Fund manager Sean Page said investors should look for opportunities in Europe’s unpopular region, which he said has some “very attractively priced” companies.
Ranmore Fund Management’s Peche tells CNBC’s Silvia Amaro that Europe has fallen out of favor and investors are swayed by Donald Trump ) was distracted from winning the US election.
“While Europe is struggling, you’re also feeling Trump’s excitement,” Page said. “So everyone is scrambling to invest in the U.S. … but moving to the latest and shiniest thing is generally not a good way to make money. ”
Peche dismissed investor concerns about France, which and Germany have been in the throes of political turmoil in recent weeks. Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron appointed François Bayrou as the new prime minister after the overthrow of Michel Barnier’s government.
Macron called snap elections in June but the results fell short of a clear majority, sparking months of political chaos and deadlock.
But Peche remained unmoved. “Maybe the euro will collapse, maybe not. And we have companies that are priced very attractively,” he added.
These stocks include French banks BNP Paribas He noted that the company’s book value, or net assets, continues to grow, while Dutch investment bank ABN Amro’s dividend yield is 10.2%. “It’s very attractive,” Peche said.
Looking ahead to the UK, the fund manager said “attractive” stocks such as united british foodThe company that owns retail giant Primark has also been ignored by investors.
“Primark is doing really well. It’s a good diversified business with a good management team. I’m not going to wake up tomorrow and find out the management team has done something stupid,” he said.
“They’re attractively priced. We’re getting a good dividend. They’re buying back shares, but it’s fallen out of favor because it’s mid-cap and it’s UK-listed.”
Follow toy manufacturers
Page is optimistic about mid-sized companies on the other side of the Atlantic, such as the American toy giant Mattel.
With household names like Barbie and Hot Wheels, the toymaker has diversified beyond its core products.
Mattel’s management team “turned around the business so that the debt is now very manageable, and they launched $1 billion buyback,” Peche said.
Peche said Netflix’s new Barbie animated series, launching in November, and a second documentary series chronicling Mattel’s rise in September offer “growth potential” for the toymaker, now valued at about $6.2 billion. ”.
Following the huge success of the 2023 “Barbie” movie, which became the highest-grossing movie of the year and grossed over $1.4 billion worldwide, Mattel saw a dramatic increase in purchases of Barbie toys. The company also makes toys for hit movies like “Moana” and “Wicked,” although the latter hit a snag when it was forced to stop production of character dolls after a packaging error linked to a porn site.
In October, Mattel and rival Hasbro both cut their year-end guidance due to falling toy sales in the third quarter. Mattel said it expected sales in the final three months of the year to be “slightly down” from its previously updated guidance.
—CNBC’s Christian Burt contributed to this report.
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