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Seasoned Managers Put This World Stock Fund on Our Radar

Seasoned Managers Put This World Stock Fund on Our Radar

Christopher Franz: PGIM Jennison Global Opportunities features a pair of seasoned managers and is on our radar. Renowned growth-equity shop Jennison Associates hired Mark Baribeau and Tom Davis in 2011 to run its first world-stock strategy. The managers, previously of Loomis Sayles, are aided by 15 research analysts and scour the globe for market-leading businesses with high growth rates, healthy balance sheets, and strong competitive advantages.

To become one of the fund's 40 stock holdings, a company should benefit from valuable intellectual property, economies of scale, or network effects. Top holdings include Chinese giants Tencent and Alibaba, as well as U.S. stalwarts Amazon and Netflix. Despite the well-known names, this portfolio is no benchmark-hugger. Over the past five years, tech and discretionary stocks have been heavily favored; those two sectors comprised more than two thirds of the portfolio as of May 2018, much more than the MSCI All Country World Index's roughly 30% stake. From its March 2012 inception through June 2018, the fund's 15% annualized gain trounced the index by 6 percentage points.

Combined with below average fees relative to world stock peers, we think the fund is a compelling option.

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About the Author

Christopher Franz

Associate Director
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Christopher Franz is an associate director of equity strategies for Morningstar Research Services LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc.

Prior to rejoining Morningstar Research Services LLC in 2021, he spent two years with Morningstar Australasia in Sydney, where he served as a senior analyst and environmental, social, and governance strategist, conducting qualitative research on Australian and New Zealand fund managers and leading the team's ESG-related research. Franz initially joined Morningstar in Chicago in 2016, where he focused on U.S. small- and mid-cap strategies. Before joining Morningstar, Franz spent four years as a research analyst for Westwood Holdings Group, where he focused on external manager research and due diligence.

Franz holds a bachelor's degree in financial analysis from Creighton University. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation.

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