Not as Bad as It Feels
Contributed by Doug Walters, Max Berkovich, David Lemire
Declining markets are never fun. The S&P 500 is down over 13% on the year. That is officially in “correction” territory, which is loosely defined as a drop of 10% or more. But it is not as bad as it feels, or at least it should not be.
Investors have become accustomed to market leadership by mega-cap tech and communications companies. We have given them many acronyms, the most famous of which is arguably FAANG stocks. Not only are they highly visible in the press (and our lives), but they represent a significant portion of many common market-cap-weighted indexes, given their enormous size. While they were performing well, investors benefited from that size, but as we watch them decline, many investors feel the pain.
Since the start of the year, the original FAANG stocks are down an average of 35%, with Netflix the worst, falling 67%. We have an easy way of visualizing the negative impact of these influential stocks on index performance. While the S&P 500 is down around 12% on the year, the “equal-weighted” S&P 500 is down only 8%. The equal-weighted index holds an equal amount of each of the 500 companies in the index rather than weighting the holdings by market cap. This behavior is what we call, in the factor speak, the “Size” factor. Historically, equal-weighted indexes tend to outperform market-cap-weighted indexes.
So why do so many investors prefer to hold market-cap-weighted indexes? Good question. In our opinion, market-cap weighting is fairly arbitrary. There is usually a better way to construct your portfolio when you follow an evidence-based approach.
Stocks ended down again this week. Whispers of the potential for a 75bps hike from the Fed created some unease. Meanwhile, the first-quarter earnings season for corporations continues. More than half in the S&P 500 have reported, with over 70% beating expectations. Q1 has demonstrated solid growth in sales, but inflation has resulted in earnings growing less. Several names in big tech reported, but Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) caught our eye.
Supply Chain Headaches
Industry heavyweights Apple and Amazon reported results this week, with a few common themes: supply chain, China and Covid.
- Apple reported results that were near record levels and well above analyst expectations. However, their outlook statements were clouded by familiar headwinds.
- The company reminded investors that the pandemic is not over and that crackdowns in China related to their “Zero Covid” policy continue to disrupt supply chains.
- Due to supply chain issues, they expect revenue to be impacted by $4-8bn in the coming quarter.
- Amazon, similarly, spent significant air time talking about the pandemic challenges facing its business.
The Fed is all-too-aware of the challenges facing companies these days. They are combatting inflation with their rate and asset purchase policies while at the same time trying not to damage growth. It is a delicate balancing act.
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