Polen Capital Q4 Focus Growth Commentary

Polen Capital, an independently-owned global investment manager, recently published its fourth-quarter focus growth commentary. During the fourth quarter of 2017, the Polen Focus Growth Composite Portfolio returned 5.18% gross of fees, while the Russell 1000 Growth and S&P 500 indices were up 7.86% and 6.64%, respectively. For the full year 2017, the portfolio returned 27.73% gross of fees, compared with 30.22% for the Russell 1000 Growth and 21.83% for the S&P 500.

According to Polen Capital, quality was back in favor in 2017 after a difficult 2016 as indicated by relative factor performances. Eighteen of the 21 companies owned by the firm in 2017 posted positive returns, while 13 of the 21 had total returns above 20%.

Companies classified in the information technology sector were the largest contributors to the returns of Polen Capital’s portfolio and the indices in the fourth quarter and full-year 2017.

“Interestingly, four of our top five contributors to our portfolio’s return this year were in the IT sector, but two of them are likely to be moved to a newly created Communications Services sector. Another top contributor, Visa, is not a technology company in our view,” Polen Capital said.

Click here to download a copy of Polen Capital’s Q4 focus growth commentary.