Explore every episode of the podcast BridgeBytes

Brian Matthews looks under the hood of the U.S. market and outlines where Brandes believes value opportunities currently lie.  Brian also discusses his views on the large valuation gap between the value side of the market and the growth side of the market.
(Published: March 2025)

Brian Matthews gives a high-level overview of the Brandes approach to value, which can be broken down into three buckets that seek to ensure exposure across the value spectrum. 
(Published: March 2025)

Brian Matthews provides an update on how U.S. tariffs may impact the Brandes Global Equity Fund, including insights around the roles that geographic exposure, overweights/underweights and pricing power might play.
(Published: March 2025)

Peter Kashanek discusses why it might be a good time to think about defensive dividends given the current market environment. Peter also touches on equity valuations and the Magnificent 7 (Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta and Tesla). (Published: December 2024)

Peter Kashanek provides an update on the Lazard Defensive Global Dividend Fund including sector, region and market cap exposures. (Published: December 2024)

Peter Kashanek discusses how the Lazard Defensive Global Dividend Fund is constructed, including the four key attributes that Lazard uses in their investment process. (Published: December 2024)

Brian Kersmanc discusses GQG’s investment philosophy of forward-looking quality and highlights how their approach allows GQG to consistently adapt their portfolios to different areas of the market using examples like PetroChina, Novartis and Microsoft. Brian notes that, at the end of the day, they are style agnostic investors and just want great compounding businesses. (Published: November 2024)

Brian Kernsmanc discusses GQG's approach when seeking to generate consistent downside protection, noting two main factors: 1) GQG believes that if they are getting the names right from a quality perspective then the names should hold up; and 2) GQG also believes in an asymmetrical reaction to risk versus opportunity, and not being afraid to cut back early when necessary. (Published: November 2024)

Brian Kersmanc discusses GQG’s adaptability, specifically regarding the tech sector and the portfolio’s positioning within tech over the last 3-4 years. (Published: November 2024)

Steve Liberatore explains what Nuveen's impact report is and why he believes it matters to investors. Steve explains that impact reporting allows Nuveen to communicate with investors to let them know how their capital is being deployed and the outcomes being derived from the investments being made on their behalf.

Steve Liberatore shares his thoughts on how an emphasis on impact investing and considering ESG issues can make for a better fixed-income manager. Steve believes that the key to generating outperformance over time isn’t by picking winners, it’s by avoiding losers.

Steve Liberatore outlines what green bonds are and his view of their significance as a growing asset class. Steve also provides some specific stats around their presence and growth in the global fixed-income market.

Steve Liberatore speaks to how Nuveen works with issuers, underwriters and other stakeholders to become the anchor investor in a number of prominent green bond deals.

Steve Liberatore discusses the Nuveen Global Green Bond Fund and outlines the role that the Fund can play in a client’s overall fixed income allocation. Steve notes that the Fund seeks to generate long-term excess returns by utilizing the concept of impact investing.

Mark Costa speaks to what types of companies the Brandes Global Small Cap Equity Fund looks to avoid, noting that Brandes is looking for value and isn’t finding any merit in “cheap for a reason” names or regional banks and secondary type businesses. 

Mark Costa highlights CAE – a Canadian name and global leader in providing simulation and training solutions for civil aviation, defense and security. Mark outlines Brandes’ view on the position and what opportunities may lie ahead.

Mark Costa discusses the strong performance of the Brandes Global Small Cap Fund in recent quarters, sharing his views on why it's not too late to invest and why it shouldn't be considered a missed opportunity. Mark also shares his views on the potential opportunity set, reallocation and why he believes it's an exciting time to be allocating capital within the small-cap space.

Paul Greene shares his thoughts on Apple, which is currently one of the portfolio's top holdings, and why he thinks that, in this current environment, it is going to be a slower grower compounder. 

Paul Greene shared his thoughts on the mixed bag of improvements in AI and the impacts on businesses. Paul notes that there are many examples where productivity increases and companies are seeing real returns on their spend, but the opposite is being seen as well. Paul also shares that T. Rowe Price is optimistic about the possibilities of AI over time. 

Paul Greene discusses the Magnificent 7 (Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta and Tesla) and why T. Rowe Price believes it’s important to remember that they are all different companies with different drivers – something that can get lost when they’re talked about as one big group.

Paul Greene discusses the increase in concentration within the U.S. stock market, noting that it’s a trend that has been going on for over a decade and has several implications that T. Rowe Price must consider as a result. 

Sid Jain discusses the kinds of opportunities that GQG is seeing in the Middle East and why they believe recent changes to business policies, permit processing and a shift in cultural mindset makes it an exciting time to invest in the region. Sid also shares his thoughts that while geo-political noise is nothing new in the Middle East, the UAE has always seemed to avoid getting involved.

Sid Jain provides his views on Brazil, noting that Brazil is coming out of a multi-year bear market environment resulting in a series of pro-business policies and government agendas which GQG believes is an attractive opportunity set.  Sid also discusses the portfolio's largest holding (currently) in Brazil, Petrobras. 

Brian Kersmanc discusses why, based on absolute risk-reward metrics, GQG is currently bearish on China. Brian also provides his thoughts on the potential for a China-Taiwan war and what that could mean for the markets.

Brian Kersmanc discusses why GQG Partners originally soft-capped the EM Fund early on and why they are excited to now have an EM Fund in the Canadian marketplace. Brian also highlights where GQG sees opportunity within the EM space and explains why they are currently very bullish on EM, excluding China. 

Sudarshan Murthy shares his thoughts on the overall performance over the last year and revisits the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict as well as other performance factors within the emerging markets environment. 

Sudarshan Murthy shares his thoughts on what has changed in emerging market economies over the last 10-20 years as well as highlights some of the emerging markets countries that are becoming more attractive today. 

Stephen Jenkins discusses Sionna’s view on Ahold Delhaize as an attractive name outside of Canada that is held in the Sionna Opportunities Fund. 

Kim Shannon discusses Sionna’s view on Fairfax Financial as an attractive name with plenty of advantages and runway to grow. 

Kim Shannon discusses performance cycles during inflationary environments and includes her thoughts on a Canada vs. U.S. perspective and a Value vs. Growth perspective. 

Kim Shannon shares her thoughts on whether or not we might see aggressive interest rate cutting to combat a potential upcoming recession as well as some of the tools that can be used to control inflationary and disinflationary environments. 

Kim Shannon weighed in on the recession vs. no recession debate and discussed how Sionna has navigated the most aggressive tightening cycle in a generation. (Published: Jan 2024)

Louis Florentin-Lee discusses AI and provides commentary around some of the names held in the compounders portfolio that provide AI exposure. While Lazard currently doesn't own the white-hot AI names (i.e., NVIDIA), Lazard believes they are well-positioned in the space and have attractive exposure to AI via a handful of specific holdings that Louis speaks to. (Published: March 2024)

Louis Florentin-Lee discusses Lazard’s views on Dollarama, which they believe is a quintessential compounder and a brilliant business. Louis highlights what he sees as being two of the most important competitive advantages that Dollarama holds: their scale and their focused approach. (Published: March 2024)

Louis Florentin-Lee discusses Lazard’s views on the Magnificent 7 (Mag 7) (Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta and Tesla) and how the Mag 7 stocks are impacting the broader equity market. Louis also speaks to some the of Mag 7 names that the compounders portfolio currently does not hold and why. (Published: March 2024)

Louis Florentin-Lee discusses Lazard's view on the current economic environment and portfolio positioning if current conditions remain. Lazard believes that the compounders portfolio should be well-positioned because high-quality businesses (a staple of the compounders portfolios) have pricing power built into their competitive advantages, which in Lazard's view, is a key determinant of maintaining profitability in inflationary environments. (Published: March 2024)

Lazard Asset Management discusses how quality investing, according to the firm's research, may present an opportunity for above-market returns over the long term, across both business and economic cycles. (Published: March 2024)

Charles Shriver highlights how the Global Allocation Fund is designed to navigate a broad range of market environments and how the team allocates to specific markets in an attempt to hedge against specific risks.

Charles Shriver speaks to T. Rowe Price’s commitment to active management and fundamental research, outlining how it permeates each stage of the investment process. 

Charles Shriver discusses the lifeblood of the firm – the Global Research Platform – and notes that it is a key component of their global active management expertise, providing insights into economic trends that help to inform asset allocation and positioning. 

Charles Shriver outlines where the Global Allocation Fund may fit in an investors portfolio, noting that its broad diversification, moderate risk rating and focus on long-term growth could make it an attractive option as a core position and also as a satellite position. 

Charles Shriver discusses the portfolio design of T. Rowe Price's Global Allocation Fund, including the key drivers that T. Rowe Price believes give the Fund the ability to navigate a range of market environments.

Charles Shriver highlights the Global Allocation Fund and notes that T. Rowe Price’s "be everywhere" approach is an integral part of the diversified and durable design of the portfolio. Charles notes that T. Rowe Price seeks to add value through strategic design and research, tactical allocation and security selection. 

In a recent panel discussion, Chris Duncan, Director, Investment Group at Brandes Investment Partners, explained why supply is growing slower than expected from North American shale oil. (Published July 2022).

In a recent panel discussion, Chulantha De Silva, Senior Investment Analyst at GQG Partners, explained why his team sees opportunity in energy stocks. (Published July 2022).

Bob Schmidt, Manager of the Brandes Institute, discusses the framing bias and the notion that how you present data and information can have a serious impact on your clients’ perceptions. (Published April 2022)

Bob Schmidt, Manager of the Brandes Institute, discusses the importance of the relationship between price and value and why it’s a good idea to remind clients of these dynamics to help reorient them toward a longer-term perspective. Bob also mentions the potential dangers of short-term, emotional reactions and how to avoid them. (Published April 2022)

Brandes Institute manager, Bob Schmidt, discusses the importance of having a sound investment process and why it’s necessary to focus on the factors that you can control, rather than those that you have no control over. (Published April 2022)