Business

Smart money move: Why Groww MF’s equity chief is betting on multicap strategies

Published

3 weeks ago

7 June 2026

Smart money move: Why Groww MF's equity chief is betting on multicap strategies

While warning about the risk of a looming oil shock, Groww Mutual Fund’s equity chief, CA Anupam Tiwari, says multicap strategy together with bottom-up investing can work well in this market.

Although there might be valuation concerns in some specific areas, the overall investment environment for active stock picking in mid and small caps has improved to some extent, he says in an interview with ET Markets.

Edited excerpts from a chat:

Markets have recovered from recent corrections despite geopolitical tensions. What is the market pricing that investors may be underestimating?
Markets are showing signs of recovery from the fall due to the prospects of de-escalation and continued talks regarding the resolution of the Middle East crisis. Nevertheless, one possible threat that investors might be overlooking is the possibility of prolonged geopolitical instability that can cause oil prices to remain elevated for an extended period.

Sustained higher energy prices could have broader implications for inflation, currency stability, corporate profitability, and economic growth. While markets appear to be pricing in a relatively benign outcome, any disruption that results in persistently elevated crude prices could have a more meaningful impact on the macroeconomic environment than is currently reflected in markets.

With valuations still elevated in parts of the market, how should investors think about allocating money across large-, mid- and small-cap stocks today?
Broad concerns regarding valuation levels in the market have cooled off in recent months. At the current juncture, close to one-third of the mid-cap space is priced below its five-year average valuation levels, whereas nearly half of the small-cap space is trading below its own five-year average valuation levels.

Under these circumstances, although there might be valuation concerns in some specific areas, the overall investment environment for active stock picking in mid and small caps has improved to some extent. Here, a multicap strategy together with bottom-up investing can work well in uncovering better businesses.
The multicap category has seen rising investor interest. What advantages does a multicap strategy offer in the current market environment compared to pure large-cap or mid-cap approaches?
While the current phase is marked by heightened volatility, volatility is often uneven across segments. In such an environment, a multicap strategy may provide disciplined exposure across market caps within a single portfolio.This allows investors the relative stability and earnings visibility of larger companies, while also participating in the long-term growth potential of mid- and small-cap businesses. By maintaining exposure across segments, a multicap approach can help reduce over-reliance on any single category and provide a more balanced way to navigate changing market conditions.

One of the key benefits of a multicap strategy is that it removes the burden of market-cap allocation from investors. Determining when to allocate across segments can be challenging, particularly as market leadership often shifts across cycles. A multicap strategy addresses this by embedding this decision within a disciplined investment framework, freeing investors from having to make often difficult and timing-sensitive allocation calls.

From a long-term perspective, multicap funds can serve as a core equity allocation for investors, enabling investors to participate in India’s growth story through a combination of established market leaders and emerging businesses.

Many retail investors continue to favour mid- and small-caps despite recent volatility. Is the risk-reward equation still attractive in these segments?
While mid- and small-cap stocks are generally more exposed during periods of market volatility, the opportunity set within these segments has improved as valuations have moderated across several pockets of the market while business fundamentals have remained intact and even improved in several pockets.

Rather than looking at mid and small caps as segments, investors should focus on a disciplined investment framework. Selective opportunities continue to exist despite volatility, making active stock selection increasingly important in determining outcomes.

Which sectors currently offer the strongest earnings visibility, and where are you finding opportunities despite market volatility?
We continue to focus on sectors where earnings visibility remains relatively strong despite broader market volatility. Financials remain a key area of interest, supported by reasonable valuations, stable asset quality, improving credit growth, and a favorable funding environment, particularly within select NBFCs and mid-sized financial institutions.

Within industrials, we remain constructive on themes such as power transmission & distribution, renewable energy, and defence, where order books remain healthy and policy support continues to drive long-term demand. In the auto space, we continue to see opportunities linked to premium consumption trends, EV adoption, and select auto-component manufacturers benefiting from structural drivers such as exports, and regulatory and policy changes.

We are also positive on specialty chemicals, particularly businesses with strong contract manufacturing franchises, niche product portfolios, and long-term customer relationships.

If you had to allocate fresh money today, which market-cap segment would receive the highest allocation and why?
Our equity investment philosophy, QGaRP (Quality and Growth at a Reasonable Price), is market-cap agnostic and driven primarily by stock selection rather than segment-level calls. We seek to invest in businesses that combine high quality management, growth potential, and valuation comfort.

That said, our multicap strategy has historically maintained a growth-oriented tilt towards mid- and small-cap companies. With valuations having moderated across several pockets of the mid- and small-cap universe, we believe the environment has become more conducive in these segments for active stock selection.

As a result, while we continue to maintain a diversified allocation across market caps, we remain constructive on selectively identifying opportunities within the mid- and small-cap space where fundamentals, growth prospects, and valuations are aligned with our philosophy.

Business

Funding the ‘mother of all cycles’: Chris Wood cuts Indian stocks to double down on South Korean chip giants

Published

2 minutes ago

28 June 2026

NewsAdmin

Funding the 'mother of all cycles': Chris Wood cuts Indian stocks to double down on South Korean chip giants

Jefferies’ Christopher Wood has reallocated his flagship Greed & Fear portfolios to “increase exposure to tech hardware,” cutting selected Indian positions to fund bigger bets on South Korean memory champions SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics as the AI capex boom intensifies. He is pivoting towards what he calls the “picks and shovels” winners of the “mother of all cycles,” arguing that memory has become the core engine of the AI era and still looks cheap on earnings metrics.

Wood describes the ongoing AI build-out as “the most dramatic capex cycle Greed & Fear has ever seen,” with hyperscalers and foundries ramping up spending at an unprecedented pace. Against that backdrop, he is explicitly “going to have to increase exposure to tech hardware in the various Greed & Fear portfolios,” adding SK Hynix and Kioxia to his global long-only book and increasing the weighting in Samsung Electronics.

In the updated global long-only portfolio, SK Hynix and Kioxia are included “with an initial 4% weighting each,” while the existing Samsung Electronics position is raised by one percentage point. “All this means that Greed & Fear is going to have to increase exposure to tech hardware,” Wood writes in his newsletter, emphasising that DRAM and NAND suppliers are at the heart of the AI trade three and a half years into the capex arms race.

Also Read | Chris Wood’s big warning: The specific risk that will finally trigger the end of AI trade

‘Mother of All Cycles’ and Jevons Paradox

The strategic shift is anchored in Wood’s conviction that falling token costs will drive explosive growth in compute demand, not a bust in AI usage. Citing Jevons Paradox, he argues that “falling token prices should lead to rising DRAM prices,” as cheaper AI services spur more usage and, in turn, greater consumption of memory and bandwidth.
“So the increased demand triggered by cheaper prices should be good for the picks and shovels plays, which have already been by far the main beneficiaries of AI in stock market terms three and a half years into the AI capex arms race,” he notes, adding that “for now at least, there remains zero sign of AI capex slowing.” With AI-linked data centre investment driving boom-like conditions in Taiwan and record export orders, Wood views the entire supply chain, especially DRAM, as central to what he calls “the mother of all cycles.”
Funding the Shift: India and Other Cuts
To fund this hardware tilt, Wood is trimming exposure in India and other markets rather than adding overall risk. In the Asia ex-Japan long-only portfolio, “an initial 4% will be re-initiated in Hynix by removing PolicyBazaar,” while a one-percentage-point cut to Alibaba helps finance an increased stake in Samsung Electronics.

The India long-only portfolio also takes a hit. “Finally, in the India long-only portfolio, the investment in Ambuja Cements will be removed, while the investments in GMR Airports, JSW Energy and Adani Energy Solutions will be reduced by two percentage points, one percentage point and one percentage point respectively,” the note states.

These reallocations free up capital to deploy into the South Korean and Japanese memory complex, underscoring Wood’s preference to fund the AI hardware trade by rotating within equities rather than increasing overall exposure.

Wood’s conviction rests heavily on structural changes in the DRAM industry and the evolving role of memory in AI workloads. He highlights Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra’s assertion that “memory has evolved from a peripheral component into the core engine driving productivity in the AI era,” and points to long-term strategic customer agreements (SCAs) as evidence of newfound pricing power.

Micron has signed 16 SCAs covering roughly 20% of DRAM volumes and a third of NAND volumes, typically with five-year terms, signalling greater visibility and discipline across the industry. On valuations, Wood argues that “the story that the DRAM industry has changed structurally, and that the companies should now be valued on a price-to-earnings basis rather than on a price-to-book basis, looks to Greed & Fear an increasingly powerful argument.” Hynix, Samsung Electronics and Micron, he notes, are trading at 7.8x, 6.8x and 9.2x consensus 12-month forward earnings respectively.

Published

35 minutes ago

28 June 2026

NewsAdmin

Petrobras: We're Adding Hundreds Of Shares On The Dips (NYSE:PBR)

The Value Portfolio specializes in building retirement portfolios and utilizes a fact-based research strategy to identify investments. This includes extensive readings of 10Ks, analyst commentary, market reports, and investor presentations. He invests real money in the stocks he recommends.
He is the leader of the investing group The Retirement Forum with features including: model portfolios, macro overviews, in-depth company analysis and retirement planning information. Learn more.

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Business

Franklin Mutual Quest Fund Q1 2026 Commentary (MQIFX)

Published

1 hour ago

28 June 2026

NewsAdmin

Franklin Mutual Quest Fund Q1 2026 Commentary (MQIFX)

1. The U.S. launched a fresh attack on Iran—one day after Tehran struck a commercial ship in the Strait of Hormuz.

The move is the latest sign that a fragile ceasefire is breaking apart. The U.S. strike was in response to a drone attack on a Singapore-flagged cargo ship, U.S. Central Command said. President Trump had repeatedly threatened to resume the war if Iran violated the terms of a 60-day ceasefire signed last week; the agreement allowed for the free flow of trade through the vital waterway.