PODCAST: Pandemic’s ESG Stock Market Leaders

Ethical & Sustainable Investing News to Profit By!

ESG Stock Market Leaders in pandemic. See the individual stocks and ETFs! Singapore’s pandemic success offers potential sustainable investing profits. Energy stocks to buy? McCormick & Company and Northland Power are ESG stocks that benefit whilst pandemic continues, says Tim Nash. Analyst recommendations from Zacks, The Motley Fool, InvestorPlace, Singapore Business, Corporate Knights and ccmarkets

PODCAST: Pandemic’s ESG Stock Market Leaders

Transcript & Links, Episode 32, May 22, 2020

Hello, Ron Robins here. Welcome to podcast episode 32 published on May 22 titled “Pandemic’s ESG Stock Market Leaders”— and presented by Investing for the Soul. investingforthesoul.com is your site for vital global ethical and sustainable investing news, commentary, information, and resources.

Remember that you can find a full transcript, links to content – including stock symbols and bonus material – at this episode’s podcast page located at investingforthesoul.com/podcasts.

And Google any terms that are unfamiliar to you.

Hey, the ESG analysts are back. A few days of up markets have brought them to life! So, let’s rip!

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1) Pandemic’s ESG Stock Market Leaders

We start with an article from InvestorPlace written by Todd Shriber – an old friend of these podcasts – and it’s titled 5 of the Best Socially Responsible ETFs to Buy.

I’m going to quote Mr. Shriber stating the name of the ETF followed by a quote for each one.

“Xtrackers MSCI U.S.A. ESG Leaders Equity ETF (USSG)

Expense Ratio: 0.10% per year. The Xtrackers MSCI U.S.A. ESG Leaders Equity ETF is one of the true success stories in the socially responsible ETF space. At just over a year old, [it] has $1.65 billion in assets under management…

Xtrackers S&P 500 ESG ETF (SNPE)

Expense Ratio: 0.11% per year. The Xtrackers S&P 500 ESG ETF is the one ESG ETF that follows the S&P 500 ESG Index — the ESG offshoot of the famed domestic equity benchmark…

Nuveen ESG Small-Cap ETF (NUSC)

Expense Ratio: 0.40%. [Its] home to $227 million in assets under management, the Nuveen ESG Small-Cap ETF is the biggest ESG small-cap ETF on the market.

iShares ESG MSCI USA Leaders ETF (SUSL)

Expense Ratio: 0.10% per year. The iShares ESG MSCI USA Leaders ETF is the iShares rival to the aforementioned Xtrackers MSCI U.S.A. ESG Leaders Equity ETF as both funds follow the MSCI USA ESG Leaders Index.

iShares MSCI KLD 400 Social ETF (DSI)

Expense Ratio: 0.25% per year. The iShares MSCI KLD 400 Social ETF turns 14 years old later this year, making it one of the oldest funds in the socially responsible ETF category.”

End quotes.

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2) Pandemic’s ESG Stock Market Leaders

In these days of COVID-19, most of you have heard about the great success of Singapore in subduing the pandemic there. And it’s done that without having to shut down its economy!

Hence, it’s businesses are likely to generally show better results than in most other countries. So, it could be a place where some of you might consider investing. If that’s you have a look at this article in Singapore Business titled Top 5 ESG stocks outpace STI's blue chips.

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3) Pandemic’s ESG Stock Market Leaders

Another analyst who I like to quote is Tim Nash. Writing again for Corporate Knights he has penned a post titled Pandemic Portfolio: Two stocks to watch as COVID-19 drags on.

The two stocks are McCormick & Company (MKC) and Northland Power (NPI).

Regarding McCormick. Mr. Nash says that “With restaurants closed, home chefs are having their moment… McCormick & Company is a spice and flavour manufacturer that sells a wide array of spices, condiments and sauces…

Its environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores from the Corporate Knights research arm, as well as MSCI and Sustainalytics, are among the best in its sector…” End quote.

Concerning Northland Power, Mr. Nash writes that “Renewable energy utilities are in the enviable position of having consistent cash flows, since they have long-term purchase price agreements that set a fixed price on the electricity they generate. Northland Power, headquartered in Toronto, is one such utility… the company’s cash flows shouldn’t suffer if the pandemic’s stay-at-home orders persist…

The stock is expected to pay a 3.91 per cent annual dividend.” End quote.

Mr. Nash produces a useful scorecard on the companies that you can review in his article.

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4) Pandemic’s ESG Stock Market Leaders

Now I have two articles that offer their perspectives on renewable energy. They both appear on The Motley Fool site and have the same contributors. A few of the companies appear in both articles. The authors are Travis Hoium, Tyler Crowe, Jason Hall, Matthew DiLallo, and John Bromels.

The first article is titled 5 Renewable Energy Stocks to Buy Right Now. Since I’ve covered these companies – often many times in this podcast – I’m just going to mention the company names. You can go to the article’s link on my podcast page for greater detail on these analysts’ current thoughts on these companies’ stocks. The companies are Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA), Vivint Solar (NYSE:VSLR), Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE:BEP), SunPower (NASDAQ:SPWR), and Atlantica Yield (NASDAQ:AY).

The second article is titled Looking at Oil Stocks? 5 Renewable Energy Stocks That Are Better Buys Right Now. As previously, I’m just going to mention their names and you can follow the link on this podcast page. The companies recommended are First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR), Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE:BEP), Clearway Energy (NYSE:CWEN), NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE), and Vivint Solar (NYSE:VSLR).

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5) Pandemic’s ESG Stock Market Leaders

The site cmcmarkets.com has a post titled The 7 top ESG ETFs for ethical investing. I’ll give their names followed by a short description of each one from the post. Incidentally, two of them were previously recommended in this podcast.

iShare ETFs

“The biggest: iShares MSCI KLD 400 Social ETF (DSI). With over $1.7 billion in net assets, this is the largest fund in the category… It steers clear of companies that make money from alcohol, tobacco or firearms.

Europe’s best performer: iShares MSCI Europe SRI UCITS ETF (ACC)

The iShares MSCI Europe SRI UCITS ETF topped Just ETF’s list of best performing ESG ETFs for the 12 months up to 30 April 2020. The fund screens out companies with exposure to fossil fuels through extraction and other activities.

For US stocks: iShares ESG MSCI USA Leaders ETF (SUSL)

Started in June 2019, this fund tracks US large and medium caps and was up 21.7% since inception at the beginning of February.

The emerging markets: iShares ESG MSCI EM Leaders ETF (LDEM)

The iShares ESG MSCI EM Leaders ETF might be less than six months old, but it's already seen huge inflows of cash with Finnish pension-provider IImarien pumping $650 million into the fund. A good sign as Ilmarien has a track-record backing high-performing ESG ETFs.

For low emissions: iShares MSCI ACWI Low Carbon Target ETF (CRBN)

One for the environmentally-minded, this fund filters companies based on their greenhouse emissions.

For clean energy: iShares Global Clean Energy ETF (ICLN)

The iShares Global Clean Energy ETF gives investors access to the clean energy sector, including wind power, solar power and renewable energy. The fund has a global outlook.”

SPDR ETF

For gender diversity: SPDR SSGA Gender Diversity Index ETF (SHE)

This gender-diversity fund tracks the 1000 major companies in the US, looking at the ratio of men and women in senior positions. Of those, it invests in only the top 10%." End quotes.

The article itself has more data on each of these ETFs. To read it you’ll have to subscribe to the site. But that’s free. Again, the link to the article is on this podcast’s webpage.

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6) Pandemic’s ESG Stock Market Leaders

Zacks has produced another research report titled ESG Stocks Remain Resilient to Virus Slump: 5 Top Picks. Here are the 5 stocks. Quote:

“Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) discovers, develops, manufactures and markets pharmaceutical products. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 12.8% compared with the Zacks Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry’s projected earnings growth of 7.1%.

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) develops, licenses and supports software, services, devices and solutions. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 19.8% against the Zacks Computer - Software industry’s projected earnings decline of 4.9%.

NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA), operates as a visual computing company. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 28.7% against the Zacks Semiconductor - General industry’s projected earnings decline of 21%.

DexCom, Inc. (DXCM) designs, develops, and commercializes continuous glucose monitoring systems. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 21.2% compared with the Zacks Medical - Instruments industry’s projected earnings growth of 6.8%.

Adobe Inc. (ADBE) operates as a diversified software company. Its expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 24.4% against the Zacks Computer - Software industry’s projected earnings decline of 4.9%."

End quotes.

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End Comment

Well, these are my top news stories and tips for this podcast: Pandemic’s ESG Stock Market Leaders.

And to get all the links, stock symbols, and more, or to read the transcript of this podcast and with additional information too, please go to investingforthesoul.com/podcasts and scroll down to this episode.

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Stay well and healthy -- and prosperous!

Thank you for listening.

Talk to you again on June 5. Bye for now.

© 2020 Ron Robins, Investing for the Soul.