It seemed too good to be true.
Just days after US President Joe Biden edged out former President Donald Trump in the November US elections, the world was greeted by multiple effective COVID-19 vaccine announcements.
Coupled with ongoing turbocharged quantitative easing (QE) programs from the world's leading central banks, near-zero official interest rates, and trillions of dollars in government stimulus packages, the global economic recovery from the pandemic knockdown began in earnest.
Leading fund managers expect that recovery to continue apace, and they see more opportunities ahead for ASX recovery shares.
Andrew Clifford is the chief investment officer at Platinum Asset Management. According to Clifford (quoted by the Australian Financial Review), "I think that we will have a very strong 2021, and that will probably flow through to 2022. In the stock market, there are opportunities because I think that the natural state of being for the economic system is for it to grow."
Hugh Giddy, large-cap portfolio manager at Investors Mutual, shares that optimistic outlook, saying, "If we don't have lockdowns, that in and of itself creates recovery. It's a lot of moving parts, but overall I think that the economy will improve both here and elsewhere."
Why this fund manager highlights these 2 ASX recovery shares
Romano Sala Tenna, portfolio manager at Katana Asset Management, says it's time for investors to look beyond the big four banks, which have all performed well in 2021.
Instead, as the AFR reports, Sala Tenna prefers ASX financial shares like Kina Securities Ltd (ASX: KSL):
There are some smaller financials, like Kina Securities, we've got a position in. As you're moving down the food curve a bit and up the risk curve, we're seeing some really compelling value. We are re-allocating some capital there.
Sala Tenna is also keen on select ASX energy shares, one of the sectors he says he sees "pronounced value".
They haven't rebounded with the oil price. There's a lot of scepticism around the oil price.
Sala Tenna has been snapping up shares of Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX: WPL).
Kina Securities and Woodside Petroleum share price snapshot
Kina Securities is a small-cap company with a market cap of $286 million. It pays an annual dividend yield of 9.2%, unfranked. Kina's share price is up 18% over the past 12 months and up 10% so far in 2021.
Woodside Petroleum has a market cap of $24 billion and is listed on the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO). Woodside pays an annual dividend yield of 2.1%, fully franked.
The Woodside Petroleum share price is up 41% over the past 12 months, compared to a gain of 35% on the ASX 200. Year-to-date, the Woodside share price is up 10%, and it's currently trading at $25.34 per share.
