Twenty five quality global income stocks

After a painful first two-thirds of 2022, the 24 months since have set a high bar for stockpickers with a global remit. Since 6 September 2022, the MSCI World Index’s total return is 28 per cent.

The signature explanation for this rally is by now well known. Powered by a fanatical zeal for artificial intelligence (AI), a narrow band of already mammoth US technology shares went on a blistering run, swelling their own value within the US stock market, and the US market’s value within market-weighted global indices. To merely stay relevant, it was assumed global equity allocators would need to buy those stocks. To beat the market, many decided to overweight an already highly concentrated story.

However, it has been possible to better those returns without putting every egg in the basket marked AI. Our Geico screen, which we launched two years ago, is currently ahead of both the MSCI World and the fund on which the screen’s stockpicking methodology is loosely based, Guinness Global Investors’ Global Equity Income (IE00BVYPNY24). So far, it has managed the feat with continuous exposure to just one US tech giant (Microsoft (US:MSFT)) in its 25-stock portfolio.