Fidelity World I-Acc-USD

Analyst Report
Morningstar's Take
|10/11/2023

by Jack Fletcher-Price
Fidelity Global Special Situations lead manager Jeremy Podger has announced his intention to retire on March 31, 2024. He joined Fidelity in 2012 and the industry in 1987.

This represents a significant loss to the strategies and closely follows assistant manager Jamie Harvey's departure from Fidelity in August 2023. Fidelity plans to announce two external hires to take over portfolio management responsibilities early in 2024. Visibility on the degree of continuity under the new managers is limited in the meantime. As a result, our conviction is quelled, and both funds are Under Review. Our updated view on the strategy will be published in due course.
 
Because of what we hope will be a short period of uncertainty, both the People and Process Pillars are set to Average. Following sole manager Jeremy Podger's announcement that he intends to step back from management here on March 31, 2024, we learned two external managers will be joining Fidelity in the new year to take the helm. Because of regulatory and contractual impediments, Fidelity is unable to announce them until early 2024. With limited details on their credentials, and seemingly material latitude upon arrival, conviction has quelled for the time being.

Podger has forged an impressive track record at the helm, built on the distinctive process he had conceived. Elements of this will likely remain, though which parts are currently undecided. Podger's tenure had been characterized by steady outperformance, maintaining outperformance versus peers on a three-year rolling period for almost the entirety of it, an outcome we are sure the new managers will aim to emulate.

The characteristics of the portfolio going forward are undecided to a degree. From our understanding, the incoming managers have previously run with fewer names respectively. It’s not expected that the managers will have experience running a short book either, though Fidelity is amply resourced with dedicated short analysts.

 
Morningstar Medalist Rating™Two new managers will replace stalwart Podger when he leaves at the end of March 2024.
To find out how Morningstar rates a fund click here.
Morningstar Pillars
PeopleAverage
ParentAbove Average
ProcessAverage
 
Morningstar Medalist RatingMorningstar assigns the Medalist Rating to funds that are qualitatively and quantitatively assessed through manager research and algorithmic processes. The assessment turns on three key “pillars” – People, Process, and Parent – that yield an estimate of how well a fund will perform before fees but after adjusting for risk.
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In order to provide consistency across the report data provided by different Asset Managers, the calculated data points presented are generated using Morningstar’s proprietary calculation methodology which is set out in more detail at(https://www.morningstar.com/research/signature)
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