For general media inquiries (members of the media only) please call (816) 340-7033 or email us.
We're always looking for exceptional team members.
A superior benefits and rewards program is an essential part of our commitment to our employees.
By Patricia Ribeiro - October 2019
Trade war or no trade war, we continue to find good opportunities in China. How? My team looks for companies showing solid growth and earnings acceleration—and there are plenty of them.
Despite current headlines and economic concerns, consumer demand in China is still very strong. The economy is still growing. It may not be at the same rate we’ve seen in the past, but we’re finding companies with the growth prospects we seek in many areas of the country and sectors of the economy, including real estate, infrastructure and education.
This isn’t to say that the trade war is irrelevant; there will always be challenges in emerging markets. But even with trade and geopolitical conflicts, we’re confident we can identify resilient companies that can do well regardless of the environment.
Watch my latest quarterly update for an inside look into where we’re finding these opportunities.
The reason we continue to find good names in China is because we are really looking from the bottom up. We are looking at companies that are actually showing growth, showing earnings acceleration—and there are plenty of them.
The fact that there is a trade war between the U.S. and China doesn’t mean there are no companies actually doing well in that environment. The consumer in China is still very strong. They continue to show growth, and we have to find where that growth is.
China’s relevant to us. It’s the largest holding that we have in the portfolio. We are overweight China—have been since earlier this year. So, It’s very important to us. The trade war—the rhetoric continues. It’s still not decided what is happening. The news changes every two weeks or so. Are we going to get into some kind of an agreement between the U.S. and China, or not? And what does that mean? What will that translate into?
So, we don’t know. For us— investing in China—what we do is we continue to just look for where we find our best ideas. And by that, we mean companies that are showing an inflection point and earnings acceleration. And that continues to be the case in China. We have plenty of names to own in China if we wanted to even have a bigger position than we have currently.
There are other areas as well. Real estate is an area we continue to see opportunities there, some names there that are doing well. We see even opportunities in cement companies, sort of driven by all this infrastructure and real estate as well. So, there are areas in China—education continues to be another name where we have exposure in the portfolio, in different names there in the education sector.
The economy continues to grow. It might not be the kind of growth that we expected to see or that we have seen in the past. But there are companies that are benefiting from what the growth is today in China. And that’s what we’re doing; we’re looking for those companies. And there is a good amount of opportunities there actually.
There are always going to be challenges in emerging markets. It could be challenges from a very specific country, individual country, within emerging markets. It could be trade wars that we’ve seen more recently—or anything else. There are a lot of different geopolitical issues, for example—there could be 24 countries with significant exposure there. But what we really think is important in emerging markets is to really focus on the bottom up. Really look for companies that can do well regardless of the environment, or despite of the environment that they are in. I think in emerging markets the companies are very resilient.
Get additional insights in our latest Investment Outlook.
In this quarterly update, Portfolio Manager Margé Karner discusses the good and the bad of emerging markets debt heading into the new year.
January 25, 2019
The first wave of third quarter corporate earnings reports shared weak guidance on future earnings, which rattled investors—particularly those in the industrials sector.
October 24, 2018
Trade war aside, Sr. Portfolio Manager Patricia Ribeiro is still finding opportunities to invest in China. Find out how in her latest quarterly update.
October 2019
2018 hasn't been kind to emerging markets. Sr. Portfolio Manager Patricia Ribeiro believes fears of contagion, which never materialized, caused the recent volatility. Read why she's still encouraged by opportunities.
October 29, 2018
2018 may have been difficult for emerging markets, but Sr. Portfolio Manager Patricia Ribeiro has three reasons to look forward to a better 2019.
January 8, 2019
International investing involves special risks, such as political instability and currency fluctuations. Investing in emerging markets may accentuate these risks.
Investment return and principal value of security investments will fluctuate. The value at the time of redemption may be more or less than the original cost. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
The opinions expressed are those of American Century Investments (or the portfolio manager) and are no guarantee of the future performance of any American Century Investments' portfolio. This material has been prepared for educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide, and should not be relied upon for, investment, accounting, legal or tax advice.
American Century Investments is not responsible for and does not endorse any comments, content, advertising, products, advice, opinions, recommendations or other materials on or available directly or via hyperlinks from Facebook, Twitter or any third-party website. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are registered trademarks of their respective owners.