A portfolio manager at Janus Henderson just told investors they should consider buying stocks that aren't the Magnificent Seven. Revolutionary stuff. Guy probably workshopped that take for months.
Julian McManus says concentration worries are driving diversification. Concentration worries. That's what we're calling it when your entire portfolio is NVDA calls and you finally checked the Greeks. McManus wants you to look overseas because seven American tech stocks might be too few baskets for all your eggs. Groundbreaking analysis from a man whose job title literally includes the word "manager."
The Magnificent Seven have been carrying the market so hard they should file for workers' comp. But now McManus is concerned. Worried, even. So he's recommending international exposure to clients who probably spent 2023 watching their diversified portfolios get absolutely skull-f*cked by anyone who just bought QQQ and went to the beach.
This is the same cycle every time. Momentum works until it doesn't. Then some manager shows up with a diversification pitch right as retail finally capitulates into the winners. You bought Microsoft at all-time highs? Cool. McManus thinks you should check out some European dividend stocks yielding 3%. Sleep tight knowing your opportunity cost has a management fee attached.
The best part? He favors specific stocks and sectors overseas. Which ones? Doesn't matter. By the time you read about them in the headline they're already in the fund he's pitching. You're not getting the alpha. You're getting the marketing material.
Retail spent three years learning that geographic diversification is for people who hate money, and now they're supposed to unlearn it because one guy at Janus Henderson got nervous.
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