Neptune’s Wintle to dump banks and technology stocks

Neptune’s US fund manager Felix Wintle is set to dump technology stocks and sell banks as he attempts to steer his £673m US Opportunities fund out of the bottom quartile.

Wintle said being positioned in both sectors over the past year has cost his fund, leaving it 10% behind the S&P 500. He has also lagged the IMA North America sector average, losing 3.2% compared to the sector average return of 4.8%.

Wintle plans to ditch stocks including Nvidia and F5 Networks, which hampered the portfolio’s returns, as part of a rotation into more defensive sectors.

“Although the underperformance over the last year has been stock specific, the fund did suffer from sentiment turning in technology stocks at the beginning of the year following a strong Q4,” said Wintle.

“I have learnt from my mistakes over the last year so I am going to move away from technology stocks, particularly the ones with a lot of cyclical exposure. Instead I am looking to move into companies that have a clear strategic and structural advantage in their market.”

As part of the overhaul, Wintle is also planning to move out of his two banking stocks, Citigroup and JPM, as he is subdued on the prospects for loan growth.

“I am looking to sell both of my bank holdings, which make up 3% of the fund. There is a long way to go before interest rates rise in the US, and there is little loan growth – so banks are not an attractive place to be.”