This investor owned Tesla and Nvidia before they soared. Here's how he spots winners

Fund profile

• Name of the fund and ASX ticker: Janus Henderson Global Sustainable Equity Active ETF (ASX: FUTR)

• Asset Class: Global equities, sustainability focus

• Investment objective: The Fund seeks to provide capital growth over the long term and to achieve a total return after fees that exceeds the total return of the Benchmark (MSCI World Index (net dividends reinvested) in AUD), over rolling five-year periods.

• Fund Page: View page

There is no denying that sustainability or ESG-focused investing, once the market's topic de jour, has fallen out of favour in recent times. Morningstar data reveals that the final quarter of 2023 marked the first time there were net outflows in the global sustainable funds universe.

But that does not appear to dissuade Janus Henderson's Head of Global Sustainable Equity Hamish Chamberlayne.

"For us, sustainability is our investing strategy," Chamberlayne tells me. "It's how we identify the most exciting companies that we believe are aligned with those trends that will also grow and compound our clients' wealth. For us, it's investment logic," he adds.

Chamberlayne, who has managed the strategy behind the Janus Henderson Global Sustainable Equity Active ETF since 2014, says that not only has his fund avoided most of the outflows, but that he enjoys the contrarian market opinion of sustainable investing in general.

"From my perspective as an investor, I prefer there to be a little less heat in the market," Chamberlayne admits.

Navigating the sustainability and profits balance

Chamberlayne is keen to emphasise there is no balance between sustainability and profits. For him and his team, it's about answering the two key questions together:

1. Is the world going to be a better place because of this company?

2. Is this company going to grow wealth?

As part of this push, the Janus Henderson team put companies into at least one of 10 sustainable investment themes (which you can find in the video). For a company to qualify, at least 50% of its revenues must come from at least one of those themes - and investors are given a report every quarter that demonstrates which companies are achieving which goals.

On finding early super-winners

Chamberlayne and his team also have a knack for finding winners very early on. He revealed to me that the fund first invested in Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) in 2015 and held onto that position until 2021. Tune into the video to find out if he would start re-accumulating a position in Tesla at today's valuations. Other relatively early investments include a long-term holding in Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA).

But when I ask Chamberlayne to nominate a company he would love to add more of should the opportunity present itself, he doesn't nominate either Microsoft or NVIDIA!

In this video, you can find out which company that is, as well as how his team avoid greenwashing traps in a market full of companies trying to prove they are acting sustainably and ethically.

A portfolio of compounding growth companies

By focusing on companies that have a positive impact on the environment and society, our low-carbon investment approach aims to deliver compounding growth and attractive investment returns. Find out more here.

This article first appeared on Livewire Markets.