Impax Asset Management Is Betting Heavily on Water Stocks

Ian Simm‘s Impax Asset Management has a unique investment philosophy in that it seeks out mispriced companies that are set to benefit from the long-term trends of rising global populations and wealth, changing demographics, urbanization, increasing consumption, and the resultant increases in resource demand. Hence, it is no surprise that the industrials sector (and in particular, water stocks) has formed the largest part of the fund’s portfolio for quite awhile. At the end of March, the sector accounted for 52% of the value of the fund’s $1.87 billion portfolio, while a year earlier that figure stood at 60%. The fund’s investment strategy arouses curiosity when it comes to the holdings that it believes will capitalize on the aforementioned trends, so without further ado, let’s delve into the five stocks that Impax Asset Management likes the most as of March 31.

Today there are dozens of tools investors can use to grade their holdings. A duo of the most under-the-radar tools are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. Our researchers have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite fund managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a very impressive margin (see the details here).

#5 Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

 – Shares Owned by Impax (as of March 31): 690,128

 – Value of Holding (as of March 31): $65.55 Million

The fund’s holding largely remained unchanged during the first quarter, standing at 690,128 shares on March 31. Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)’s stock price has gained 5.7% this year amid solid first quarter financial results that beat both the top and bottom-line estimates of analysts. The $68 billion global science and technology innovator recently announced that it expects its spin-off of Fortive Corporation to be completed by July 2. First Eagle Investment Management, led by Mehdi Mahmud, was also bullish on Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) during the first quarter, having hiked its stake by 30% to 3.99 million shares.

#4 Agilent Technologies Inc (NYSE:A)

 – Shares Owned by Impax (as of March 31): 1.65 Million

 – Value of Holding (as of March 31): $65.95 Million

Impax boosting its Agilent Technologies Inc (NYSE:A) holding by 17% during the first quarter, with the $14.2 billion medical equipment and technology company being accounted for the lion’s share of the fund’s investment in the healthcare sector. At last week’s analytica Conference in Germany, Agilent Technologies Inc (NYSE:A) disclosed the launch of InfinityLab, which is a product family of liquid chromatography instruments, columns and supplies. According to the company, the new product will enable tracking of critical method information for high data confidence. William Von Muefflings‘ Cantillon Capital Management trimmed its stake in the company by 4% during the first trimester, to 4.62 million shares.

We’ll take a look at Impax Asset Management’s top-3 stock picks on page two.