Franklin Technology A Acc USD

Analyst Report
Morningstar's Take
|19/10/2023

by Harsh Jain
The continuity and consistency offered in the implementation of the long-standing investment approach on Franklin Technology since Jonathan Curtis took over as lead manager and his strong expertise in technology sector stocks and portfolio construction drive our conviction. An Above Average Process Pillar rating and an Average People Pillar rating are maintained.

Curtis was named comanager on the strategy in 2016 and took over day-to-day management in September 2018. The latter built a successful track record, and despite no longer being a named manager, owing to increased responsibilities on Franklin Small-Mid Cap Growth, he still offers his views to Curtis and is part of the technology and communications team at Franklin. Curtis joined the group in 2008 and has a strong background in the technology sector. The firm has communicated that Curtis will be promoted to chief investment officer of Franklin Equity Group effective Dec. 31, 2023, and will continue to lead this strategy. He will transition his coverage to the rest of the team in the future. Also, In January 2021, Dan Searle and Matthew Cioppa were promoted to comanagers. We note that Cioppa's involvement in running this strategy is increasing, but Curtis remains the lead and the ultimate decision-maker here. Curtis benefits from the support of a well-resourced and capable team and can also tap into the broader analytical resources at Franklin. The team has been stable over the past few years and remains well-resourced compared with other leading teams in this sector. It is comforting that Cioppa's experience working with Curtis is increasing, and we view Curtis’ portfolio management skills positively and his workload as reasonable since he will be giving up his coverage responsibilities to take on the CIO role. However, the implications of him taking over the CIO role on this strategy's execution need to be monitored.

This strategy continues to follow the same investment approach used by former manager Scandalios, combining industry trends assessment with detailed bottom-up fundamental research. Each analyst is responsible for covering a specific subsector and is tasked with evaluating its long- and short-term growth characteristics, considering aspects such as the supply chain. This research effort, headed by Curtis, aims to identify attractive subsectors. It is then followed by detailed bottom-up fundamental research, which focuses on three key criteria: growth, quality, and valuation. The manager has a long-term focus and pays little attention to the MSCI World Information Technology Index benchmark when constructing the portfolio. Individual positions rarely exceed 5%, thus limiting stock-specific risk. Over his five-plus years of running money, Curtis has demonstrated consistency in applying the well-established investment approach. Under his watch through the end of September 2023, returns for the clean share class were ahead of the equity technology Morningstar Category average, despite the 2022 headwinds to this style caused by unfavorable market conditions. However, performance over the same period trailed the MSCI World Technology Index, and the same pattern was visible in the strategy's risk-adjusted returns. That said, some of this underperformance is expected given strategy's underweights in the index heavyweights Apple and Microsoft owing to UCIT rules and strategy capping individual position size. Stock-picking continues to be a strong driver of outperformance.

 
Morningstar Medalist Rating™A well-structured approach consistently applied by the lead manager long associated with this strategy underpins our conviction.
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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