IS VALUE INVESTING DEAD ?

This question has come up from time to time over the past decade . On the surface , it isn ’ t hard to see why . While investors have been rewarded for buying undervalued stocks in the past , ‘ value ’ has struggled relative to ‘ growth ’ ever since the global financial crisis . Fourteen years is a long time to be underperforming – and many have wondered whether this trend would ever end . This has led to some market commentators declaring that value investing was , in fact , dead . But times change . We ’ ve asked Joel Copp-Barton , John Pellegry and Neville Pike – three of our Product Directors based at Invesco ’ s Henley Investment Centre – to chime in on the debate . Were the obituaries that were written for value investing mistaken ? “ To us , it has always felt premature to come to this conclusion ,” says Joel Copp-Barton , Product Director for European Equities . He acknowledges the headwinds investors have faced over the years , such as sluggish economic growth , disinflation and ever-falling bond yields . In response , investors prioritised those companies that could still generate earnings growth – regardless of what was happening in the economy . Lower discount rates also helped drive up the valuations of such stocks , which are longer duration in nature .