An article in Morningstar outlines a discussion with global equity manager Peter Wilmshurst regarding how his team chooses strong value stocks within an increasingly expensive global environment.

Wilmshurst says, “I think when most people make observations about what the share market has done, how expensive it is, they go to the U.S. The U.S. is the biggest market. It’s the biggest country in pretty much all our portfolios at this point in time. But there’s a lot of the rest of the world out there,” he says, adding that it’s harder to find value in the U.S. at the moment.

Describing his team’s approach as “bottom-up,” Wilmshurst adds that each member has “their universe, a global sector,” explaining that it has become more popular to view the world from a sector standpoint. “For us,” he says, “it gives you a better chance of understanding the industry, thinking about how it’s going to evolve over time.” He cites the example of the auto industry: “Autonomous driving, electric vehicles, ride sharing, three key themes. They will develop at different speeds in different markets. But you’ve really got to have a view on how those industry themes are going to develop.”

With regard to geopolitical factors, Wilmshurst acknowledges that the market will be affected, adding that history’s legendary value investors talked about “wanting to buy when there’s blood in the streets. So, certainly, occasionally, you are going to get opportunities when the market just overreacts.”