AB American Growth A USD

Analyst Report
Morningstar's Take
|28/02/2024

by Eric Schultz
AB Large Cap Growth (which includes the Luxembourg-domiciled AB American Growth) benefits from a sound approach, but an upcoming retirement and constrained analyst resources are worth monitoring.

The strategy’s longtime CIO and lead manager Frank Caruso will retire by the end of March 2024. The retirement was well telegraphed; in 2021, comanagers John Fogarty and Vinay Thapar were made co-CIOs to formalize a succession plan. Fogerty and Thapar, along with director of research Vincent Dupont, have worked alongside Caruso as comanagers here and on the team’s other charges for more than a decade. Their history together, as well as collective decision-making, should aid a smooth transition. That said, the team lacks a deep analyst bench relative to its broad lineup of large-cap offerings spanning the style spectrum.

This strategy’s quality-oriented growth approach will stay consistent. The team looks for strong businesses with reasonable valuations and an ability to grow profitably and compound returns. These characteristics are reflected in the portfolio, which typically boasts higher margins, returns on assets, and returns on invested capital than the typical large-growth Morningstar Category peer and the Russell 1000 Growth Index. The portfolio also typically has a higher proportion of holdings with wide or narrow Morningstar Economic Moat Ratings.

This strategy has been the team’s most competitive offering. From the management team’s 2012 start through January 2024, the US mutual fund vehicle’s A shares’ 15.6% annualized gain beat the large-growth category average by 2.7 percentage points and essentially matched the index. Despite gaining a sizable 34.7% in 2023, the strategy lagged the index in trailing three- and five-year periods as gains concentrated in its biggest names—some of which, like Apple, aren’t in the portfolio. That said, this headwind could reverse. The quality-oriented approach also typically looks best in drawdowns rather than rallies. It captured just 92% of the index’s monthly losses during the team’s tenure.

At the right price, the strategy is a reasonable option for quality growth.
 
Morningstar Medalist Rating™Attractive despite headwinds.
To find out how Morningstar rates a fund click here.
Morningstar Pillars
PeopleAverage
ParentAverage
ProcessAbove Average
 
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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