Brown Advisory US Sust Gr USD SI Inc |
by Tony Thomas
Brown Advisory Sustainable Growth (available as a US mutual fund, Irish UCITS, and in separate accounts) has established managers who effectively blend growth-stock investing with environmental, social, and governance thinking. Managers Karina Funk and David Powell are a suitable pairing here. Funk joined Brown Advisory in 2009 when it acquired her Boston-based, ESG-focused employer. She leads Brown Advisory's sustainable investing efforts. Powell, based at the firm's Baltimore headquarters since his 1999 arrival, is close to Brown Advisory's central research team. Together, the pair has run versions of this strategy since 2010—well before ESG got on many investors’ radar. Much of the strategy relies on classic growth-stock investment principles, such as finding companies with durable, defensible business models. But a key insight comes from ESG analysis—namely, that sustainability efforts such as reduced resource consumption or improved employer/employee relations often make businesses better and can drive their share prices higher. Funk and Powell call these traits "sustainable business advantages," and every company in their 30- to 40-stock portfolio must have one. The strong points of the team and process should help investors stick with this strategy despite recent underperformance. The US mutual fund's results in 2024 through mid-October were fine in absolute terms but relatively poor in the large-growth Morningstar Category. An ESG-driven decision to sell Facebook (now known as Meta Platforms) in 2018 caused this strategy to miss its strong rally in 2023-24. And a former 5% cap on individual positions limited the benefits from its stakes in Nvidia and Microsoft, each of which have come to be more than 10% of the strategy’s Russell 1000 Growth Index prospectus benchmark. The managers moved cautiously to address this structural issue. They lifted their cap on individual positions to 10% in mid-2023, and as of September 2024, Nvidia and Microsoft held 8% and 7%, respectively, of the strategy's assets. The actions with Meta Platforms, Nvidia, and Microsoft show that this team is principled and pragmatic—and that bodes well for this strategy's future. |
Morningstar Pillars | |
People | Above Average |
Parent | Above Average |
Process | Above Average |
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