A core holding which invests in a diversified selection of around 30 - 50 Australian companies.
Uses a bottom-up stock-selection approach that focuses on undiscovered earnings potential, value and growth.
Conducts regular company, factory and competitor visits to assess business strength, earnings quality and long-term growth outlook.
The same highly experienced portfolio manager since 2003, backed by a highly experienced team.
A diversified portfolio with a consistent, rigorous investment approach.
Strong fund ratings from professional research houses.
Portfolio Manager of the Fidelity Australian Equities Fund, Paul Taylor describes his love of markets, investments and his overarching goal to provide strong long-term returns to clients to help meet their investment goals.
Yes, the Fund performed very well in the quarter. We're extremely happy. The fund itself delivered 8.85%, a return for the quarter, which is obviously a great absolute return but also beat the index by over 1.1%. So 1.06, it outperformed the index.
A lot of the main stocks in the fund performed very well through the quarter as well. The interesting thing with the September quarter is that we had the August reporting season in the middle of that quarter. Some of our bigger positions in the fund like Wisetech had a 30% earnings upgrade. Suncorp, which is the largest position in the fund, is also performing well. And the simplification program of Suncorp, as well as the earnings, continue to be heading in the right direction. Coles also had a great result and were able to lower costs, in the August reporting season as well. And some of our positions in companies like Domino's and Seek also performed very well. And we're seeing a turnaround in those stocks.
What we're also really excited about is that the fund, looks like it's turned a bit of a corner from February. So from 1st February to now, so most of 2024, we're now outperforming the index. And I think the market is moving back towards very individual stock specifics, individual stock fundamentals.
In terms of detractors, probably the one notable one at the moment is Ramsay Healthcare. Now Ramsay is a private hospital operator. The result in August is just, they're turning the business around but it's very slow. So I'd say the recovery is much slower than expected. The stock seems to be stabilising and moving forward in the quarter. But I still think it's quite a long, slow recovery for private hospitals in Australia.
Look, I think the outlook for the markets remains reasonable. So we've had very strong performance in the fund and in the market over the last year. So we're up almost about 20% in the last 12 months. So that's been a quite a strong performance. And it's always hard to keep that strength going for a long period of time. But I still think we are in reasonable shape.
The market looks a little bit expensive but not drastically expensive. I think we're improving. We've got, interest rates seem to be peaking out. So we probably stay here for another 12 months or so but maybe the next move is down rather than up. Once again that brings stability to the market.
What we are very focused on with the market and the fund in particular and how we're positioned is really productivity. So we still think cost growth is a bit of an issue in the market. Companies are struggling to get the costs right. We're still seeing wage inflation.
We're still seeing some inflation in non wage issues as well. Those companies that have self-help programs, and that's what I'm very focused on in the fund, those companies with self-help programs, the Suncorps, the Coles, the Downers, we think they're much better positioned. Companies that can control their own destiny are going to be much better positioned. Companies that have better productivity growth are going to do better. Companies that help other companies with productivity growth are very well positioned as well.
So I think productivity is a bit of a thematic right across the portfolio and those companies that can control their costs, that can improve their productivity, I think they're going to be very well positioned. And we still look to a favourable market outlook for those companies.
Q3 delivered a positive return for the Fidelity Australian Equities Fund.
Watch as Portfolio Manager Paul Taylor provides an update on the main contributors and detractors to performance and why he believes companies with self-help programs are the ones to watch moving ahead.
See for yourself how the fund has performed since inception. The chart below represents the value now of $10,000 invested in the Fidelity Australian Equities Fund in June 2003 compared with $10,000 invested in the S&P/ ASX 200 Accumulation Index.
Chart as at: 31 October 2024
Total net returns represent past performance only. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Returns of the Fund can be volatile and in some periods may be negative. The return of capital is not guaranteed. Benchmark: S&P ASX 200 Accumulation Index.
Net returns as at 31 October 2024
| Timeframe | 1 yr % |
3 yr % pa |
5 yr % pa |
7 yr % pa |
10 yr % pa |
15 yr % pa |
20 yr % pa |
Since inception (30/06/03) % pa |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fund | 21.78 | 4.82 | 7.78 | 8.57 | 8.13 | 8.83 | 10.08 | 11.00 |
| Benchmark | 24.89 | 8.01 | 8.17 | 8.92 | 8.32 | 8.28 | 8.42 | 9.29 |
| Active return | -3.11 | -3.19 | -0.39 | -0.35 | -0.19 | 0.55 | 1.66 | 1.71 |
Total net returns represent past performance only. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Returns of the Fund can be volatile and in some periods may be negative. The return of capital is not guaranteed. Benchmark: S&P ASX 200 Accumulation Index.
Net as at 31 October 2024
| 1 yr % |
3 yr % pa |
5 yr % pa |
7 yr % pa |
10 yr % pa |
15 yr % pa |
20 yr % pa |
Since inception (30/06/03) % pa |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total return | 21.78 | 4.82 | 7.78 | 8.57 | 8.13 | 8.83 | 10.08 | 11.00 |
| Growth | 12.66 | -3.13 | 0.54 | 2.40 | 2.85 | 4.13 | 5.25 | 6.15 |
| Income | 9.12 | 7.95 | 7.23 | 6.17 | 5.28 | 4.70 | 4.83 | 4.85 |
Growth return is the unit price movement on exit to exit basis. Income is expressed as Total Return less growth component.
Total net returns represent past performance only. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Returns of the Fund can be volatile and in some periods may be negative. The return of capital is not guaranteed. Benchmark: S&P ASX 200 Accumulation Index.
| Distribution | Distribution (CPU) | Reinvestment price |
|---|---|---|
| 30-Sep-24 | 3.5438 | $37.6777 |
CPU = cents per unit. The above cash CPU excludes imputation credits and foreign income tax offsets which are non-cash components and are reported in the end of year tax statement. If the Distribution CPU column is 0.0000 it means that nothing was distributed.
As at 31 October 2024
As at 31 October 2024
| % total net assets | |
|---|---|
| COMMONWEALTH BANK AUSTRALIA | 12.1% |
| BHP GROUP LTD | 9.8% |
| SUNCORP GROUP LTD | 6.1% |
| CSL LTD | 6.0% |
| MACQUARIE GROUP LTD | 6.0% |
| COLES GROUP LTD | 5.6% |
| GOODMAN GROUP | 5.3% |
| SEEK LTD | 4.7% |
| RIO TINTO LTD | 4.4% |
| WESTPAC BANKING CORP | 4.2% |
As at 31 October 2024
| Fund % | Benchmark % | Relative % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| SUNCORP GROUP LTD | 6.1 | 0.9 | 5.1 |
| COLES GROUP LTD | 5.6 | 1.0 | 4.6 |
| SEEK LTD | 4.7 | 0.4 | 4.3 |
| EVOLUTION MINING LTD | 4.1 | 0.4 | 3.6 |
| GOODMAN GROUP | 5.3 | 2.6 | 2.7 |
As at 31 October 2024
| Fund % | Benchmark % | Relative % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LTD | 0.0 | 4.9 | -4.9 |
| WESFARMERS LTD | 0.0 | 3.1 | -3.1 |
| TELSTRA GROUP LTD | 0.0 | 1.8 | -1.8 |
| TRANSURBAN GROUP | 0.0 | 1.6 | -1.6 |
| ARISTOCRAT LEISURE LTD | 0.0 | 1.6 | -1.6 |
| Organisation | Rating / Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Lonsec |
Recommended4
The Lonsec report is only available to financial advisers, please contact us for a copy |
| Morningstar | Gold5 |
| Zenith | Recommended6 |
This Fund is subject to the risk of stock market fluctuations. Investors accessing the Fund through a master trust or wrap account will also bear any fees charged by the operator of such master trust or wrap account. Any apparent discrepancies in the numbers are due to rounding.
1Management costs and buy/sell spread are current as at the date of publication of this website. These fees may be subject to change in the future.
2Total returns (net) have been calculated using exit prices and take into account the applicable buy/sell spread and are net of Fidelity’s management costs, transactional and operational costs and assumes reinvestment of distributions. No allowance has been made for tax. Returns of more than one year are annualised. The return of capital is not guaranteed.
