Ollie Smith: Morningstar's Investment Conference for EU 2022 is off to a flying start with a keynote address from our CEO, Kunal Kapoor. He joins me now.
Kunal, I just wanted to reflect specifically on something that you said. You said the world is always going through a period of change. But I think we can all agree the amount of change we're going through at the moment is phenomenal. So, against that backdrop and specifically, in terms of what you said about trade-offs, as a company and in the markets more broadly, are there any easy wins left?
Kunal Kapoor: Well, there's always easy wins for investors. And not to beat a dead horse, but the best thing an investor can often do in these times is not spend too much time obsessing over their portfolio. Sometimes taking a long view, especially in times like this, is the easiest win that you can bag.
Smith: So, they don't need to sit down at a formal table and chat for too long?
Kapoor: Definitely not. Less stuffy.
Smith: You showed us a graph of significant undervaluation in European markets.
Kapoor: Yeah.
Smith: I mean, as value investors, do you feel in any way vindicated this year by Morningstar's approach, given what's happened at the start with growth (stocks)?
Kapoor: Well, I would separate out our current view and what it means for value investing. The reality is, when the markets have had as much turbulence as they've had recently, it's inevitable that if you're a long-term investor, some things are going to shake out that are going to be interesting. I think what's different is the significance of the level of undervaluation that our analysts are seeing is very broad. About 23% when you look at our entire EU coverage, and it's similar when you look at coverage that we have in the U.S. and in Asia. So, I think if you're an equity investor, it's a hard thing to look at your portfolio day-to-day. But the right thing to do is make sure you're rebalancing into equities and not losing an opportunity for future value creation based on how you're feeling based on the past few months.
I will say just in terms of value investing as a separate topic, obviously, value investing has had a bit of a rebound, but value investing means many things to many people. I think if you look at sort of the classical definition of value investing, which had a lot to do with buying beaten up stocks of companies that maybe didn't have the greatest businesses, I don't know that that at least is coming back into vogue anytime soon. But if you think about value investing in the way we think about it, which is paying a fair price for a good business and applying that lens, there's plenty of growth companies that from a valuation perspective really look good to our analysts today.
Smith: Sure. And just coming on to the U.S. a second. I mean, you alluded briefly to the political backlash against ESG and much of that has taken place in the U.S. How does that make you feel being the CEO of a U.S. headquartered company?
Kapoor: Well, I think, obviously, there's different ways one can approach it. For me, our mission is about empowering investor success. And what I love about ESG is that it's all about providing investors choice. It's not about saying you have to do one thing one way or the other. ESG data can be used for people to take the opposite sides of the same set of data, and that's okay. That's what investing is about. What makes a market is differing views, and I don't think ESG is any different other than the fact that probably ESG allows for an ever more expanding set of preferences that people can use to build a portfolio. And I think it's a good thing because so many investors don't feel a connection to their money. And I think if you are suddenly a place where you can express your preferences, your engagement with your money is probably going to be higher than ever, which I think is a good thing.
Smith: Kunal, thank you very much. For more on Morningstar Investment Conference EU 2022, check out any of our international editorial sites. Until next time, my thanks to Kunal, I've been Ollie Smith for Morningstar.
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