Alex Whyte
Portfolio Manager
Published:
In brief
- The global consumer sector is being reshaped by fast-moving market share shifts and health-driven behavioural changes, with some consumer stocks enjoying strong momentum and others more challenged.
- Opportunities can be found on both the long and short side, as shown by the “heat” signals we’ve tracked over the 12 months since the launch of JPMorgan Funds – Consumer Long-Short Fund.
- The big winners include rising Asian beauty and sports brands, stocks riding the influencer and wellness wave, and the companies at the centre of the experience economy that are benefiting from K-shaped US economy.
- The losers include old-world luxury brands that are suffering from changing spending habits, and companies that have found themselves on the wrong side of the GLP-1 weight loss drug rollout.
- In this environment, the consumer sector looks set to continue to be divided between those brands that are benefiting from repeatable and resilient demand, and those whose success is built on short-term hype.