NEW YORK- Fears of a potential economic slowdown are clouding the outlook for value stocks, which have outperformed broader indexes this year in the face of surging inflation and rising interest rates.
Value stocks – commonly defined as those trading at a discount on metrics such as book value or price-to-earnings – have typically underperformed their growth counterparts over the past decade, when the S&P 500’s .SPX gains were driven by tech-focused giants such as Amazon.com Inc and Apple Inc.
That dynamic shifted this year, as the Federal Reserve kicked off its first interest rate-hike cycle since 2018, disproportionately hurting growth stocks, which are more sensitive to higher interest rates. The Russell 1000 value index .RLV is down around 13 percent year-to-date, while the Russell 1000 growth index .RLG has fallen about 26 percent.
This month, however, fears that the Fed’s monetary policy tightening could bring on a US recession have shifted the momentum away from value stocks, which tend to be more sensitive to the economy. The Russell value index is up 0.7 percent in July, compared with a 3.4 percent gain for its growth-stock counterpart.
“If you think we are in a recession or are going into a recession, that does not necessarily … work to the advantage of value stocks,” said Chuck Carlson, chief executive at Horizon Investment Services.
The nascent shift to growth stocks is one example of how investors are adjusting portfolios in the face of a potential US economic downturn. BofA Global Research on Thursday cut its year-end target price for the S&P 500 to 3,600 from 4,500 previously and became the latest Wall Street bank to forecast a coming recession.
The index closed at 3,863.16 on Friday and is down 18.95 percent this year.
Corporate earnings arriving in force next week will give investors a better idea of how soaring inflation has affected companies’ bottom lines, with results from Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson and Tesla among those on deck.
For much of the year, value stocks benefited from broader market trends. Energy shares, which comprise around 7 percent of the Russell 1000 value index, soared over the first half of 2022, jumping along with oil prices as supply constraints for crude were exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
