Maj: Återigen en stark månad för Global Security Fund

May: Another strong month for the Global Security Fund

It was a good month for the Global Security Fund, which was up 1.7 percent and 1.6 percent respectively for share classes R and S. The trend we have seen during the year of value-oriented companies performing better than growth companies was broken in May. Fantastically good price development was shown by a number of technology-oriented companies that the fund owns. Again, we see these as strong numbers given the weak dollar, which was down 2 percent against the krona during May.

Cyber security allocations were the best performers in May with Norton Life Lock leading the way. The company reported on May 10th and beat earnings expectations by a good margin. As a result of the growth the company has had, the outlook looks better than before and the company has raised its forecast for the coming year. Market reaction to the news was strongly positive with the share price up 24.5 percent for the month with a 1.1 percent contribution to the fund.

After reporting better revenue and adjusted earnings per share in April without any significant market reaction, FireEye gained some momentum at the end of May that led to a 10.5 percent gain for the month with a 0.45 percent contribution to the fund. The company was the first to report the cyber breach at Solar Winds last year and is again working with authorities, this time around the data breach at Colonial Pipeline. The Colonial Pipeline, which transports oil between New York and Texas, was the target of a "ransomware" attack on May 7th.

Crowdstrike reporting on June 14 was up 4.5 percent for the month with a contribution to the fund of 0.3 percent. The company has had a quieter start to the year compared to many other cyber security companies after a very strong period in which the company's share price has more than quintupled. Despite a high valuation, the company is considered the best in endpoint detection with developing products in a hot industry. The increasing trend of cybercrime benefits the company, which is sitting on a large pipeline of orders.

Cyber security company Fortinet released a strong report on April 29th that points to strong growth and good profit margins. The share price of the company, which manufactures products in the network segment, is up over 49 percent for the year and was up over 5 percent in May with a contribution of 0.3 percent.

When Raytheon Technologies reported on April 27th, the company increased its dividend by 7 percent. The company pointed to a recovery in the aviation industry and better synergies after the Raytheon / United merger. In the space segment, Raytheon Intelligence & Space was awarded a contract by the US Space Force for a control system for a constellation of GPS satellites. Here in Sweden, we have now taken part in the first Patriot system delivery as a result of the trade agreement in 2018.

The merger between Teledyne and Flir went through in May. Both companies have a niche in drone manufacturing and there are now a lot of synergies to exploit. The demand and growth in unmanned vehicles and drones is great and the combined company is well positioned for future growth. Despite this, Teledyne retreated 8.1 percent in May, while Flir was down 6.2 percent. This resulted in a negative contribution of -0.17 percent.

Saab was down 4.4 percent during May, which resulted in a negative contribution to the fund of 0.13 percent. The company's share price development has been weak, which is partly due to the fact that the market for the company has been the most affected during the Covid pandemic. The company's management believes in increasing defense budgets and it will be interesting to follow the developments from the NATO meeting held in Belgium on June 14th.

Other companies with negative price trends in May were Microsoft, Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics which were down 2.8 percent, 2.1 percent and 1.5 percent with negative contributions to the fund of 0.12 percent, 0.12 percent and 0, 1 percent.

With a few exceptions, all companies have now reported in the second quarter with largely good prospects. When NATO member countries meet in two weeks, the agenda will be defense 2030. It is seven years since the decision to increase budgets to two percent of GDP and many of the members are still behind. Strengthening the alliance and cooperation between the OECD countries is an important development and how you choose to invest will affect the companies in different ways. The statement we have received from the US so far indicates that the budget will increase in line with the long-term GDP development, but that there is a will to increase further. In connection with a society that opens up, we believe in a production rate that returns to normal.

Read the full report here.