economic power and a major player on the global stage. But is its...

Regional Bank Update

May 24, 2023

When any turmoil arises, as it has in the banking sector this year, we begin our analysis with a deep risk assessment. Our conclusion: While we are not actively increasing the overall exposure to banks in our U.S. value equity portfolios, we continue to use the...

What’s Shaping India? 5 Emerging Trends

May 22, 2023

In November 2019, members of our global equity team traveled to India to meet with management teams of more than 80 companies, gathering insights on India’s economic potential, growth drivers, and consumer demand across many different sectors. The team concluded that...

4 Reasons to Get Excited About HVAC

May 16, 2023

Investment analysts are constantly asking themselves: Is growth in my sector getting better, getting worse, or staying the same? And looking at one key area of industrials—heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC)—we believe there are enough tailwinds to...

What’s Culture Got to Do with It?

May 10, 2023

As it turns out, culture has a lot to do with how we operate. But how difficult is it to measure? In this episode of The Active Share, Hugo sits down with Dr. Tom Reader, an associate professor of organizational psychology at the London School of Economics, to discuss...

Alaina Anderson joins the Money Life podcast with Chuck Jaffe

May 5, 2023

Portfolio Manager Alaina Anderson, CFA, partner, joined the Money Life podcast with Chuck Jaffee. In her segment of this episode, Alaina discusses her view on why investing internationally is attractive now and what areas of the market are particularly interesting in the current environment.

Two Sides to the Story in Emerging Markets Debt

May 2, 2023

There are always two sides to every story, and the first quarter of 2023 is no exception for emerging markets (EM) debt. On one hand, the asset class suffered from an increase in risk aversion led by concerns about the health of the U.S. banking sector. On the other...

Will Stress at the Banks Upend the Fed’s Balancing Act?

Apr 26, 2023

Olga and Hugo explore how the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) can address recent weakness in the banking system without giving up its commitment to reduce inflationary pressures. Hugo: Olga, nice to be going for a walk again. The last 18 months of investing have been...

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Glossary

INDICES
The Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index is a broad-based benchmark that measures the investment grade, U.S. dollar-denominated, fixed-rate taxable bond market, including Treasuries, government-related and corporate securities, mortgage-backed securities (agency fixed-rate and hybrid ARM pass-throughs), asset-backed securities, and commercial mortgage backed securities.

The MSCI ACWI IMI Index is a free float-adjusted, market capitalization-weighted index that captures large, mid, and small cap representation across developed and emerging markets.

The MSCI ACWI ex-US IMI Index is a free float-adjusted, market capitalization-weighted index that captures large, mid, and small cap representation across developed and emerging markets, excluding the U.S. The Value and Growth Indices are a subset of the Index that adopt a framework for style segmentation in which value and growth securities are characterized using different attributes. Multiple factors are used to identify value and growth characteristics.

The MSCI ACWI Small Cap Index is a free float-adjusted, market capitalization-weighted index that captures small cap representation across developed and emerging markets.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is a free float-adjusted, market capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of emerging markets.

The MSCI World Index is a free float-adjusted, market capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed markets.

The Russell 2000 Index is a market capitalization-weighted index designed to represent the small cap segment of the U.S. equity universe.

Index performance is for illustrative purposes only. The indices are unmanaged, do not incur fees or expenses, and cannot be invested in directly.

TERMS
Alpha is a measure of an investment’s return in excess of the market’s return, after both have been adjusted for risk.

Beta is a measure of the volatility of an investment relative to the overall market, represented by a comparable benchmark.

Half-life is a statistical measure of the time required for the discrepancy between price and value to contract by half of its starting value. Fundamental value estimates are based on the Dynamic Allocation Strategies team’s proprietary research.

P/E Ratio is a measure of valuation which compares share price to earnings per share, calculated using estimates for the next twelve months.

Standard deviation is a statistical measurement of variations from the average.

QUANTITATIVE MODELS – FACTOR DEFINITIONS
The William Blair Earnings Trend Model captures information about short- and medium-term changes in analyst estimates in an attempt to anticipate future estimate changes and stock performance. The score combines measurements of earnings revisions, momentum, and earnings surprise.

The William Blair Valuation Model combines varying metrics used to characterize the relationship between the stock’s trading price and its intrinsic value. By going beyond using only one or two measures, the model attempts to build a more holistic version of a stock’s worth vis-a-vis the market. The score combines measurements of earnings/cash flow based, asset-based, and model-based factors.

FEATURED TOPICS

U.S. EQUITY

GLOBAL EQUITY

EMERGING MARKETS DEBT