We continue to appreciate the disciplined approach to asset allocation and the experienced and stable team behind Nordea 1 - Stable Return. The fund’s cheapest share classes are assigned a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Silver while its other share classes gain Bronze and Neutral ratings.The fund has been managed since its launch in 2005 by the experienced trio of Asbjørn Trolle Hansen, Claus Vorm, and Kurt Kongsted. They belong to the 40-strong multi-asset team, headed by Trolle Hansen. For this fund, the team has developed a distinctive, quantitatively based approach to asset allocation that has been applied consistently. The focus is on risk control as the fund aims to maximize returns while avoiding any losses of capital over a three-year horizon. To achieve its dual goals, the team has identified several clusters of securities both for recovery and recession periods, such as stable equities, government bonds, currency pairs, and covered bonds and credits. In addition, the managers use derivatives, mostly for limiting market risk. These instruments are combined with each other and optimized on a monthly basis. As of end-April 2020 most of the fund’s risk-on positions were within equity while its defensive positions were more spread out across asset classes.Although the fund’s performance remains stronger than its EUR moderate allocation--global peers in risk-adjusted terms since inception, it can no longer equal the performance of an index combining 35% global equities and 65% bonds (which matches the fund's volatility level). The fund has been hurt in particular by losses from its low-risk equity positions in 2016 and 2018. Adding to its difficulties in 2018 were losses from government bonds, which did, however, provide much-needed protection in the second half of the year. Such an adverse combination is still rare for the fund and therefore does not reduce our conviction in the process. In 2020 through end-May the fund's downside protection was again strong and the fund was in the Morningstar Category's best decile for the year to date through May.
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