Carmignac Portfolio Tech Solutions: Letter from the Fund Manager - Q1 2026
During the first quarter of 2026, Carmignac Portfolio Tech Solutions (F EUR Acc) delivered a performance of -2.16%, outperforming its reference indicator, which posted a loss of -3.24%.
Market environment
The quarter was undeniably volatile. January was marked by a continuation of the 2025 euphoria, particularly in technology. In February, however, volatility began to build beneath the surface: while headline indices appeared relatively stable, sharp sell-offs emerged in certain parts of the market, with sentiment-driven dislocations affecting stocks perceived as “AI losers,” especially in the software space.
In March, investors were caught off guard by both the scale and duration of the ongoing Middle East conflict, triggering sharp moves across a range of assets. The conflict disrupted some of the market’s most crowded trades, reflecting not only a fundamental deterioration in risk sentiment but also the forced unwinding of leveraged positions. South Korean issuers and gold miners were among the main casualties.
From a geographical standpoint, Emerging markets outperformed US and European markets since the beginning of the year. Nevertheless, both EM and Europe lost momentum as geopolitical tensions and energy security concerns weighed on the regional outlook.
Rates also moved sharply higher across both US and European markets.
Overall, the quarter saw markets shift rapidly from a “Goldilocks” scenario to a far more uncertain regime, dominated by stagflation risks and the renewed importance of macroeconomic and geopolitical dynamics.
How did we fare in this context?
The fund outperformed its reference indicator in the first quarter of 2026 driven by both stock selection and strong allocation across themes and sectors. Our stock selection in Taiwanese, South Korean and Japanese Tech Materials were our biggest contributors over the quarter with names like All Ring, TSMC, Lotes, SK Hynix and Nitto Boseki posting strong gains over the period thanks to pricing power of scarce, high spec components and record revenues.
Our off-benchmark convictions such as All Ring mentioned above were once again an alpha driver for the strategy over the period, but also Industrial names held either within the Tech Materials space or within the Industrials sector supporting electrification and data centre buildout like Vertiv and Furukawa Electric.
Our largest absolute detractors were within the software and services space, where we are currently underweight. Our application and system software names like Atlassian, Salesforce, Microsoft and ServiceNow, were hurt over the period on fears of AI disruption. Over the quarter we reduced this exposure as skepticism towards the segment may persist until markets gain better visibility on the true scale and timing of any disruption.
Outlook
Looking ahead, uncertainty is likely to remain elevated, with market dispersion staying high as long as the conflict in the Middle East persists. The key variable will be its duration: a prolonged conflict would increase the likelihood of lasting damage, raising the risk that today’s disruptions evolve into more severe and potentially irreversible economic and market consequences. At this stage, markets appear to be pricing in an inflation shock, but not yet a meaningful growth shock.
In this environment, any sharp dislocations—whether triggered by geopolitical developments or abrupt swings in market sentiment—are likely to be viewed as opportunities to build positions at attractive valuations. In many cases, such episodes are driven more by short-term uncertainty than by any material deterioration in underlying fundamentals.
In technology, the recent correction was significant. Tech stocks fell sharply, erasing most of the Nasdaq 100’s valuation premium relative to the broader market, as investors questioned the returns that will ultimately be generated by AI-related capital expenditure. While this pullback created opportunities, the sector no longer moves as a single block, making stock selection more important than broad-based exposure.
Within technology, semiconductors remain our biggest exposure, as demand and pricing power continue to provide support. That said, valuations already reflect much of this strength, which calls for a more selective approach. We have added some Japanese upstream actors to diversify our semiconductor exposure (Nitto Boseki, Ibiden, Disco).
Among hyperscalers, uncertainty around the return on AI capex continues to fuel volatility. Against this backdrop, we have reduced our exposure to Microsoft in favour of Alphabet and Amazon. We believe Alphabet is relatively better positioned in the current environment, while Amazon should benefit from an acceleration in growth as capital expenditure progressively catches up with demand. In software, skepticism toward the segment may persist until the market gains greater visibility on the scale and timing of any disruption linked to AI. In this context, we are maintaining selective exposure to the most resilient players, supported by historically attractive valuations, such as Salesforce.
Within our exposure to names outside of technology, we have added to our climate tech names under the electrification theme. We used the March correction to re-initiate our position in Schneider Electric on weakness.
1MSCI AC World Information Technology 10/40 Capped NR index
2Equity Sector Technology
3Fund launched on 21/06/2024
Carmignac Portfolio Tech Solutions
Carmignac Portfolio Tech Solutions F EUR ACC
- Recommended minimum investment horizon
- 5 years
- Risk indicator*
- 5/7
- SFDR - Fund Classification**
- Article 9
*Risk Scale from the KID (Key Information Document). Risk 1 does not mean a risk-free investment. This indicator may change over time. **Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) 2019/2088. The SFDR classification of the Funds may change over time.
Main risks of the fund
Fees
- Entry costs
- We do not charge an entry fee.
- Exit costs
- We do not charge an exit fee for this product.
- Management fees and other administrative or operating costs
- 1.15% of the value of your investment per year. This estimate is based on actual costs over the past year.
- Performance fees
- 20.00% when the share class overperforms the Reference indicator during the performance period. It will be payable also in case the share class has overperformed the reference indicator but had a negative performance. Underperformance is clawed back for 5 years. The actual amount will vary depending on how well your investment performs. The aggregated cost estimation above includes the average over the last 5 years, or since the product creation if it is less than 5 years.
- Transaction Cost
- 0.35% of the value of your investment per year. This is an estimate of the costs incurred when we buy and sell the investments underlying the product. The actual amount varies depending on the quantity we buy and sell.
Performance
| Carmignac Portfolio Tech Solutions | −2.2 | +29.4 | +6.5 |
| Reference Indicator | −3.2 | +14.8 | +7.5 |
| Carmignac Portfolio Tech Solutions | +49.3% | - | +18.3% |
| Reference Indicator | +29.0% | - | +10.5% |
Source: Carmignac at Mar 31, 2026.
Date of 1st NAV : 21/06/2024.
Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance. Performances are net of fees (excluding possible entrance fees charged by the distributor). The Fund presents a risk of loss of capital.
The return may increase or decrease as a result of currency fluctuations, for the shares which are not currency-hedged.
Reference Indicator: MSCI AC World Information Technology 10/40 Capped NR index
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