Dot-com Era Stock Valuations Bring Bubble Fears to ESG Funds
Bloomberg
1/26/2021
(Bloomberg) -- It’s reality-check time for ESG funds.
Exchange-traded funds investing in companies with responsible environmental, social and corporate governance practices lured a record $85 billion in the U.S. and Europe in 2020, and are still raking it in. Pumped up by the flows, stocks in many of these funds are trading at frothy price-to-earnings multiples that are increasingly hard to justify. Take U.S. fuel-cell maker Plug Power Inc., for instance. The unprofitable company’s more than 2,000% rally since early 2020 outpaces even Tesla Inc’s.
“There is a risk that holdings that populate ESG funds have become overvalued,” said Chris Dyer, director of global equity at Eaton Vance. “Investors -- both active and passive -- are increasingly chasing these themes and driving valuation to uncomfortable levels in some cases. This type of naïve investing tends to end badly.”