Dot-com era stock valuations bringing bubble fear to ESG funds
SECTIONS
Last Updated: Jan 26, 2021, 01:12 PM IST
Share
Synopsis
With the Nasdaq 100 trading near dot-com-era-high valuations of the early 2000s, the likes of Bank of America Corp. are floating warning balloons.
ThinkStock Photos
NSE
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.