An interesting quirk of a quality screen that we put together for our American shares portfolio is that it threw in several asset management companies that have the cash flow and profits to also put them in the higher reaches of our value screen.
As we detailed last month, ('How to find the real value in US shares', IC 21.01.21), there are four asset managers in our US value screen - the criteria for which can be found at the foot of this article. We will focus on two of those businesses: Artisan Partners Asset Management (US:APAM) and Cohen & Steers (US:CNS).
But do these companies truly combine quality and value? It will come as no surprise to read that asset managers tend to do well when markets rise. True enough, retail investors felt confident enough over the past 18 months to invest savings accumulated during the lockdowns in the stock market via trading apps and asset managers – as well as acquiring plenty of new stuff that might not necessarily be needed.