Robeco Digital Innovations F EUR

For Digital Innovations, its months-long run of outperformance ended in the last few trading days of September. The sell-off was brought about by a confluence of several negative factors. Supply-chain disruptions that have been simmering for months, and had been expected to start dissolving in the second half of 2021, are proving to be more persistent and widespread than originally thought. Consequently, this has now started to erode confidence in the near-term growth prospects of several affected industries, which have trouble meeting demand. In fact, the first outlook downgrades have already started to trickle in. Another consequence of supply shortages is rising prices. Input prices are rising sharply and will sooner or later find their way to consumer prices, potentially stoking inflation. Not surprisingly, interest rates have moved up sharply in response to inflationary pressures, despite reassuring words from central bankers that it will all be transitory. In a predictable knee-jerk reaction, long-duration growth stocks took it on the chin, much like they did in March of this year when spiking interest rates also blew a hole in the growth-stock boat's bottom.

The fund can engage in currency hedging transactions. Typically currency hedging is not applied.

The fund does not distribute dividend. The fund retains any income that is earned, and so its entire performance is reflected in the price.

Robeco Digital Innovations integrates ESG factors into its investment process by analyzing the impact of financially material ESG factors to a company’s competitive position and value drivers. We believe that this enhances our ability to understand existing and potential (long-term) risks and opportunities of a company. The impact of material ESG factors can be positive or negative, reflecting risks or opportunities, that ensue from a company’s ESG analysis. If ESG risks and opportunities are significant, the ESG analysis could impact a stock’s fair value and the portfolio allocation decision. In addition to ESG integration, Robeco also has an exclusion policy and conducts proxy voting and engagement activities focused on specific themes, such as climate change, aiming to improve a company’s sustainability profile.

Robeco Digital Innovations is an actively managed fund that invests worldwide in equities from developed and emerging countries. The selection of these stocks is based on a fundamental analysis. The fund's objective is to achieve a better return than the index. The fund promotes ESG (i.e. Environmental, Social and corporate Governance) characteristics within the meaning of Article 8 of the European Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation and integrates ESG and sustainability risks in the investment process. In addition, the fund applies an exclusion list on the basis of controversial behavior, products (including controversial weapons, tobacco, palm oil and fossil fuel) and countries, next to proxy voting and engagement. The fund invests in a number of structural growth trends on the production side of the economy, such as robots and automation, digital enablers and secure digital infrastructure. The fund managers try to select stocks of the structural winners within these trends.The majority of stocks selected will be components of the Benchmark, but stocks outside the Benchmark may be selected too. The investment policy is not constrained by a benchmark but the fund may use a benchmark for comparison purposes. The fund can deviate substantially from the issuer, country and sector weightings of the Benchmark. There are no restrictions on the deviation from the Benchmark. The Benchmark is a broad market weighted index that is not consistent with the ESG characteristics promoted by the fund.

Risk management is fully integrated into the investment process to ensure that positions always meet predefined guidelines.