February 22, 2021 BARRON’S 31
FUND PROFILE
Talking With Simon Webber and James Gautrey
Co-Managers, Hartford Schroders International Stock
Illustration byRYAN MELGAR
Outwitting
Wall Street
Analysts
O
n Wall Street, most analysts hate surprises,
favoring companies with steady predictable
earnings growth. Not James Gautrey and
Simon Webber.
The co-managers of theHartford
Schroders International Stockfund
(ticker: SCIEX) seek “unanticipated
growth,” Gautrey says. “We call it a growth gap. For us,
one of the best sources of consistent alpha [or outperfor-
mance] is in earnings surprises, where we can take a
differentiated view to the market.”
Their strategy works. The $1.9 billion fund’s 16.1%
five-year annualized return beats 98% of its peers in
Morningstar’s Foreign Large Blend category. Its 7.6%
10-year number beats 95%. The fund has done this with
comparable volatility to its peers and benchmark, MSCI
ACWI Ex USA. And it has a 0.85% expense ratio, below
average for the foreign stock category, in its institutional
share class, which can be purchased for $2,000.
Of course, any stock would benefit from a positive
earnings surprise. The challenge is figuring out which
companies will have such surprises—before they occur.
To do that, you must have the analytical capabilities to
figure out what the Street’s analysts and the market are
missing. The fund employs 11 global sector specialists
who refine the stock recommendations of Schroders’
more than 100 global equity analysts. Gautrey, 41, and
Webber, 47, then make the final investment calls. Web-
ber is lead manager of Schroders’ Global and Interna-
tional Equities team, and oversees some $30 billion, but
Gautrey is lead manager of this particular fund.
The fund distinguishes itself from other Schroders
funds by being concentrated; it currently holds about 50
stocks. “It’s the most concentrated form of our interna-
tional equity strategy,” Webber says, “the best ideas we
have as a team.”
BY LEWIS BRAHAM
Simon Webber, left, and
James Gautrey