1Q2021 – Focus Growth Commentary
Re-opening trades, vaccines, and interest rates are all very interesting. But, in our experience, long-term investment returns are driven by sustainable earnings growth.
Polen Focus Growth
Active Share
63%
Downside Capture
58.47%
YTD Return
1.67%
As of 3/31/2021
Inception Date
1/1/1989
Investment Objective
Our Focus Growth strategy seeks to achieve long-term growth by building a concentrated portfolio of outstanding businesses with competitive advantages and the potential for sustained superior growth.
Why Invest in Polen Focus Growth?
- U.S. growth strategy with a strong emphasis on sustainable earnings growth
- Focus on companies with high returns on capital and double-digit total returns
- Concentrated portfolio of approximately 20 high-quality growth companies
- Low portfolio turnover with long-term holding periods
A High Conviction & Quality Approach
We believe that consistent earnings growth is the primary driver of intrinsic value and long-term stock appreciation. We seek to invest in companies with a durable earnings profile driven by a sustainable competitive advantage, superior financial strength, sound ESG practices, proven management teams and powerful products/services. By thinking and investing like a business owner and taking a long-term investment approach, we believe we can preserve capital and provide stability across market cycles.
Product Profile
| Number of holdings | 15-25 |
|---|---|
| Style | Growth |
| Benchmark | Russell 1000 Growth |
Experience in High Quality Growth Investing
Related Perspectives
4Q2020 – Focus Growth Commentary
We let our business-focused research guide our investment decisions, armed with our belief that business performance drives share prices over the long-term.
Seeks Growth & Capital Preservation (%)
Data shown (%) as of recent calendar quarter end. The performance data quoted represents past performance and does not guarantee future results. Current performance may be lower or higher. Periods over one-year are annualized.
Portfolio Statistics*
*Since inception
Attractive Risk-Adjusted Returns (%)*
*Since inception
Long-Term Performance Strength
The chart pictured above depicts how an investment of $10,000 would have grown from inception to current calendar quarter end based on the actual performance of the strategy over the same period.
Top Ten Holdings (% of Portfolio)
Active Share
GICS Sector Exposure (% of Portfolio)
Portfolio Characteristics
Annual turnover since inception
Starbucks ND/FCF ex-lease ratio figure is temporarily skewed due to the impact of COVID-19. We believe this data point is not meaningful and have excluded Starbucks from the calculation.
Polen Capital Management, LLC is an independent registered investment advisor.
Polen Capital claims compliance with the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS). This presentation is supplemental information to the fully compliant composite performance disclosure available here on the Materials tab.
The S&P 500 Index is a widely recognized, unmanaged index of 500 common stocks which are generally representative of the U.S. stock market as a whole. The Russell 1000® Growth Index is an unmanaged index that measures the performance of the large-cap growth segment of the U.S. equity universe. It includes those Russell 1000® Growth Index companies with higher price-to book ratios and higher forecasted growth values. It is impossible to invest directly in an index. The performance of an index does not reflect any transaction costs, management fees, or taxes.
ESG refers to Environmental, Social, and Governance criteria.
Holdings are subject to change. The top holdings, as well as other data, are as of the period indicated and should not be considered a recommendation to purchase, hold, or sell any particular security. There is no assurance that any of the securities noted will remain in a portfolio at the time you receive this fact sheet. Actual holding and percentage allocation in individual client portfolios may vary and are subject to change. It should not be assumed that any of the holdings discussed were or will prove to be profitable or that the investment recommendations or decisions we make in the future will be profitable. A list of all securities held in this portfolio in the prior year is available upon request.
Active Share: Active share is a measure of the percentage of stock holdings in a manager’s portfolio that differ from the benchmark index. Average Weighted Market Cap: a weighted average of the price of each security multiplied by the number of shares outstanding all the securities in the portfolio. Estimated 3-5 Year EPS Growth: a Polen Capital estimate of projected long-term earnings growth rates. Long-Term Debt/Capital: denotes the weighted average of each security’s long-term debt divided by the total capital of the security. P/E Forward: denotes the weighted harmonic average of all the P/E’s of the securities in the fund’s portfolio. Return on Invested Capital: assesses a company’s efficiency at allocating the capital and is measured by operating profit after taxes divided by investment capital.