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- Markets began the year with a strong start, rewarding quality fundamentals in January, but concerns around inflation and central bank policy re-emerged in February. Markets closed the quarter with quality rewarded again in March.
- The Polen Global Growth Composite Portfolio (the “Portfolio”) outpaced the MSCI ACWI Index (the “Index”).
- During the first quarter of 2023, many of our companies continued to generate the outsized underlying earnings growth we anticipated. In contrast to 2022, the stocks of these businesses were rewarded, driving outperformance.
- Both on an absolute and a relative basis, the top three contributors during the quarter were Align Technology, Microsoft and SAP and the leading absolute detractors were Abbott Laboratories, ADP and CSL. Our top relative detractors, inclusive of what we don’t own, however, were Apple, Nvidia and Abbott.
- During the quarter, we added to our positions in Amazon and Thermo Fisher Scientific and trimmed weights in Mastercard, Visa, and Abbott Laboratories.
- Going forward, markets are still in a position to be heavily influenced by central bank activity. That said, we are confident in the current Portfolio and note that, due to 2022, our companies are trading at very reasonable prices.